JBAK STATESIDE – Washington DC and Sarasota Florida

JBAK have had a busy month in the U.S. with big murals in both Washington DC and Sarasota Florida.

First up the boys landed in Washington DC to participate in the 2013 Murals DC project organized by ‘Words Beats & Life‘, a non profit organization who’s mission is “to transform individual lives and whole communities through the presentation & teaching of the 4 elements of hip-hop culture.” (rhyming, djing, break-dancing, and graffiti)

JBAK worked with local youths from the program to develop the concept for the mural and used them as the models for the mural as well.  The young adults pictured in the artwork are from the area and actually helped each day in the painting of the mural.

Thanks to Mazi and the whole crew at WBL and the team at Revive DC for all your help.

‘Shh’

Before

the big BUFF

Murals DC

‘Shh’

Addison at work

Detail

‘Shh’

Detail

James at work

Detail

The second stop was Sarasota Florida where JBAK was invited to participate in the ‘Going Vertical’ part of the massive Sarasota Chalk Festival.

The canvas for the mural was a former warehouse that supplied all the ice and beer for the city of Sarasota for years.  The building has been many things since those days but the locals have always referred to the building as ‘The Ice House’.  JBAK decided to keep the old Ice House vibe alive and painted this future contemporary art gallery with an icy mural melting in the hot south Florida sun.

Big thanks go out to Denise and the whole crew at the Sarasota Chalk Festival as well as Sam and Ross and the rest of the team at the Ice House and Alfstad& Productions.

Ice House

James at work

JBAK at work

Detail – hands

James at work

Lizard watches Addison work

Detail

Detial – ice

Detail – Melting drips

Street view

Detail – Blue Light

Detail – Fingers/Drips

JBAK Thinking

Ice House

Timelaps video… the making of ‘Hands1’ for Project M

here’s a quick little timelaps video documenting the process of painting ‘Hands1″ for Project M (covered in a previous post here)

enjoy!

(to view the video in HD, click through and watch it on Vimeo)

and here’s a view of the finished piece…

‘Stick Up’

JBAK was asked to create a piece for Strychnin Gallery‘s 10 year anniversary show titled ‘All My Stars’.  The lineup for this show is quite impressive with names such as Miss Van, Liz McGrath, David Stoupakis, Chet Zar, Kris Kuksi, and Mark Raden to name just a few. JBAK’s piece is titled ‘Stick Up’ and is oil and acrylic on salvaged wood.  It is 25.5×55.5cm.

Nice new directions for JBAK on this piece.

‘All My Stars’ opens on Friday August 16th in Berlin.

Project M

JBAK was recently invited to take part in a very exciting project called PROJECT M.

2015 will see the opening of Berlin’s (and Europe’s) very first Contemporary Art museum focusing on urban art and JBAK along with a very heavy hitting lineup of artists such as Faile, Sit, Sage Vaugn, and Reka One have been asked to “get the party started”.  As renovations begin on the 5 story future museum, our mission was to create an original artwork to fill the windows and facade of the ground floor of the space sparking interest and excitement in the community.  JBAK designed and painted their very first large scale canvas work titled Hands1 for their window.

Big thanks to Yasha and her team for the invitation and for a very well organized and enjoyable install day.  MUCH more to come from this project we are sure.

Finished

Working on Hands1

Finished

Hands1 in window

Street View

Street View

RekaOne working

Project M

Faile

Spätkauf Kunst Aktion #4

Recently JBAK took part in an interesting project called “Spätkauf Kunst Aktion #4”.  For four years running, artists from Germany and around the globe have been asked to create artwork either in or on one of Berlins most special treasures… The Späti.

A Späti (or Spätkauf) is basically an all night or at least late-night convenience store where Berliners acquire their supplies for the day/evening/night/late-night (beer, tobacco, snacks…).  ‘Spätkauf Kunst Aktion’ brings art to these locations and therefor into the communities and to the people who live there.  It is a nice project and JBAK was proud to be a part of it.  Here are a couple of shots of the painting that was created.  Super big thanks go out to the very special Serhat who works at the Späti and posed for the portrait.

If you are in Berlin you can see the painting (and say hello to Serhat) at Pannierstr. 41,

Drip

‘Drip’ is the most recent installment from the JBAK boys.  This painting was done for ‘The CIRCLE SHOW‘ at the Urban Spree gallery in Berlin.  The painting is 90cm in diameter and was painted with oils and acrylic on the underside of a wooden table top found in Berlin.

Many thanks go to Andrea Wan, Rylsee, and Johannes Mundinger for organizing the show and inviting JBAK to participate along side such a great list of artists.  The show is still available to view until August 2nd and is definitely worth checking out.

“The Tallest Mural in Arizona,” a documentary film…

It is finally here.

Kitchen Sink Studios presents “The Tallest Mural in Arizona,” a documentary film on the creation of a new mural in central Phoenix by Berlin-based JBAK.

Love. Art. Family. Rebirth. All of them converge in one place in central Phoenix as James Bullough and Addison Karl, the American-born and Berlin-based mural artist duo known as JBAK, create a stunning piece of public art as part of the revitalization of a high-rise office building into a creative hub.  This mural marked the debut return of JBAK to their native country and their first large painting back in the states.  As the planning and development stage of the project progressed, what started out as just another JBAK piece quickly turned into something much more powerful and personal to the artists.

Enjoy the film and read the post below to learn more about the Phoenix mural

‘Generations’ a new mural in Phoenix AZ, USA

In April, 2013 JBAK were invited to Phoenix, Arizona as their debut return to the US and for JBAK’s largest mural to date.

The two people depicted in the mural are Chris Neito, a 5th generation Phoenix native and a huge supporter of the arts and the city of Phoenix itself, and Addison’s grandmother Maxine, who herself has lived nearly her entire life in Phoenix and is now the matriarch of 4 generations of Phoenix natives.

Addison viewed the opportunity to paint his grandmother as a “chance to give something back to a woman who has been in my entire life with nothing but support and love for every decision I have made. The chance to show her in person what she has meant to me is one of the rarest chances we get in life.”

For this piece JBAK attempted a new technique of working together deciding to work over top of one another rather than dividing the sections of the portrait as they have done in the past. The linear hatch lines of Addison would create the shape of the two figures and fill their silhouette with color and texture.  James would then paint the photorealistic elements on top creating another layer to give the actual definition and details of both Chris and Grandma Maxine.

Phoenix is well known for it’s intensely vibrant and colorful sunsets which create hues that run the spectrum from yellows, oranges, magentas, blues and purples. This was the basis for the color theory of the mural. It was the largest color range JBAK have worked with on one project at around 23 colors.

Special thanks to Bob Karber, Tim O’Neil, Grandma Maxine, Chris Nieto, and everyone else who helped and supported us on this massive project.

Much love – we will be back.

Building Before

JBAK at work

Detail

Detail

JBAK documentary film

COMING SOON…

Kitchen Sink Studios presents “The Tallest Mural in Arizona,” a documentary film on the creation of a new mural in central Phoenix by Berlin-based JBAK.

Love. Art. Family. Rebirth. All of them converge in one place in central Phoenix as James Bullough and Addison Karl, the American-born and Berlin-based mural artist duo known as JBAK, create a stunning piece of public art as part of the revitalization of a high-rise office building into a creative hub. Chris Nieto, who commissioned an Addison Karl mural on his downtown Phoenix building a year prior, was enlisted by JBAK to find a building owner willing to commission another work. Nieto connected with building owners and developers Tim O’Neil and Bob Karber, whom recently purchased an office high-rise on a very busy intersection in Downtown Phoenix. O’Neil and Karber saw this as a rare opportunity to commission a very special piece of public art and jumped on the opportunity to commission the artists to paint a mural.
O’Neil and Karber suggested painting local Phoenicians as the subject matter, which excited JBAK. Karl chose his Grandma Maxine as one subject, and O’Neil suggested Nieto as the other. As the project unfolded, it became more than just a piece of public art. It became an expression of love not only for painting, but for family and friends as well. The film will be unveiled approximately June 11th — so keep an eye on Kitchen Sink’s social media feeds for more information.

Magdeburg Mural for Mystique Art Festival

JBAK just got back from a week in Magdeburg Germany where they created a mural for the Mystique Art and Culture Festival. The festival runs from June 1st until July 28th 2013. For more information about the festival please visit the event page here.

Although mother nature tried her best to stop the boys in their tracks, the team was able to push through and create this impressive double portrait facing the trainline.

Big thanks to Karsten, Alex, Michel, Felix, SKAM, Strichcode Art, Vegan Kitchen and the rest of everyone we met that was so nice to help us and host us.

Magdeburg Whisper