Thursday, August 27, 2009

Philip Lumbang X Abztract : Limited Edition Shirt / Print Drop

It is our pleasure to announce that ABZTRACT has released the very first shirt by Philip Lumbang with his three infamous HUG LIFE bears. Along with the shirts, we have also dropped a limited edition 100lb archival prints of this fantastic design.
The limited prints + shirts are now available at our Abztract SHOP*.

All prints are signed and numbered and the shirts will include a screen print of Philips signature on the sleeve along with the ABZTRACT logo on the back of the shirt.

* Please note that all orders will be shipped out September 14th.

If you have questions about print/shirt orders, please hit us up at info@abztract.com

Shirt+Prints will be available at the Philip Lumbang solo event in LA September 15th. Come by at 8 pm to:

724 s. Park View Street
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Abztract Team

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Heads Ain't Ready - Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc.

We are big fans of beatboxing, beats and Djing. Both Abztract co-founders consider themselves (below crappy) living room Drum & Bass / Hip Hop Dj's.
Just disregard that our bootleg turntables have Techniques written on them with two K's in them (we got them out of a back of a van down by the river) we still enjoy a good DJ video. So this is especially rewarding. A bit freaky, weird, and fresh. Just the way we like it.

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc. from Chris Cairns on Vimeo.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Luna Park X Becki Fuller Interview : The Street Spot Captured

New York City is the street art capital. Yeh, we said it. Prove us otherwise, and we will change it, but until then, we stand by it.

But with the ever growing street art scene and with fresh talents getting out into a city that for the most part, respects and appreciates it, it is no wonder that more photos of the work is being captured and archived.
In NYC (and much like most cities), the street art community is a tight network. Most artists either know each other directly, met each other more than a handful of times or have atleast 3 degrees of separation between themselves and their fellow artists.
But no one is more known by anyone and everyone in the NYC underground (and above) than Luna Park and Becki Fuller.

Luna and Becki art both photographers and street art enthusiasts. The combination of both their Flickr accounts totals more than 10,000 photos. They have captured thousands of street art pieces on camera. Their love and passion for street art, along with the talent to photograph the artwork in a beautiful manner is a combination that has gained them much respect and love from artists around the world.

Now, Becki and Luna partnered up with our friends at Robots Will Kill to bring The Street Spot. An online blog that will be the Grand Central Station for all the photos taken by Luna and Becki. Along with posting the images (which was the only option on Flickr for them), The Street Spot will broaden their horizons to add interviews, reviews and much much more.

So we chatted a bit with the two ladies and had them tell us about what inspires them, what made them start capturing street art and even who they hope to photograph one day.


BGB: You both have been photographing street art for a while now. What was your initial reason to start photographing street art/graffiti? Do you remember your first street art photograph and how it got you into continuing to capture that art form?

Becki Fuller: I was working at a job out in Crown Heights, and one day I noticed a bunch of Gore B stickers all along my path home. I didn't know Gore B, but I knew that he was in the Endless Love Crew with my friend Royce Bannon. Royce asked me to take pictures of the stickers and from there I just kept going. I had always noticed graffiti, but never street art until I took that first picture...then I started to see it everywhere. It became like an Easter egg hunt for me - I didn't know where I was going to find it, so I just started going everywhere.

Luna Park: It's all Swoon's fault! I came across one of her wheatpastes in Williamsburg and it completely floored me. Up until then, I was completely oblivious to art on the street, so it really was an eye-opening experience. Once I knew to look, I started seeing street art and graffiti EVERYWHERE. At first I only shot what I would come across on my daily travels to and from work, but soon enough I was hooked enough to start actively going out looking for street art to shoot.


Swoon (photo by: Luna Park)

BGB: What have been the most interesting pieces you enjoyed capturing? Are there any artists you particularly look forward to find?

BF: I think that Luna and I would both probably put Revs at the top of our lists. He was the first graffiti/street artist that I really noticed in a meaningful way and since then he has constantly found ways to evolve as an artist. Those metal pieces of his tend to blend very well with their environment and are usually in places where you would least expect to see them. So, yeah, I get pretty happy whenever I spot a new one. I also look forward to Skewville (always full of humor and wit) and Swoon (an untouchable combination of beauty & talent).

LP: I really enjoy good placement, that is, pieces that have been purposefully placed, be it to make a statement, interact with a specific locale or just provoke a reaction. Coming across work by artists like Dan Witz and REVS is especially rewarding because both are so adept at placement, that it's sometimes a real challenge to find their work.

BGB: You both chose to partner up with Robots Will Kill to form "The Street Spot" after having very successful and highly viewed Flickr accounts. Why did you choose to start the street art blog now?

BF: Luna and I had been talking about starting a blog for about a year before we actually went ahead and finally did it. To me it's just another way to keep things fresh and exciting. I always enjoy a new challenge, but once the excitement of that challenge fades away, I tend to lose my enthusiasm. So with street art I have constantly found ways to keep myself interested by taking on new challenges, weather it is learning about low light photography in the tunnels or starting a blog.

LP: I primarily see the blog as an opportunity to expand on the documentation work we both enjoy ... and share our knowledge and enthusiasm with a wider audience. We're friends with RWK, so it seemed like a natural progression to launch this new venture with the support of like-minded people.

BGB: When did you both decide to be photographers? What triggered it?

LP: I've had a camera for as long as I can remember, essentially since I was in grade school, but I've never had any formal training. I took a break from photography in the early 2000s - due to a lack of creative impetus more than anything - but since I started documenting the streets, I've gotten back into the habit of photographing regularly. Traversing the city and confronting a wide range of shooting environments and conditions has been really critical for honing my craft - there are definitely skills I feel need more improvement, but I enjoy the learning process tremendously.

BF: I grew up in the Syracuse hardcore scene, and I remember buying my first SLR camera so that I could shoot a Sick of It All show at the Lost Horizon. I had always enjoyed taking pictures with my point and shoot, but that was when I first started getting a little more serious about the quality of my pictures. Of course I didn't know how to really use it at first, but I took some classes in college and even re-opened an unused darkroom at a local community center. But that was when I was in my teens and early 20s...I fell out of anything beyond point and shoot photography until recently when street art revived that interest.


REVS (photographed by Becki Fuller)

BGB: As a photographer, are you ok with photo enhancements, cropping and photoshoping of images prior to being published (yours or others photos)? Or do you feel that the photo should remain the way its captured?

BF: Up until about a year ago I was a real purist about not wanting to alter my street art photographs. But then I started comparing my photographs to those of friends who were using editing programs, and I realized that mine kind of sucked. I've come to believe that in the context of Flickr, photos look better when they are more polished and enhanced to bring out details that may otherwise be lost.

LP: People definitely achieve remarkable effects post-processing their work in Photoshop - that's an artform in and of itself - but I generally limit my editing to slight cropping, adjusting contrast and occasionally bumping saturation. Digital photography certainly lends itself to all kinds of manipulation, but it's no substitution for thoughtful in-camera work. Good composition cannot be created after-the-fact in Photoshop...

BGB: What is your favorite neighborhood to capture art?

LP: Anywhere in Brooklyn.

BF: I like Williamsburg & Bushwick, because I live in the area for the last 10 years. Not only does it attract most of the good street artists that come through the city, but I have also become much more familiar with my surroundings in a way that I otherwise would not have. Some serious changes have gone down around here. I'm constantly discovering new shops and restaurants, but also watch as many of my old favorites disappear. There is probably a French or German word out there that describes how this makes me feel...

BGB: What artist do you hope to photograph one day that you have not already?

BF: Miss Van is a big one for me. I actually have photographed her work, but I don't really count it because my camera with all of the pictures on it was stolen while I was in Spain a couple of years back. I really don't like thinking about that very much...

LP: It's not a particular artist but a place that I'm itching to photograph: at the moment Sao Paulo is at the top of the list.

BGB: So with "The Street Spot", will you still be uploading regularly to your Flickr accounts? What do you hope to gain with TSS that you couldn't with your Flickr account?

BF: Well, at the moment we have to because The Street Spot site is still a work in progress. But in the future I don't plan on leaving Flickr completely, though I definitely want to move more towards focusing more on the website. I think that one of the benefits of our starting a blog is that we can now work together as a team and really consolidate our efforts to form a stronger unit. The same goes for our partnership with the Robots Will Kill guys. We all bring different strengths to the table and we all benefit for the people that we choose to surround ourselves with.

LP: I definitely plan on continuing to upload to Flickr, as there are always things of a more personal nature that I wouldn't post to the blog. Moreover, I'll document artists in which I'm personally interested and continue building my street art photo archive.

The way I see it, the photos only tell half the story - the blog gives us the chance to add text to tell a story, flesh out a background, draw parallels, make connections, put things in context, etc.
BGB: Do you feel that you are out photographing more these days then you used to? or do you wish you had more time to go out more often?

LP: I'm not out as often as I'd like, but there's this pesky thing called a day job that eats alot of my time.

BF: I was a total spaz about hitting the streets during my first year of street art photography. I would walk for hours after work just about every day of the week and then take even longer trips on the weekend. Since then I have achieved a much better balance between how time consuming this hobby can be and having a social life outside of it. I have two jobs, play in a soccer league, hit as many openings as I can, hang with my friends both in and outside of street art, and still find time for photography. Sometimes that involves getting up very early, but I'm a social person and it would kill me to be isolated for any length of time.

BGB: Any last words to anyone who is starting out with photographing street art out there in the world?

BF: All that really matters is that you enjoy what you're doing. The rest will fall into place.

LP: Never leave home without a camera and if you can get a good shot, take it right away, because in the words of Faile "nothing lasts forever".


You can view the Flickr accounts for both Luna Park and Becki Fuller by clicking here and here.

Thank you to Luna, Becki and Robots Will Kill.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Sunday Painting

Lazy Sunday. Artist Shai took this unused shelf and enjoyed adding some Midnight Marauder inspired art.

Hope you all had a lazy sunday too.

New street work by ELBOW-TOE

Loving the new art piece ELBOW-TOE posted onto his Flickr account. Looks fresh.

Friday, August 21, 2009

National Best Seller - By Seiler

Our friend and featured artist Jordan Seiler put new photos of another phonebooth installation from his Best Seller install series.
Seiler, who runs Public Ad Campaign which is a site dedicated to reclaiming public space from illegal (and legal) advertising, has recently began a series of installments using best seller books.
We think these are very fresh and complimenting to any passerby New Yorkers. Enjoy.

P.S. You can see some photos of Seiler in his studio prepping for an earlier Best Seller install from early July. Just click here. We have a video interview with him coming very soon.


Justin Emerson Sneak Preview

Abztratct featured artist Justin Emerson sent us these photos this morning of a sneak peak at the double sided skate deck he painted for our ABZTRACT SHOP.

This looks way more awesome than we ever dreamed. Coming to the shop soon so stay tuned and stay Abztract.


Early Bird Special





Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Art Building

Hey, look at that.  I spy Shiro.  I spy....Biggie Smalls.  I spy....(click to enlarge and find someone you recognize)

Dickchicken Pizza - Best Dickchicken slices in town

Dickchicken hit the town lastnight. Here is a photo of one of his new pieces.

click image to enlarge

Gaia hits Manhattan

Abztract had the pleasure of seeing Gaia put this beauty up lastnight. The details in the process is as intricate as the detail in the art.



Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Illegal poster. The freshest Eagle in town.

Pandemic Gallery Art Show - August 22nd in NYC

If you are in NYC this Saturday and want to catch some great artwork from some amazing talents (including recently added Abztract featured artist Royce Bannon), then check out this event.

It features work from Matt Siren to Dark Clouds to Kngee and many more.
So take a break from working at the office on Saturdays or watching Family Guy episodes online, and come out to this event. Abztract will be there reppin' it up.



The Street Spot - Site worth seeing


Luna Park and Becki Fuller have both been highly recognized names in the street art community for documenting the NYC street art and graffiti scene with their cameras for many years.

Now, Luna and Becki have partnered up with our pals at Robots Will Kill (which is the collective of both Abztract featured artists Chris and Veng among a few others). With this partnership, they have started a site called The Street Spot where they will be bringing photos of street art + gaffiti from NYC and all around the world. They will also have artist interviews, visits to studios and much much more.

We here at Abztract are very excited about this. The Flickr accounts for both Becki and Luna have been very famous and visited by us here at BGB atleast once a day if not more to get updated on the most current street art in the NYC scene. They are both very talented and extremely passionate about the art community.

So we recommend all of you to check out The Street Spot as well as the Flickr pages for both Luna Park and Becki Fuller.

Paint. Shoot. And be Marry.

Upcoming Featured Artist : ROYCE BANNON



We love monsters.  Heck, who doesn't?  But we especially love the creatures that were made infamous by the talent of Royce Bannon.

Born and raised in NYC Royce has had time to claim the five boroughs with his monster creatures.  From walls to doors and everything in between, his monsters have been invading the NYC street art scene for a long time.

Royce is also a member of the Endless Love Crew which is a street art collective of some very talented artists including Celso, Abe Lincoln Jr, Anera and Infinity.

So we asked Royce about joining the roster here at the Abztract artist collective and he was down.  So, make sure to keep an eye out for some original, exclusive Royce Bannon art to hit the Abztract SHOP soon.  

Here is some of Royce Bannon's work as well as his website ChoiceRoyce.com 

Royce Bannon and fellow Abztract Featured Artist Veng from RWK




Royce and fellow artist Matt Siren 

Royce and fellow Featured Artist Chris from RWK

One Love


Not sure who made this, but its awesome.

UPDATE: This was done by FAKE (thanks Unurth)

Yote takes some Coyotes for a walk in AZ

Artist Yote did these wheatpastes in Navajo Nation, Arizona. Some really cool looking stuff.
you may click on the images to enlarge for more details.


Via our friends at Unurth

Cross Walk Street Art - The unnoticed art form

Street Art is not set to one sort of medium. It does not require spray paint on a wall or a stencil to be cut. Street art (at least in our opinion) is any form of art displayed on, with or part of the streets. It is taking the art outside the four walls of the galleries and placing it in the wide open space of the public.

Here at BGB we enjoy giving props to street art from around the world. From time to time, we come across some stuff that is no necessarily a stencil painting or a character on the wall. Sometimes we find some great stuff that takes the things you are so used to seeing on a daily basis, and making an alteration to it. Sometimes its subtle and goes unnoticed by many. Sometimes is obvious and cracks a smile upon passerby.

When we came across this on Urban Prankster, it made us smile. Granted, I never pay attention to the cross walk instruction signs and if one of these ever was displayed in front of me, I would probably not notice. But, having it photographed for the purpose of showing the art, it kind of makes us want to slow down and pay more attention to the streets.
After all, there is art everywhere in it.





Via Flickr

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Upcoming Featured Artist : VENG (RWK)

We were stoked when Chris from Robots Will Kill accepted our invite to join our Featured Artist Collective. We have been following Chris and his partner in crime Veng for a while now and enjoyed both of their work. So we invited Veng to be part of our featured artist crew and he accepted as well.

Veng is an artist that has been taking murals and street art to a whole new level. He has worked with stencils, paint, boards and wheatpastes. He has been part of the Robots Will Kill collective for years and has worked on many murals in NYC and beyond. We are very happy to have him be part of Abztract and can't wait to see the work he will be providing to our fans.

Check out some of his work below as well as his Flickr page.

Veng along side Chris RWK and Flying Fortress









Monday, August 17, 2009

Shai Dahan Time lapse Video

Artist Shai Dahan recently worked with Gizmodo.com on a custom made Summermodo surfboard.

The folks at Gawker were cool enough to tape the process and edit this into a very nice time lapse.

Enjoy. Video edited by: Mike Byhoff


Sunday, August 16, 2009

HUG LIFE : Philip Lumbang Art Show Sep. 12th in LA

Our good pal and featured artist Philip Lumbang, known for his awesome bears and peaceful wooden area creatures, is having a solo show in LA on September 12th. We highly encourage anyone in LA to attend this event. Philip is a fantastic rising artist that has been getting a lot of love for his happy bear murals and art. Check out the invite below and keep an eye open for some exclusive products featuring the HUG LIFE BEARS from Abztract dropping very soon.
Don't forget that we have some original art from Philip in our shop too.

You may click on the image to enlarge for details.  



Art Around The World - Titifreak at Rio de Janerio

We have not had many postings this past week of fresh stuff mostly because last week we had big announcements of our upcoming Featured Artists such as JMR, Justink, Justin Emerson from San Fran and Chris from RWK. Next week we have some additional announcments but we figured to take some time to bring you some gorgeous art from around the world.

This piece in particular was done in Rio by Titifreak.




via Unurth

Friday, August 14, 2009

Post No Bills - Our favorite Bills

Art around the world - C215 in Paris

A really great new piece from C215. Seen in Paris.





Thursday, August 13, 2009

Upcoming Featured Artist: ChrisRWK


Abztract has been announcing some fantastic new artists who will be joining our Featured Artist Collective in the upcoming month. This week we have been announcing the new artists including JMR, Justink, Justin Emerson and today, we take pleasure in announcing that Chris (RWK) has joined the collective as well.

Chris has been the brain-child of RWK (Robots Will Kill). With his site RobotsWillKill.com and an extraordinary illustration/painting skill, ChrisRWK has been getting very well deserved respect in the street art community.

From Staten Island, NY, ChrisRWK specializes in canvas, murals, painting and even has a RWK clothing line. He has worked with other talented artists such as Veng, Flying Fortress and even Abztract Featured Artist Billi Kid.

We are stoked to have ChrisRWK on our artist collective and will be announcing the release of his art design/print that will be available on our SHOP soon.

For now, check out some of ChrisRWK work below.