~HOW AND NOSM . . last week
talking about . . NUKES !!
and, the grand flux . . of LIFE & DEATH.
HOW AND NOSM – ‘WAY THINGS ARE’
MARCH 7 – APRIL 5, 2014
PACE PRINTS, 521 WEST 26th STREET, CHELSEA, NYC.
more info: HOW and NOSM – ‘WAY THINGS ARE’ / PACE PRINTS
HOW AND NOSM, ‘ENLIGHTENING FACTS’, 2013.
silkscreen with hand-coloring and spray painting, 40 x 52 in. monoprint.
($7,500)
note . . the BASQUIAT-LIKE ‘crown’ at the right.
so. is this how we mutate after the bombs fall, or are these the alien invaders who come in, to pick up the pieces ?!!!!
all the action, both painterly and narrative . . fluctuates on a very very shallow plane.
life vs destruction, life, death / future reality – it’s a ‘MESH’.
a grid-based mesh. the MATRIX.
and it doesn’t exactly look: utopian.
but hey, the birds and ferns and light bulbs look . . hopeful.
or are they . . just ghostly half-lives emanating from the past !!
the traditional wall – between life and death has become a . . m-e-m-b-r-a-n-e.
and, opposed to . . MEMORY !!
what the hell, is memory, now. now – that we are wired to the web.
oh oh whatever is coming out of the ‘box’, doesn’t look so . . hopeful.
more like, ‘coming to get . . ya.’
man vs machine vs robot vs sci fi future.
these pieces aren’t so much anger-filled, as just, laying it . . down !!
Japanese-style, German . . precision.
street art – vision.
HOW AND NOSM, ‘FACING YOUR DEMONS’, 2013.
silkscreen with hand-coloring and spray painting, 40 x 30 in. monoprint.
(SOLD).
facing your demons, ha. it’s a big big sea out there. radar aside.
big enough to swallow a jet plane, and it’s ‘hi-tech’ payload.
black box and all.
BOMBS AWAY, into the SEA !!
the deep watery, watery grave.
plus: love how that grid-like background breaks down into diamonds, American colonial quilt patterns !!
and origami – hooray.
also: a kind of literal . . ‘radar’ depiction ?
all art . . is a membrane in flux, telling a story.
it’s just the . . ‘WAY THINGS ARE’.
and, yes – that is a tear drop.
I’m guessing this represents . . us.
civilization as we know it – graff ‘writers’ aka spray painters . . at the forefront.
note the Basquiat ‘crown’ again / chess ‘castle’ game piece . . just below the spray painter’s hand, at center. under the umbrella’s shade.
‘nozzles’, and variable caps/tips – are key . . to a graffiti artist.
shake that can & channel . . future ‘shock’.
oh oh, looks like we be going down the tubes !!
‘tubes’ and ‘nozzles’ . . rhyme ?
so, what about . . FAUCETS ?!!!
the seahorse / dragon on the other side – doesn’t seem very happy either, broken chains and all.
the draftsmanship is supreme.
NOSM and HOW, with fellow German graffiti artist, WON aka WONABC in the center.
artwork behind them – by WON.
THE CANAL CHAPTER, NYC. JUNE 3, 2006.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
see: BANNED FROM TELEVISION/artlovers
I crossed paths with these guys back in 2006.
they made a very big, if . . non-verbal impression.
speaking of which . . .
watch: HOW & NOSM PAINT . . the L.A. WEEKLY BUILDING, FEB 2012 – PART I
it’s a good intro, but these guys are not exactly public speaking – stars !!
their ‘animation’ and skills – lie in their ‘hands-to-brain’ . . connects !!
though they do bring up . . life before the internet !! FASCINATING & FAB !!
watch: PART II
this is a GREAT !! CLIP !!
mostly because it’s wordless, and has a great snappy soundtrack.
but, a few key facts emerge:
they don’t like the term ‘street artist’, they prefer to be called . . ‘muralists’.
watch: PART III
the finished project, plus a great rambling discourse on the behind-the-scene . . tech issues.
including how they came to use a ‘limited’, black, white, and red . . palette.
very FAB !!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH – except the YouTube screen grabs.