Metropolis, URNY & Col Walnutts / Courtesy of André Smith.
Recalling the hidden art spaces of the East Village art scene of the 80s, André Smith has created No Window Shopping, a traveling art show and residency that is situated in hard to find, windowless spaces, for the serious art lover. Playing with an idea of viewership popular in 70s and 80s, where artists apart of the downtown New York art scene pushed the boundaries of sharing art by eschewing traditional museum exhibitions.“No Window Shopping is a response to people liking art work enough to Instagram it but not enough to fully engage the work, “ Smith tells The Creators Project. “That’s what I mean by no window shopping, people have to come to a tucked away space to engage the work and talk to the artists. I want people to enjoy and embrace it and not be distracted by getting the right shot.”Featuring three New York based pop artists, BEAU, Sam Kirk, and the graffiti collective, URNY, No Window Shopping: Phase ii uses works on wood and canvas to explore topics of identity and urban politics. “The show is a purpose-driven response to local affairs and current events,” says Smith, who also serves as the curator of the show. “Phase one was all about photography,” says Smith. “In phase two most of the work is done on wood. It has a different energy to it like the work Keith Haring was doing in New York in the 80s.”.Sam Kirk’s mixed media on wood, When Hip Went Hop, figuratively explores the global nature of hip-hop by mixing mainstream American styles with Japanese cultural references. The characters in Kirk’s La Capitana, and Colored Hands, “gives a certain warmth to what some people call a polarizing subject matter,” explains Smith. “The characters on her canvases feel familiar, like people I have passed on the street.”BEAU, the New York-based street artist, takes a playful approach to identity. In works like Untitled (Mickey), Untitled (Donald), and Untitled (Daisy), the artist paints cartoon characters collaged wood pieces. The works function as a kind of self-portrait for the artist who has tagged his name in bold letters across walls in all five boroughs of the city.URNY works reflect graffiti through self-expression more closely. The collective’s “Model Citizen,” collage work features a wheatpasted picture of singer Rihanna with a "Post No Bills" sign covering her face —a scene typically found on wood doors of construction sites around New York City.“The long term plan is for New Window Shopping to do a two state residency in America, and then we are going to the UK in the spring of 2016, says Smith. “I have followed these artists careers and I want people to appreciate their work and do the Instagram thing after.”No Window Shopping: Phase ii is on display through September 18, 2015 at The Yard: Space to Work in Williamsburg. For more information on No Window Shopping click here.Related:5Pointz Graffiti Artists Sue Developers in Long Island CityA Renegade Art Show Pops Up on an NYC Subway PlatformFor The Open Source Graffiti Movement, Digitized Tags Are Just The Beginning
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