One of Supertouch’s favorite promising Brooklyn-based artists is DAN WITZ, a classical painter who straddles the very disparate worlds of “fine” and “Street Art” with incredibly unique and separate bodies of work. Coming to prominence recently with a series of photorealistic “mosh pit” oil paintings, Witz has also made a home for his work in the streets with an incredible ongoing series of trompe l’oeil -style mixed media painted photo appliqués that depict his renditions of people imprisoned behind immovable grates and vents that are applied to the sides of, in Witz’s words, “ugly new buildings” as a sort of personal commentary on the dismal state of modern architecture and gentrification throughout the rapidly changing landscapes of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. His recent series, the amazingly titled “Kilroy Variations: Ugly New Buildings” exists mainly on the sides of the forest of new condo buildings that make up the bulk of the borough’s new urban development. In the artist’s words:

“In the past few years much of my neighborhood in Brooklyn has been torn down to make way for luxury housing. For better or worse it’s a whole new street-scape out here. Personally, I can’t say I like the new modern architecture very much, it’s sterile and so arrogantly disconnected with its surroundings sometimes it seems like giant alien space ships have landed in the night. But, at the very least, there’s some interesting new textures and surfaces to interact with. These are photo-based, heavily re-painted stickers, mounted on plastic and glued to the walls of the Ugly New Buildings. I hit the Lower East Side and East Village in Manhattan, and Bushwick, Dumbo, Greenpoint and Williamsburg out here in Brooklyn.”
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Marc Jacobs’ cartoon tatts are tougher than you… 

Supertouch’s own SCOTT CAMPBELL is one of the world’s foremost tattoo and graphic artists whose shop, SAVED TATTOO, also doubles as a clubhouse for Manhattan’s A-list artists, hipsters, and prime movers, and makeshift art gallery for periodic shows featuring work by the city’s brightest young art stars. The exclusive inker of fashion genius MARC JACOBS, Scottie C has branded the designer with all of his permanent icons including cartoons like Spongebob, an M&Ms character, a Simpsons version of himself, Eric Cartman from Southpark’s stuffed animals, his pet bull terriers, a couch on his hip, the word “Shameless” on his chest, two renditions of the logo for porn mag Oui, and an epic forearm tattoo that reads “Bros Before Hos” that is also shared by Campbell and a small circle of friends. Collaborating recently with photographer friend TERRY RICHARDSON, some of Campbell’s A-list clients including Jacobs, and actors LEO FITZPATRICK and LILLY COLE posed for a series of iconic tattoo portraits in TR’s trademark style. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

All this piece is missing now is a little Neck Face…

French painters and, yes, “street artists,” KORALIE and FAFI dropped this tag-team art bomb in Williamsburg last week, upping the borough’s purple factor significantly…

Eli Quinters (top) and Mister Cartoon go head-to-head on the wall in Brooklyn…

Last week saw the opening of the “East Coast-vs- West Coast,” a tattoo fine art show at SAVED TATTOO & GALLERY, owned by none other than Supertouch’s own resident tattoo legend SCOTT CAMPBELL. The exhibition was truly a gathering of talent that showcased some of the best artists working in the trade today, including Chris O’Donnell, Tim Lehi, Mister Cartoon, Juan Puente, Mike Rubendall, Horitomo, Grime, Aaron Cain, Henry Lewis, Bob Roberts, Phil Holt, and Shawn Barber, to name a few. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

A very rare factory paintjob available as an option only on the 1987 GM Handi-Van…

Nothing like a NECK FACE “Eat Your Baby” van sighting to brighten up an otherwise hot, humid, sunny Brooklyn afternoon…

Sao Paulo spirit on the street in the BK…

What? You thought “Too Far Too Close” at DEITCH PROJECTS was the only art show by Brasilian twins OS GEMEOS up in the NYC right now? Grinding away in the gallery for weeks before last weekend’s opening, the bad boys of Sao Paulo still found time to bomb the walls of Brooklyn and leave a little street-level exhibit for the masses on the walls of the Power Brake Service shop on the corner of Clay and McGuinness in Greenpoint. They even took the time to glue fabulous pink sequins onto the shirt of one of thier characters. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »