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Writing for nearly twenty years in the Bay Area, ARTE 1810 was introduced to me by SWER. His commitment to his art was evident in him soldiering on with a broken toe during most of the festival. The transcript of our interview follows: C: What name do you write and what crew name? A: ARTE…

Yesterday I saw Mr. Brainwash’s gallery on 21st and Collins. The large 2 story exhibit had a giant Mr. Potato Head with a spray can in his hand, starship trooper figures on the balconies, and a banner with Hitchcock with a graffiti background behind. Entering the large warehouse I was barricaded with images, chickens covered…

The Jakmel Art Gallery is a small but distinct space- Jude’s painting of a woman coming out of a tree, the geometrically painted exterior with a metal face, and circles of color draw the wanderer in from the street. Inside are an array of spiritual/totemic paintings based on Creole mythology using striking colors and clear…

Wynwood Walls are located on 26th street (more or less) and 2nd avenue, and have large wrought iron gates on the 2nd avenue side, with a metal sign for the walls that resembles the “Metro” font used in Paris for train entrances. It is an immersive environment: at all times one is flanked by painted…

So this is a rather vent-y post. I have never been to a Biennale although reading about them in art and critical theory journals to an academic they seem like a place to be the kid in the proverbial candy store. So with great excitement, and a little trepidation I sallied forth to Miami Beach….

SWER started writing in 1998, and has lived in both California and Mexico. He was my translator in addition to letting me do an interview, and getting to hang out with him and his crew, 1810 helped me learn a lot about how graffiti is a way of creating informal families across borders, and share…

Around 4pm JJ shakes the hand of a nervous woman, who just minutes before had been flinging her arms around her head, pulling her knees up to her chest, and moving her shoulders with such fluidity that I felt my own muscle tightness start to melt away, now standing with her arms crossed tight against…

Mexico is fantastic because there are an abundance of places, at least in the city center, where you can stumble onto something that occupies an insane conjuncture between genres, times, or even designated purpose. This is very much the case with public monuments. I am staying quite near the Monumento de la Revolución and because…

I spent time today at the archives in Centro de Artes Naciónal (CAN), and in the Biblioteca de Artes Naciónal, going through the ample periodicals folder that has been assembled in the Centro de Investigacciones by several Mexican scholars that have scoured the Archivo General de Nación and the Hemeroteca Nacionale. Archival work I am…

Interview with OUTLET Sept 17, 2011, 4pm 49th and Ashland: I ran into OUTLET at the 30th and Kedzie wall– she asked if I was a writer and I said no. She said “I’m just taking photos too.” I mentioned that I was heading over to the 49th and Ashland wall in a little while,…