To start out the new year. From Ripo

The Modart Book Club has recently been bringing you news about new and old publications that should not be missing from your collections. Although the holiday season is over that's no reason to forget about gift giving, making up for last year's mistakes, and putting a smile on the faces that were all too disappointed on the dreaded morning in December. For the shelves and the toilets, bedtime stories and conversation breakers, there are now enough book titles on street art and graffiti that we’d be forced to find new categories before library browsers would have a clue what to expect. It's time for some new year's news on the book front as well as a recap of some of what we had to say in 2008.

310 Squad, some of Russian graffiti's finest, will be invading ATM Gallery in Berlin with Kontraband starting this Friday, January 9th. Their Lichtenstein-inspired walls have gotten lots of attention over the past few years and with 30 new indoor works on display at this show it'll be great to see what they pull off outside of the motherland.

Opening next Friday, January 16th will be Dale Grimshaw's newest show at Signal Gallery in London entitled Heart In Darkness. His work is deeply layered and we can note some inspiration by David Hockney's photomontage portraits in there. As he has continued to develop his work for this show we're also seeing embedded calligraphy and handwritten elements but most of all we can see he's wholly put his black heart into every piece created.

The Italian prodigy, Erica Il Cane, is going way west for his first solo show in Los Angeles at Carmichael Gallery, entitled "Man Is The Bastard". His artistic genius has traversed almost every media imagineable including drawing, painting, video, massive murals, delicate etchings, and pretty much anything else he lays his hand upon. This show, opening this Saturday, January 10th, will not be one to miss.

You can take the artists out of Brooklyn but you can't take Brooklyn out of the artists. Ad Hoc Art and Thinkspace Gallery have teamed up to bring LA a group show like they've never seen before. It's a pleasant surprise to see that From The Streets of Brooklyn will be showcasing all the usual street art suspects like Gaia, Imminent Disaster, Michael de Feo, Bast, Swoon, Thundercut, Maya Hayuk and plenty more but also a number of the graff guys and girls who are holding it down in Brooklyn such as Rate, Avoid, Faro, avone, Sonet, and more. This show opens tomorrow, Friday, January 9.

Some of us may have traveled during the holidays, well Persue and Rime of MSK Seventh Letter also did. They went to China and painted... a lot. Here's some good ole graff and a nice travel video for your day. In other news from MSK the notorious Augor has just launched his website: www.augsdraws.com. Check it out.

The pixel-trio we know as Eboy are putting on their next solo show, Pixorama, in Barcelona at the Rojo Gallery. The show opens this Tuesday, January 13. For years Eboy has been building up their visual language and the worlds they create never cease to amaze and amuse. They rip on and rip off our culture while at the same time creating something entirely new yet very reminiscent.

It's been great to see the massive coffee table books coming out with hundreds of artists and works highlighting the various subsections of our various subcultures. But we also always love the more personal publications by single artists, not to mention knowing that by purchasing these books we support the artists directly. Starting with a few Italian artists and another friend whose work we love here are a few of our favorites that you'll recognize from our past Book Clubs and some you may not know by the likes of Blu, Rekal/Dem, Erica Il Cane, and Maya Hayuk.

In August of 2007 a road trip happened. Well many road trips happened actually but one specifically was much closer to our hearts, The Big Geezers Tour by Carhartt. We saw numerous members of our family traveling together on a tour bus for three weeks across 5500 kilometers. What could you do with your friends on a tour bus for three weeks across 5500 kilometers? You'd like to imagine, we'd like to see. But for now we have the privilege of getting the in-depth & behind-the-scenes story on what these Geezers did in August of 2007. The Big Geezers Tour Book and DVD have just been released and it is not one to be missed.

In the summer of 2007 Iguapop Gallery brought its talent to heliumcowboy in Hamburg to show the Germans how Barcelona does it. This Saturday, January 17th at 7pm heliumcowbow strikes back with its own artistic onslaught on the eagerly awaiting Barcelona public. On display will be new works from 56K (who did the right half of the flyer above), Nina Braun, Alex Diamond, Christophe Lambert, Arturo Sandoval III (from Friends With You) and Stephen Smith/Neasden Control Centre (who did the left half of the flyer). We've been keeping up with the progress of the installation, check back soon for an update with some pics.

The new Modart TV feature about our friends from heliumcowboy artspace.

They've been celebrating 5 years heliumcowboy artspace with a big group exhibition in July-August, featuring:

56k, Akane Kimbara, Alex Diamond, Alexey Mirni, Antonio Santin, Blami, Boris Hoppek, Casey McKee, Christophe Lambert, Jim Avignon, Jon Burgerman, Kingdrips, Karen Koltermann, Ki Yoon Ko, Lena Schmidt, Luiza Mogosanu, Lui Roq, Mike Swaney, moki, Stephen Smith/Neasden Control Centre, Nina Braun, Pandarosa, Patrick Farzar, Rinzen, Thomas Markus Schumann, Victor Castillo, Rai Escale, 4000, and more.

Banksy's paintings have been getting stolen off the streets for a few years now. This is the first time I think anyone has filmed it and actually made an art piece out of the stealing process. The stencil was done while Banksy was in Jamaica a few years ago and the photographer, Peter Dean Rickards, decided to steal it and offer it as a "free" gift for whoever wins the auction on ebay of his photos of the process. Click here to read more.

These past few years all eyes have been turning to South America to see where artist will take their work on the streets, and not just Brasil anymore. This is because of a different set of laws and freedoms that simply don't include people that paint walls on their Most Wanted lists. The seminal book of Argentinean Graffiti, aptly titled Graffiti Argentina by Maximilian Ruiz, has just been released to the global market through Thames & Hudson and if you're interested in the history of this rapidly growing scene this is the book you will want to pick up.

Back in December while helping to set up the BAC! Contemporary Art Festival in Barcelona I met a Chilean artist named Yisa. The work in general in the show was a wide spectrum of all sorts of contemporary art styles, there were artists young and old, and from all over the world. There was quite a bit of uninteresting and uninspired work (ok it was crap) but it only made the rest stand out even more. And Yisa's mural (see above) certainly stood out. He just wrote to us to give us a little more background on himself and his work.

The No New Enemies network and Modart got together with Little Scratch to have a small holiday feast .... with a collection of Little Scratch art on display and live performances from lichtfaktor and truly design on the night, the event also hosted a Belgian Artists Market, where guys and gals from all across this low land came to meet, share and sell their own warez.

The Roa piece done outside with the sponsor paid paint, was one of the highlights. Meeting the amazing Little Scratch family and seeing all they have to offer was another.

Check them out: littlescratch.com

nonewenemies.net

Our good friends from heliumcowboy are busy at work in Iguapop Gallery getting Das Herz von St. Pauli ready to open here in Barcelona on Saturday night. We stopped by to offer some words of encouragement and enjoy some tasty jamon serrano. Here are some preview shots of the mayhem courtesy of our busy friends.

We recently received a great book by the artist Gijs Huijgen which he also combined with an interesting street project. In today's failing economy unemployment has already hit new heights in many countries, the jobs available might not be the ones we normally find at an interim agency, and the "run down" urban areas are set to grow enormously. Böhn Hase is a yellow pages of sorts with beautiful illustrations of the various people and jobs that occupy these run down neighborhoods and keep them afloat.

The New Image Art Gallery in Los Angeles is turning 15 years old and has done more for the young contemporary and street art scenes than most 15 year olds could ever imagine. OK, so it's 15 in gallery years not people years but in that time they have not only hosted shows by some of the most important working artists today but it has been the career launching pad for the likes of both the Date Farmers and Neckface, and the Date Farmers definitely kick ass. The anniversary show opens on January 24th with work from Barry Mcgee, Faile, Os Gemeos, Swoon, Anthony Lister, Tauba Auerbach, Cris Johanson, Kelsey Brookes, Cheryl Dunn, Ed Templeton, Clare Rojas, Judith Supine, David Ellis, Aiko, and lots more. We're not even out of January and 2009 already seems to have its unbeatable superstar show of the year.

Stephen Powers aka ESPO will be bringing his sharpened visual tongue to the Alice Gallery in Brussels on January 29th. The new show, entitled "Semaphores of the Soul" will see a retrospective of some of his best works from the past seven years along with a dozen spanking new pieces, inviting us to reflect on our lives in a language we didn't know we already spoke.

Heliumcowboy's Das Herz von St. Pauli opens tonight at Iguapop. For those of you who can't make it in person enjoy these photos courtesy of heliumcowboy.

While speaking about gifts and books I guess it's worth mentioning some of the gifts we received. This is a book that I flipped out about as soon as I saw it but didn't have the money to buy it at the time. Thanks to a certain friend I'm now the proud owner of the most innovative and unique ABC book I've ever seen. Created by the French graphic and book designer Marion Bataille ABC3D is available through Macmillan and Amazon.

This Saturday, Jan 24th Nice/Nice Exhibition Space in Hannover will be hosting a show of new works by the Swiss artist Mizzo. Her love of clean lines, flowing brush strokes, and the characters that live within those lines is obvious. As we can expect from many versatile illustrators and painters these days Mizzo's work seamlessy traverses nearly all media it touches, whether it be paper, wall, wood, vinyl, cloth, or whatever else crosses her path. If that's not sweet enough for you they're also going to have free cotton candy at the opening.

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Baltimore's own Chris Stain has been taking his politically charged stencil work to another level on and off the streets and with some incredible gallery installations. Opening on Thursday, February 5 is his first LA solo show at Carmichael Gallery. The show is titled "Up on the Roof Countin' Pigeons" and he's planning to transform the entire front of the gallery space into an NYC rooftop. Sounds absolutely sick and it'll be great to see how the lost angelians enjoy a good old-fashioned roof party, even if it isn't in NYC or on a roof. This won't be one to miss if you're around LA.

This amusingly almost nostalgic (or is that just me?) titled fanzine is the handiwork of our good friend Landry A. As the official photographer for the Big Geezers Tour it was his lens that captured every moment of the three week massive mayhem in August of 2007. His fanzine, "Fucking In The Morning Time", contains 72 of his most personal selections from the work he created during those three weeks. On February 7th at miscelänea gallery in Barcelona Landry will be exhibiting his photographs along with the release of his fanzine and the Big Geezers Book & DVD. It'll surely be a Big day all around.

This brand new book release comes from our very own Ephameron. "Found+Lost" is the brand new 192-page sequel to her first publication "Love/Pain" (already on its 2nd printing) and will include all kinds of painted, drawn, collaged, and otherwise visual treats that she has created in the 2 years between 2006-8. The book will be launched at her new mini-expo this Friday, January 23 at Avenue in Antwerp as well as at Hanazuki in Amsterdam on Sunday. 2 days, 2 shows, 2 countries, and Ephameron's 2nd book (and we're almost in the 2nd month of the year). Congrats Ephameron! Nice start to 2 thousand, nein?

This afternoon I received an email from my dad of all people about a photo project by the Danish photographer Simon Høgsberg. Nine times out of ten when my father tells me about an artist thinking it'd be somebody I like I've either heard of them already or the work doesn't interest me too much. This time was the exception. Simon Høgsberg's latest project, called "We're All Gonna Die," is a 100m long collage of photos he took of 178 people from the same spot on a bridge in Berlin over 20 days. The cast of unsuspecting characters in this scrolled-story are amazing and must be seen. The rest of his site is full of other inspirational photo projects, including a trip from Denmark to the Mediterranean with only 14 euros in his pocket. www.simonhoegsberg.com

Stuttgart is the proud home of the world's first skateboarding museum. It was founded by Daniel Schmid and Juergen Bluemlein and houses over 1000 pieces spanning 60 years of skateboard history. Obviously skateboarding has had a massive influence on art, fashion, literature, music, magazine making, and filmmaking and there is plenty of recognition of such throughout the museum. Carhartt along with Stefan Marx have just released a great looking t-shirt and sticker pack just for the museum.

Brad Downey's street sculptures pretty much embody the principles of "street art" (as much as I don't like to use that term) in their use of found materials, the DIY techniques used, their messages and placements, and the publicly liberating mentality behind it all. His metal sculptures have been leaving their almost-invisible yet unignorable impact on us for awhile now and this Thursday, January 29th Stolen Space will be presenting his newest solo show in London, "An Honest Thief." He will also be around on Saturday to sign his new book with Darius Jones, "The Adventures of Darius & Downey."

Don't know much about this video except that it's Matt Beach skating in Portland, OR and that it rocks. via

It's been a little while since we've had any news from Early Griffin but they've just got in touch to let us know about their newest series of prints and they look damn good too. There's new work from Jan Kruse, Lizzy Stewart, and Stuart Kolakovic (in that order above). This is Early Griffin's fourth series of prints and they continue to add to an already very solid roster of artists as well as build on their great aesthetic taste. All the prints are £50 and part of the proceeds even goes to a charity of the artists' choosing, so be sure to check them out at www.earlygriffin.com

We recently posted about an upcoming show at Carmichael Gallery with Chris Stain and we're pleased to remind you that the opening is Thursday, February 5th as well as add to the excitement by letting you know that they will also be opening, on the same night, a four-man show by the likes of Alex Hornest, Ilia of Btoy, Jim Darling, and Sesper titled Lifeline. These four artists are all incredibly and diversely talented and for a few this will be LA's introduction to their work. AND there's going to be Mute (born Andreas Ragnar Kasapsis) showing his work in the showcase space of the gallery. It's a Triple Threat Thursday in LA.

Our good friend Michael de Feo (aka the Flower Guy) has just released an amazingly affordable self-portrait print for only $25. What started as a series of 200 was cut down to 46 of the best quality prints, so there aren't many to go around. If you're interested don't sleep on this one.