Beautiful/Decay is proud to present B/D Cover Artist Alumni and talented artist Aaron Nobel’s newest mural and exhibit in Los Angeles. Known for his comic book reconstructions, Aaron’s newest mural in the hip Melrose and Heliotrope intersection of Los Angeles measures at the over 30 x 50 feet!

To celebrate the unveiling of the mural Synchronicity Space (directly across the street from the mural) will be holding a three day exhibition of drawings and paintings by Aaron. The show and mural unveiling kicks off on May 24th from 6-10pm with a set by DJ BlackRainbow and refreshments.  Read more about the mural and see an assortment of Aaron’s work after the jump.

As is normal for Noble’s work, the mural is a highly energized semi-abstraction welded together from familiar-seeming comic book parts. As Noble explains,

“The title, Mojado, has a double reference. First the work is literally painted ‘wet’, with color and texture created partly through long drips of color poured down the wall, and secondly the title alludes to the theme of border crossing (‘mojado’ is the more polite Spanish translation of the English slur ‘wetback’). Since the piece is on the back wall of Eric Berg’s Early California Antiques I thought it should have an aged patina, like the stuff he sells. I also wanted to pay tribute, in my science-fictional way, to REALLY early California, pre-Colombian California, so I’ve embedded a design based on the Nahuatl pictographs for ‘River’, ‘Motion’, and ‘Drum’.  It looks like a pattern etched onto an alien spacecraft. One way to read the work is to imagine that it depicts an entity that is somehow crossing into our dimension from the past and the future simultaneously.”

Synchronicity Space Los Angeles
713 N. Heliotrope
Los Angeles, CA 90029

Thursday May 24^th from 6-10pm featuring a set by DJ BlackRainbow

Exhibition hours (Three Days Only!): 1pm to 7pm Thurs-Sat, May 24-26

Beautiful/Decay Issue: N featuring cover artwork and exclusive article with Aaron Noble. Available here.

Watch a TEDTalk entitled “One Year of Turning the World Inside Out”,  in which Prolific French photographer/street artist JR, who made our  Top Ten Public Works of 2011 post, details a year’s worth of results from his TED-sponsored Inside Out Project. The Project enables large-scale printing and shipping of  photographs from participants all over the world. The prints are then applied toward public art projects of social, cultural, and aesthetic importance.

Make sure to visit the Project’s website, where you can find extensive coverage of the work so far, and info for those who’d like to get involved. Video after the jump.

I’m loving the work of Barcelona, Spain based street artist Faif as of late. He’s recently been taking some well pointed jabs at the art world, street art, and pop culture as a whole with his wonky works on the street. Lets hope he keeps it up and other graffiti artists/street artists follow his lead  to never take what they do too serious. (via)

In 2002 Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada moved to Barcelona where he began his ‘Identity Series’. Gerada was drawn to the beauty of old surfaces and wanted to blend photo realistic images of anonymous locals to question the controls imposed in public space, and the use and abuse of iconic faces to sell us products and ideas. He decided to apply the same approaches used by advertising, such as strategic positioning and size, but with the intention of creating a poetic counter commentary that fades away with beauty. The Identity Series is about initiating a dialogue with a local community through art. These portraits transformed local, anonymous residents into social icons, giving relevance to an individual’s contribution to the community and touching upon the legacy that each life has to offer.

Gerada chose charcoal for its transparency and ephemeral quality. He involves the visual narrative of the textured wall instead of covering it. These time-based portraits gradually deteriorate. They become a metaphor of the fading of life, of fame and of the things we first thought were so important. The creation of the “Identity Series” is also an act that is environmentally sound and at the mercy of the natural world. The pieces fade away like the warmth after an embrace. The photo realistic drawing is only an aspect of the piece. The importance of the piece is the whole process of creation, destruction and memory. Watch a video of Gerada in action after the jump.

Spanish street artist Escif paints short vignettes of bizarre happenings, surreal situations, and humorous moments. Drawn in a flat graphic style that would lend itself well to story book illustrations, Escif’s narratives embrace the unpredictable, free, dark, wild, and nebulous passerby’s on the street and transplants their stories on city walls.

Filthy Lurker’s sculptures walk the fine line between site specific installations, street art, and teenage gags. His website states that “his art is sparkling with humor, recklessness, and shocks you to look at the world in a new way.” What do you think? Is he merely a prankster who works on a large scale or does Mr. Lurker have something profound to say?

Carlos Donjuan’s paintings combine his years of painting graffiti with the knowledge that he has gained in academia. By interweaving art history references with graffiti art’s history, Carlos creates a hybrid way of thinking made from art jargon and slang from the streets. His paintings work as narratives that are greatly influenced by everyone from Michelangelo to Alice Neel to Twist to Revok. There are elements in these works that deal with personal influences such as Catholicism, Mexico, Oak Cliff, illegal immigration, politics and family. The portraits not only tell stories, but also document several cultures and movements that these individuals are a part of.  Movements and cultures such as skateboarding, fixies, turntablelism, street wear, sneaker heads, graffiti and Hip Hop.

Chicago based Kay Rosen manipulates text and typography to change, alter, and redefine the meaning of various words and phrases. Her manipulations transform not only the meaning of the texts but also act as typographic illustrations on a grand scale. (via)