Category Archives: Artists

Concrete to Data through the Lens of Alexandra Pospelova

 2/28/15

Concrete to Data through the Lens of Alexandra Pospelova

I am excited to share a powerful series of Concrete to Data photographs taken by artist Alexandra Pospelova. The selected works give us a peek into the photographers process and how the space can be viewed.  We are taken through various complimentary color combinations and compositions. I asked Alexandra for a statement about shooting the exhibition and sharing her vision on the show.

Concrete To Data photographed by Alexandra Pospelova

“Unique, Moving, Powerful! Concrete to Data is a unique show because graffiti in its nature is an outdoor art form, while here, in Steinberg Museum of Art, one sees it in a totally different environment. It is moving because it makes the viewer look for hidden meanings by overwhelming, puzzling and, in some way, provocative quality. It is powerful because of its large scale spray-painted pieces that have more authority to a body viewing it in a space, as something one cannot take in with one glance. It was a pleasure to photograph such a large variety of mediums, creative ideas, and interesting stories that allowed me to penetrate deeper into seeing the essence of graffiti itself. The camera served as a great tool to discern that essence that cannot be viewed with a naked eye, but through some consideration.” 

Alexandra Pospelova is a young artist from Saint-Petersburg, Russia, living and working in New York City. In May of 2015 she will receive her B.F.A in Painting and Photography from Long Island University’s Post campus. Notably, in 2013 Alexandra attended the Firenze ArtiVisive school in Florence. In 2012 she was invited to South Korea, where she exhibited her work in four different cities. Alexandra is currently working on her senior thesis honors show that is about the role of art in the modern world. Her work is mostly acrylic on canvas or paper, and her signature work consists of abstract, simple minimalistic forms. Due perhaps to her early training in the arts, Alexandra likes experimenting with her medium of choice, eventually combining crafts with painting. It is important to her idea that she uses mixed media because it gives her work more expressiveness and precision. As to photography, in like manner, Alexandra appreciates older aesthetics, photo processes that experimented with different medium of choice by using unique techniques.

You can explore more of Alexandra’s work on her website –http://alexandrapo.com

Short-link to this post – http://wp.me/p5Jt5Y-gO

Encrypted Fills & New Media Works at Concrete to Data

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GIF by General Howe

Encrypted Fills is making its debut offline appearance in the Concrete to Data exhibition currently on view at the Steinberg Museum of Art in Brookville NY through March 21st 2015. The collaborative project that launched this past summer was initiated and created by RJ Rushmore and Ryan Seslow.

 Artists

Abe Lincoln Jr. – Adam VOID – Broken Fingaz – CAKE – Caroline Caldwell – Enzo & Nio – Enzo Sarto – Gaia – General Howe – Jilly Ballistic – John Fekner – Leon Reid IV – Olek – Monique Spier – Michael Branson Smith – Peter Drew – Rone – Ryan Seslow – Stinkfish – Swampy

GRaff

GIF by SLOW

RJ Rushmore describes Encrypted Fills: “We have been watching for years (and Ryan’s been participating as an artist himself) as people in the street art and graffiti world have turned to experimenting with new mediums like GIFs, video art, and related forms of electronic documentation to express their ideas on digital platforms. Sometimes the aesthetics of the work are nearly indistinguishable from static street pieces, and other times these digital works are hardly recognizable as related to street art or graffiti, but we believe that these new works come from the same place. Artists who have been getting up outdoors are now reaching out to a similar digital public, and it’s opened the door for those artists to reach beyond static images. We are very excited about this development. We want to promote this work and identify it as something particular and distinct from other art being produced in the street art and graffiti communities. We also want to preserve the best examples of it for posterity, lest in the future we think of these works as standard and forget the artistic leaps that were made in the last few years and those that will be made in the years to come.”

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GIF by Enzo Sarto

Media Station2

Encrypted Fills as a presence in the exhibition functions on a pedestal using an imac computer to display the digital works. A mouse is accessible for the viewer to scroll through the site and select what they wish to view via category. Encrypted Fills has been placed site specifically into the composition of the gallery as a whole. To the left of the piece is an arrangement of Martha Cooper’s classic series of 1980’s NYC graffiti photos from the Subway Art book. Trains by DONDI, LEE, FUTURA, DUSTER, BLADE and more are present.

Media Station4

To the right of Encrypted Fills are another two pedestals, one of which is also equipped with an imac computer. A short and powerful politically charged animated film by General Howe and a series of 3D prints by collaborators GAIA & Pablo Gnecco.

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The three consolidated pedestals of works lead the viewer into the largest aspect of the exhibition. A huge fragmented mural of 18 feet in height filling a half rotunda shape. The collaborative mural pieces are a celebration of artistic styles, techniques and methods painted and pasted directly onto the wall. It gives the viewer a survey of evolution over the last 25 years. Transitions and progressions with aerosol paint to hand painted murals using latex, acrylic and homemade concoctions created site on scene. Encrypted Fills resides in between the documentation of the past and the explosive evolution of the continued applied methods. Encrypted Fills represents the energy of the digital age and its tools to continue expanding the street art and graffiti movements. Context and interpretation of the subjects will be up to each individual viewer. Where do you stand?

Abenoxious on Vimeo copy

Video Still by Abe Lincoln Jr.

Adam Void   Encrypted Fills copy

Video Still by Adam Void

Selected video art works are also accessible to the viewer via the Encrypted Fills imac terminal, as well as opportunities to see 4 selected video art works via DVD playing on a flat screen monitor. Works by Abe Lincoln JrAdam Void & Ryan Seslow, and Adam Void & Karim Tabbaa loop consistently.

UNDERWATER TREASURES on Vimeo copy

Video Still by OLEK

Video Art   Encrypted Fills   Page 2 copy

Video Still by John Fekner

Video Art   Encrypted Fills copy

Video Still by SWAMPY

Viewers may also read and interact with RJ Rushmore’s VIRAL ART book and investigate Luna Park’s Flickr Galleries side by side.

Media Stations

Jilly Ballistic - output_BKBlwA

GIF by Jilly Ballistic

The Encrypted Fills archive continues to grow and both RJ and Ryan are in the planning stages of the second exhibition series. Concrete to Data is the first example of how and where the online presentation can expand to. Traditional museum spaces and or galleries are just a small part of the module. They intend to experiment with non traditional spaces as well as public space both planned and unplanned. Artists are also being contacted to venture into digitally collaborating with other artists by weaving their works together through both applied and digital processes. More to come.

Mother 2

GIF by Monique Spier

The new media works in the show are all available via any internet connection using the links below. It is the intention of the curator to induce the viewer to engage via their mobile device, tablets or personal computers. Concrete to Data as an exhibition never really ends..

Screen the selected new media works here:

Encrypted Fills – http://encryptedfills.com

Encrypted Fills GIF Feed – http://www.encryptedfills.com/category/gif

General Howe – http://www.encryptedfills.com/hector-delagado-has-ptsd

RJ Rushmore’s VIRAL ART Bookhttp://viralart.vandalog.com/read

LUNA PARK – Flickr Galleries – https://www.flickr.com/photos/lunapark/sets

Abe Lincoln Jr. – http://www.encryptedfills.com/abenoxious

Adam Void & Ryan Seslow – http://www.encryptedfills.com/grafideo

Adam Void & Ryan Seslow – http://www.encryptedfills.com/virtuous-reality

Concrete to Data

The CONCRETE TO DATA Website serves as a repository of information for the exhibition. In various capacities it informs, shares, documents and grows as the show goes on. And on it will go, especially after the physical space gets buffed and uninstalled. Through out the exhibition Encrypted Fills and Concrete to Data will collaborate on new projects that will be introduced at various points of the show.

Concrete-to-Data-Logo1

Lastly, Concrete to Data.com has initiated its first collaborative project that invites the public to participate. Prior to the launch of the exhibition participating artists were invited to generate remixes and riffs of the original concrete to data logo above. The purpose is to build a new visual repository of stylistic variety by using the text from the show’s title. The submitted works will form and build an organic online gallery. This is a call for submissions, do you want to riff, remix or reinterpret the logo?

Go here – https://www.concretetodata.com/projects/logo-riffs-and-remixes

short-link to this post :: http://www.ryanseslow.com/BmZ07

Gaia & Pablo Gnecco Collaboration at Concrete to Data

Gaia & Pablo Gnecco Collaboration at Concrete to Data

2015, 3D Prints

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Now through March 21st 2015 the collaborative 3D printed works above by Gaia & Pablo Gnecco can be viewed at Concrete To Data in the Steinberg Museum of Art. Curated by Ryan Seslow, the 3D prints are a part of the diverse array of works ranging from on sight ephemeral murals, photo installations, GIF animations, dry erase board drawings, and much more.

“The three objects presented for Concrete Data are a collaborative foray into a playful 3D printing experiment. The typology of the row home / brownstone is distorted and repeated in order to prompt the limits of the consumer 3D printer. These efforts are then expounded upon in a small model that harkens back to Gaia’s former hybrid printmaking pieces with a foundation of collaged buildings ascending into a robed pig-head figure.”

Gaia grew up in New York City and is a recent graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. His studio work, installations and gallery projects have been exhibited throughout the world most notably The Baltimore Museum of Art, Rice Gallery and Palazzo Collicola Arti Visive. His street work has been documented and featured in several books on urban art, including, most recently, Beyond the Street: The 100 Leading Figures in Urban Art, (Berlin, 2010). Gaia lives and works in Baltimore, MD, but spends a majority of his time traveling painting murals across the world.

http://www.gaiastreetart.com/

Pablo Gnecco Pablo Gnecco is an experiential artist and motion designer from Bogota, Colombia living in Brooklyn, NY. He is an inaugural member of The New Museum’s art and technology incubator, NEWINC, where he is exploring motion and interaction with emergent new media and collaborating with other artists and technologists to create works of art and interactive installations. Recently co-founded Studio Studio an interactive design and development company based in New York City.

http://yopablo.com

More info on https://concretetodata.com 

Concrete to Data Presents HYMN by John Fekner & Brian Albert

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(Photo: © Brian Albert 1987)

I am happy to announce that HYMN, a public sculpture by John Fekner & Brian Albert will be included in the exhibition.

HYMN is a collaboration by John Fekner and Brian Albert. The project constructed on an embankment overlooking the Grand Central Parkway in Queens was intended as a call for peace, an immediate response to the growing racial tensions over the death of a young black man in New York City. A gang of white youths in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens brutally beat three black men whose car had broke down in the neighborhood, chasing one of the three, 23-year-old Michael Griffith from Bedford-Stuyvesant, to his death when he was hit by a car crossing the Shore Parkway on December 20th, 1986.

The piece consisted of a tombstone-shaped concrete electrical power box painted black with the word “HYMN” stenciled in 12-inch high white letters. Flush with the ground, in front of the ‘tombstone’ was a translucent 40” x 50” photographic print portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr., illuminated from a light source in the ground. The electricity necessary for the underground lighting was tapped from a streetlamp, which switched on at sunset.

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(Photo: © Brian Albert 1987)

Hymn was installed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 19th, 1987. Passing motorists could see the work both during the daytime and at night when it transformed into a subtle glowing image of harmony and peace. The illegally sited work remained for a few weeks and was eventually removed from the parkway embankment.

In 1988, the Hillwood Art Museum (now the Steinberg Museum of Art) invited Fekner and Albert to create a new permanent version as part of their Public Art Program. Hymn was erected and dedicated next to the Interfaith Chapel at Long Island University C. W. Post Campus in Brookville, NY.

MLK Detail

Detail (above) of the almost thirty-year-old Hymn installation which is in the process of being reconditioned and remodeled this month on the LIU Campus. It is included in the Concrete to Data exhibition at the Steinberg Museum of Art 1/26/15 – 3/21/15.