The Big Picture 2019

Barb Pullin and Thomas Carr "hang paper" at 40 West
Getting permission to paste is HIGHLY recommended.

The Gallery of The Streets

The biennial event, Month of Photography 2019 is in full swing, and a big part of MoP is The Big Picture. As usual, Reed Art & Imaging figures heavily into the mix. To date, we’ve printed over 220 large scale wheatpastes for some 25 artists and photographers. This year’s event marks the first time MoP wheatpaste art has been printed in full color.

For the uninitiated, the most commonly known example of this once ubiquitous advertising medium is French painter and printmaker Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who raised the practice of bill posting to the level of street art in the 1890’s with his elaborate scenes of wild Parisian nightlife.

Though the popularity of the art form has ebbed and flowed, it has never gone away, and, in some respects, has even gained in popularity. Known as “flyposting” in the United Kingdom, street artists like Shepard Fairey leverage this old school marketing tactic to make provocative social and political statements, oftentimes in contradiction to the accepted or conventional wisdom of the day.

The basic wheatpaste equation? Image on paper + paste + wall + guerilla attitude = Street Art.

(Street Fine Art?)

As with all things MoP, The Big Picture has been advancing the cause of photography through the art of wheatpaste for some time now. In addition to Denver, Big Picture 2019 exhibitors can be seen in galleries and streets across France, Italy, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, New York, Jamaica and Mexico.

Closer to home, the father of MoP and The Big Picture, Mark Sink spearheads the wheatpaste cause with activities across the Denver Metro area.

Below, Mark & Friends (including some of the Reed gang) on a recent wheatpasting of the south wall of the 40West headquarters in Lakewood.

For more information on MoP 2019 events around town:

https://www.facebook.com/bigpicturedenver/

https://www.mopdenver.com/mop-2019#/thebigpicture2019/

https://www.facebook.com/events/764664260718312/

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/deconstructed-brunch-tickets-58461443752

All photos by Gary Reed

Staff Wheat-pasting for Month Of Photography 2015.

 

Every two years the highly energetic creatives here at Reed turn things up to 11 when Month Of Photography(MOP) comes around. This bi-annual event has gone global in its reach and this year was no exception. MOP 2015 has seen large-scale gallery participation in support of photography as an art form, and the outdoor attraction of wheat-pasting is exploding in popularity. We’ll have a several posts covering activities around this event, but this bit of fun is one of our own.  This is the second time that we have made the exterior of our building available for wheat-pasting artists during MOP. An art form traditionally using black and white images on inexpensive paper, this year our team decided to go bold with a splash of color. We had a great time hanging the work of our in-house artists with a special section reserved for winners of our social media competition. This show’s curation and direction was handled by our own Barb Pullin and Gary Reed.

The reviews for this show have been mixed. Traditionalists don’t care for the color – some quite adamantly against it, while those willing to step outside of tradition are looking to embrace it in their works for the next MOP.   Have a look and let us know your thoughts. Should wheat-pasting be black and white only, or do you appreciate the color?

Update: We’ve had five pieces stolen from this show – peeled right off the walls!

 

Behind the Scenes – Outdoor Installation for Month of Photography

It’s a busy street corner, and the building is vacant, but an eyesore it’s not. Now dressed in the fine art of Liz Hickok, the building is now sporting jewel like colors and makes a bold statement – all in honor of a show at Michael Warren Contemporary Gallery in Denver’s Santa Fe Art District.  Part of the bi-annual Month of Photography, this is just one of dozens creating a buzz. Liz Hickok’s amazing art joins pieces from all over the globe. Kick back and relax as Gary Reed and Jody Akers install this magnificent artwork.

GRAYS, Curated by Sarah LaVigne and Printed by Reed Art & Imaging

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Sarah LaVigne inspects mounted prints in the Reed finishing department

 The Curator

Sarah LaVigne curates ‘Grays’, a gathering of images that explores the world through the eyes of photographers, Annie Marie Musselman, Michael Lewis, Acacia Johnson and Mandy Barker. Reed had the honor of printing and mounting these images for Sarah’s exhibition at SPACE Gallery. The show is sponsored by Picture Society and runs February 12 through March 21. It’s just one of many exciting events scheduled for Month of Photography Denver.

 

Reed finishing tech cleans a print mounting board

Keeping the print clean and dust free is priority one at Reed Art & Imaging

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Reed printer, Dan Walters collects a print off the spooler

 


The Artists 

 

 

 

"Penalty" By Mandy Barker

“Penalty”

Mandy Barker
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Mandy with a barnacle encrusted soccer ball

“769 marine debris footballs, plus 223 other types of balls were collected from 41 different countries and islands around the World. They were recovered from 144 different beaches by 89 members of the public after an online appeal over 4 months.”

 ~ Mandy Barker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

"Caedus & Ladyhawk"

“Caedus & Ladyhawk”

Annie Marie Musselman

Annie Marie Mussleman

“I photograph through very small holes, in an incredibly strong fence which protects me, but barely keeps me from falling in love with these highly intelligent, beautiful beings.”

~ Annie Marie Musselman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Michael Lewis in Boat

Untitled

Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis

 

“Self-portraiture allows me to experience empathy for the people I photograph.  I feel an obligation to my subjects to remain in touch with how it feels to be in front of the camera.

The images shown here originally started off as a series of still-lifes photographed in domestic settings, showing situations which address the repercussions and catastrophes of a common life.  Slowly the ideas drifted into the outside world.  The themes are less literal and more fantastical.  The work evolved and eventually split into two separate bodies of work.  Loosely entitled “Tales,” this new project drifts away from images anchored by reality.   They are constructed open-ended narratives which rely on symbolism and metaphor; as well as mystery.  With intension, often nothing is revealed.”

~ Michael Lewis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Acacia Johnson

acacia_polaris1_CC

“These have been, without question, the radiant highlights of my time in Arctic Bay. I absolutely love it. I try to photograph it, and often I have to resort to digital, because what else are you going to shoot in the dark on the back of a moving Skidoo or dogsled at thirty degrees below zero? At first I perceived this as a failure of some sort, on my behalf. Now I can see it is actually a miracle. That the ISOs of digital allow us to capture images that never could have existed. The best camera is the one you have with you. There will be photographs.”

~ Acacia Johnson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

The Last First Friday of MoP

1stFriday_April_2013First Friday Art Walks in Denver are always a blast. The galleries open their doors to the public for later the normal viewing and a little “wine and cheese” type atmosphere. Whether you are in the Santa Fe Art District, known as the hub of the Denver art scene, or any of the seven others around town, you are bound to see amazing art and some fascinating characters.

The creative community in Denver is

Sticking Your Art Where It Doesn’t Belong; The Big Picture Project

The Month of Photography is upon us! One of the events in Denver, Colorado for 2013 is The Big Picture street art project. Led by local photo impresario Mark Sink and co-hosted by Art-Plant and Artwork Network, The Big Picture plans to paper the outside walls of buildings around Denver with large format prints of images from local, national and international photographers. The first Big Picture in 2011, exchanged images not only with cities around the United States, but cities in South America, Switzerland, England, China, Mexico, Canada, France and Germany. The 2013 Big Picture will be sending and receiving photos from across the U.S.A. and around the world!

 

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Toulouse-Lautrec with on of his posters for the Moulin Rouge

“Street Art” is generally defined as: ‘art, often political or dealing with social themes, displayed on streets, sidewalks or walls of public spaces and often without permission of the property owner.’ There are quite a few types of media used in the creation of street art. The medium we normally associate with street art – paint, is actually fairly new on the scene. Bansky, building on the earlier paint-and-stencil work of John Fekner and Blek Le Rat has, over the past 15 years, become the most well known artist in that genre.

The medium of wheat-pasting paper on walls dates back to the nineteenth century and was used mostly for commercial purposes: advertising of products and events, especially circuses. Art and commerce began to merge in the 1890s when Toulouse-Lautrec’s posters for the Moulin Rouge, theaters and other events, papered the walls of buildings around Paris. Ernest Pignon-Ernest took wheat-pasting to a higher level and has been pasting amazing art projects on the walls of Naples,

obama-hope-style

Shepard Fairey’s 2008 “Hope” political campaign poster

Soweto, Brest, Ramallah and more since the 1960s. In the United States, Shepard Fairey gained notoriety as a sticker and wheat-paste artist with his “Obey Giant” series and achieved national recognition with the 2008 Obama “Hope” poster.

 

Computers and wheat paste have joined forces to bring photography to the streets. Photo files submitted to the Big Picture are being emailed around the world to sister cities in the project. The files are then printed and pasted locally. The Colossal Reed Art & Imaging Galactic Headquarters (CRAIGHQ) building at the corner of North Ninth Avenue and Federal Blvd., was the first Denver location to be pasted to kick off The Big Picture Project for 2013. Mark Sink, Peter Davies and others in the Big Picture pasting crew were joined by Gary Reed, Barb Pullin, Jody Akers, Bob Jewett, and Merhia Madsen (and her daughters Annabelle and Maggie) from Reed Art & Imaging to put the first batch of images up on the walls. The work at Reed isn’t complete! In addition to more Big Picture images to arrive, Reeds’ employees will be pasting the building with their own fine art images in the weeks to come. Also to be included will be several images from the winners of Reeds’ recent facebook contest held in honor of The Big Picture Project and the Month of Photography. Make sure you stop by to see what’s new!

 

The Big Picture website will be posting a map of the locations where images have been pasted locally and around the world. Look for it so you can take your own tour and see the amazing art prints posted on the walls about town! If you’d like to get in on the project, Big Picture is taking submissions through March 15. So hurry on over to the Big Picture website for all the details and get your photographs on the street!

 

Click to see the e-book of Big Picture Project images from 2011, and watch for the 2013 book due out later this year!

 

Additional Links:

The Big Picture Facebook page has plenty of pictures of the pasting at Reed Art & Imaging.

Fresh Art Photography will be taking part in the Big Picture project.

YouTube: Ernest PIGNON-ERNEST – Les peintures urbaines (4:42) A retrospective of Pignon-Ernests’ wheat paste installations in HD!

Month of Photography at Bardo Coffee House

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Bardo Coffee House at 238 South Broadway in Denver has an exciting show featuring 3 fantastic artists for the Month of Photography. The show titled Sensual Fiction at the Bardow highlights 3 female artists at their best.

Curated by Richard Peterson for Month of Photography, the show features photographs by Terri Bell, Valerie Photogoddess and Wendi Schneider.
A recent outing with several members of the ReedArt & Imaging TrueArt team gave the show (and the lunch with coffee) a unanimous two thumbs up. Drop by Bardos for a cup of coffee, the friendly service, and the fantastic fine art photography.
The show hangs through April 1, 2013.

Artwork by: Wendi Schneider
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