Framed Dagger!

The piece isn't signed, but it smells argus!

A funny street art peace popped up in town yesterday. A framed "golden dagger"! The norwegian word for dagger is "Dolk". Dolk is in town and has his first solo show in Bergen called "Wildlife" at Gallery S.E. It's worth a visit. Dolk is showing original stencil works on canvas and a couple of installations. I think that Dolk found a nice venue for marking his 10 year anniversary. News can tell that he has sold for about one million dollars on his first solo show in Bergen. Hence, the "golden dagger".

Dolk "Wildlife" exhibition at Gallery S.E

Propaganda!

Some time back, in Berlin, me and some friends stopped by a small shop selling clothing and props from the Soviet Union era. My friends bought some stuff with red stars, decorated with hammer and sickle and other symbols. My friend from Lithuania, a former Soviet republic, didn't buy anything (me neither). He told me later that many Lithuanians still would feel offended by people wearing such symbols. Many Lithuanians still remember Soviet suppression. He asked if I would wear clothes with swastika or other Nazi symbols. I answered "Of course not!", but I was surprised by the question. I also told him that I had not thought of it this way before....

I later visited Cuba, a state which still hang on to communism and still hail the socialist revolution back in 1959. Fidel Castro was the main leader of the Cuban guerrilla back then and he is still alive. The power is now given to his younger brother Raul since 2008. According to the leaders on Cuba, the revolution still lives. Murals, signs, posters and billboards on buildings and along the roads try to make sure that Cubans don't forget that.

Fidel Castro (right) and his less charismatic brother Raul Castro (left) says: "Go Ahead!"

The propaganda machine on Cuba have been persistent, and have made Fidel Castro’s friend and war commandant Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, or Che Guevara as we call him, into an internationally famous and iconic figure. His portrait is all over Cuba, in schools, public buildings and his main monument is at the plaza de la revolucion in Santa Clara.

An enormous Che Guevara statue at the "plaza de la revolucion" in Santa Clara, Cuba

Che Guevara on the wall of the ministry of communication in Havana

Che Guevara (the Argentinean) left Cuba in 1965. His mission was to spread the revolution all over South America, and he died as a guerrilla soldier in Bolivia in 1967.

Che Guevara in Cienfuego "Your example lives, your ideas stays" (something like that)

 

There is a connection between street art and ideological propaganda. When the french stencil and street artist Blek Le Rat was a child, he travelled to Italy with his parents where he saw wall stencils which depicted Mussolini. This experience became a part of his inspiration to begin with stencil making in the streets. However, with a quite different attitude and ideological basis. Blek Le Rat first stencils where his black rats. The street artist Shepard Fairey (obeygiant) use the strategies of propaganda (easy recognizable pictures, often two or three colors, with short slogans) as part of his artistic project and participation in social movement campaigns. The advantage of stencils lies in its symbolic character, often black and white, and is easy to distribute and repeat with limited resources. The Che Guevara stencil is iconic, known all over the world and lives its own life, transcending any real historic and original ideological meaning of his ideas and life (except maybe on Cuba).

Fidel Castro Says: "Fatherland or death"

Propaganda often presents facts selectively and uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response. Propaganda can be used as a form of ideological or commercial warfare. On Cuba, propaganda is still an agent trying to influence peoples attitudes and values, but the power of the propaganda is vanishing day by day for most people. It's important to see that propaganda strategies is not just means of dictators or ideological systems. In the "free world" we often use the word "campaign".

Street sign outside Cienfuego with clear reference to the U.S. supported invasion failure at the bay of pigs in 1961

One day signs like these, depicted above, probably will be replaced by commercials for beer, burgers or perfume etc. In Germany, the old nazi symbols are still prohibited by law for good reasons and all over the world these symbols are loathed by the large majority. So why haven't the same happened with communist and socialist propaganda and symbols?

I don't have the answer to that, but parts of it may have something to do with the historical roots of many revolutions and parts about how the socialist systems fell. The raise against the social and economical brutality of the Batista regime had sympathy in Europe. After the horrors of world war II, fascist, military, racist and ultraconservative regimes were regarded worse than socialist regimes (which after all, at least on paper, had an ideology of making things better for all). In addition, U.S. and European democracies weren't perfect either. When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, people where just happy to gain freedom and the old system that had failed in so many ways was replaced without a massive war to break it down. The notion of the socialistic society was over, and communism had failed. All that was left was the cultural artifacts and the symbols. There were no "propaganda power" left in them for most people, both inside and outside of the wall. Just an aesthetic value from a political system that actually died from within.

Street Art is Dead...?

Sever - Street Art Funeral. Picture by Jsinghur

It's some time now since Sever made this piece in Detroit. I've been thinking some time about this piece since I saw it on the net some months ago. What do Sever wants to tell us with this. All the figures in the piece, Shepard Fairey (Obeygiant), Os Gemeos, Twist (Barry McGee), Banksy, Futura and Kaws are artists that began their career doing illegal graffiti and street art. Now, they are recognized artists doing gallery exhibitions, sell prints and merchandise, and do commissioned work around the world. Their works are sold for huge figures on art auctions. They have a commercial market value and have become part of the establishment.

 If street art is dead, it refers to a certain opinion or notion about what street art was and how it died, And yet, It's quite difficult to find a common understanding of what street art is or was.

We could think of Street Art in a broad sense as art in different genres made outside (in the streets) and free for the public to see. Then we would have to include art genres as graffiti in all its forms, murals, sculptures, performances, installations, music, dance, literature etc. One criteria could probably be that you could distinguish these works from business signs, commercials and event posters. This definition does not distinguish between public art placed or organized by officials or legally by private interests and art work which is done spontaneous or illegally in the streets. With this definition we could say that Street Art is still alive, even if time have made the boundaries between public and private interests, commercial and non-commercial art, and legal and illegal art more blurred and unclear. So, when Os Gemeos paints a huge wall legally in Boston on commission (which may or may not be paid), it's regarded as Street Art because it's in a public space and free and for everybody to see.

Another way to look at it, is to see Street Art as part of the Graffiti movement, a culture, which started in US, France and UK in the late 70's together with rap music, punk music and politically radical communities. It was illegal, anti-commercial, subversive, political and regarded as underground activity and vandalism by the officials and the establishment. In the 80's and 90's the culture grew, expanded and differentiated into a multivariate of styles, technics and inspirations. New York based train painters influenced kids in Europe, and French stencil makers gave ideas to US and Australian artists and so on. The graffiti and street art culture became international, but also divided into subcultures with different "rules" and views on what their work was about. During the 2000s, the globalization of graffiti and street art have continued and the respective subcultures too. When these subcultures clash, they are referred to as "Graffiti War.” I think Sever's work in Detroit must be seen as a comment on the parts of the street art culture that have been commercialized, and that the main representatives (the coffin carriers) are ruining, in his view, what street art is about, the spirit and values.

The situation is confusing because today, the same "vandal" can be exhibited in a famous art institution in L.A., and arrested for vandalism in another state or country; A stencil piece raising awareness about child labour made illegally on a wall in North-East London, can be removed and sold on a art auction in America for more than a million dollars; President Obama have a street art print in the White House presented to him by the conservative prime minister in UK made by an artist who have been arrested and fined several times for vandalism.

In this view, the street art culture may not be dead yet, but the idea of a street art movement is deconstructed and transferred into a pop culture with present "street-art-stars" which travel the world. The public follows and everybody with an artistic talent wants be like them. The visited city gets free publicity on internet worth millions. Organised street art festivals around the world even use the word "Line up" when they refer to which artists that will be presenting their works.  When "the biggest of them all" Banksy is asked: "Why are you such a sell out?" His answer is "I wish I had a pound for every time someone asked me that."

Street Art in Malaga and introducing Dadi Dreucol

A disney like mural with easter island statues

Malaga is the birthplace of Pablo Picasso, probably the most influential artist of the 20th century. Picasso was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer and a street artist. In 1937 he painted a wall in Guernica as a protest against the german bombing of the city and the coming of General Franco's dictatorship. It's an amazing mural. And if you ever go to Malaga, please visit the beautiful Picasso museum. 

The beautiful patio of the Picasso Museum

Nowadays the andalusian city Malaga is not known for street art, but when you walk around, you see murals and shutter paintings. Small shops and cafés often use murals and paintings  as part of their public image. In addition, as all cities of some size, there are graffiti artists and writers around, using the spray cans with varied skills and experience.  An artist who signed  the works with "Doger" was of the high quality kinds.

True Love by Doger

Dadi Dreucol

However, there was some quite interesting and original stuff in the streets I hadn't seen before. The style reminded me of Escif, the more internationally known brother from Valencia. Dadi Dreucol is from Malaga, but lives and study art in Valencia at the time. In the near future, we probably will see his works in all major street art cities in Europe.

He has a funny/serious characteristic style and go to his web page to see more of his works

DOLK 10 years! From vandal to artist

From illegal street art to high priced prints

Dolk began as street artist in Bergen in 2003 and according to an interview done in 2004, he had clear goals with his work: To travel the world and make money from his art. That goal is reached. He sells prints through hand made posters (hmp) where most works are priced about 900 pounds and most works are sold out. These works goes on ebay for way higher prices. Dolk have gallery exhibitions and are invited to major international street art festivals and do commissioned works all over the world. Dolk have been and is a success story.

His break trough as a stencil artist was probably when Dolk participated at "Santa's Ghetto" festival in London in 2006 (Invited by Banksy). At the same time, this probably also ends his underground image as a vandal, doing illegal works in the streets.

There are not many illegal pieces from Dolk left, and Bergen is probably still the only place where you can find early illegal works by Dolk.

Dolk in Sandviken Bergen (photo 2011)

"Crush" by Dolk in Skottegaten, Bergen (Photo 2011)

Ghetto Spedalsk (Lofoten 2008)

One of Dolks most remarkable projects so far is Ghetto Spedalsk together with Pøbel in the rural area of Lofoten, Norway. They began to paint abandoned houses in 2008 and have continued to do so every summer. This project brought attention to the depopulation and decay in rural parts of Norway and is nationally and internationally recognised. These art works are as far away from their urban roots as possible. I have not been in the Lofoten area my self and is high on my "things to do list". See some works in Lofoten here and on Dolk's own webpage here.

Dolk vs. Banksy

Back in 2004, Dolk formulated another goal in his interview: To "crush" Banksy. Well, that goal still seems far fetched. Banksy was (and may still be) Dolk's idol and hero and influenced Dolk's stecil style early on. Dolk, as Banksy, have still kept his identity a secret and people mix up works by the two artists. Banksy undoubtably helped Dolk's career by inviting Dolk to festivals in London and probably they are friends. Banksy is still the master of this game. While Dolk do commissioned work, sell prints and exhibit in galleries, Banksy still do illegal work in the streets, he makes books, films and action oriented art stunts. Banksy have kept his subversive tone and seems to be more a better organiser and creative to a larger extent than Dolk.

"The Winner" one of the latest works from Dolk. Made for Bergen Night Jazz, May 2013 (photo 2013)

Derelict and abandoned buildings: A good space for Street Art

FIRST TIME

I first visited the old paint manufacturer a gloomy dark evening in January more than a year ago. The IFA factory on Damsgård is abandoned and left to decline. Couriosity made me take a walk inside for a look.

All factory equipment was removed and big the naked halls was empty and dark. Just pipelines, steel doors and concrete columns was left. The "can artists" had been there! the place was sprayed down with graffiti works. It looked like a practice ground for the graffiti crews. Probably illegal, but not illegal enough to lead to prosecution or fines. Here they could work relatively peacefully and use time to develop their writing and use of color.

SECOND TIME

Second time visit to the abandoned buildings was quite a suprise! During easter time, local street artists had made an inside street art gallery in the old factory buildings. I piecefully walked around and looked at the works. 

It was lovely and the space was perfect!

THIRD TIME

My third time visit i found that most of the street art was tagged or destroyed by vandals with cans. A small scale "graffiti war". There is a conflict in the Bergen area between "spray vandals", between the ones that do street art in the form of figurative stencil and paste-up works and those who do more old time graffiti writing and marker writing. I think that the street artists had moved in to wrong territory this time.

At this moment they are tearing down the old factory building and the spray can vandals are gone. For a short time the abandoned building had served as a graffiti and street art gallery. I think abandoned and derelict buildings serves well as a presentation space for graffiti and street art. A kind of "popup gallery" for a limited time, curated by the street artists them selves.

Eluus: The dark side

I've seen only one work by Eelus. I found this piece in Dublin, and when I posted it on instagram the artist him self asked for the photo. Eelus moved to London when he was 22 and became fascinated by the street art scene in the Shoreditch area and began to make work in the streets him self.  He rapidly got a reputation for imagniative, dark and mystical stencils. Eelus in his own words: “I live in a different world to most people. A world that is crawling with hidden magic and strange creatures. There are dinosaurs and strange beasts within the centre of the Earth, Bigfoot is alive and well within the forests of many lands and the skies are full of beings from other worlds. There are gnomes in the mountains, secret bunkers in the desert, and always, ALWAYS monsters under the bed. From within this world, I love to paint, draw, photograph, write, watch, read, listen and most importantly, learn. My goal is to continue making a living from doing all these things I love and being creative in any way I can." Eelus doesn't do art in the streets anymore, but in his studio and exhibit in galleries.

Together with this post I choos "Both Sides Now" with Joni Mitchell (Click on the link or the 'play' button in the box below.