About this project

(video is an example of Mare139 / Wendelbo collaborations, we'll use this piece as one of the stencils for this project! see below for the street version!)

BREAKING NEWS!!!! NEW-YORK BASED HIP HOP THEATER FESTIVAL (WWW.HHTF.ORG) WILL MATCH YOUR DONATIONS IF WE REACH THE $2500 MARK!!!!!

MORE BREAKING NEWS!!!! WE HAVE BEEN DONATED A WALL TO WORK ON AT ART BASEL MIAMI DEC 1-4 2011 - HELP US GET OVER THE $10,000 LINE SO THAT WE CAN BRING DOWN THE CREW & EQUIPMENT AND KICK-ASS ON THE INTERNATIONAL ART SCENE THAT IS ART BASEL!!!

What's happening: New York artist Carlos Rodriguez aka MARE139 is having a major show at the Carrack November 19th, with installations and live work open to the public week 12th - 19th. MARE139 is a legendary sculptor and graffitti artist from the very early New York graffiti scene, he's the kid running the south Bronx in the documentary 'Style Wars' .... 

Besides sculpture: MARE139 & Wendelbo will be collaborating on a stencil / graffiti art 28' x 8' street mural outside the Carrack. The wall we will tag will be comprised of 1'x1', 2'x1', 3'x3' and 4'x4' and even 4'x8' panels which YOU CAN BUY NOW!!! This a live, raw, genuine street art ad-hoc composition.... what you buy is blank wooden canvas right now... you must trust our skills!!!! you chose your panel before we start, after that, what you get is what you get (great art and a piece, however small, of Durham's history!).

We may (or not) start with something derived from this.... we'll see....

By buying a panel NOW you are empowering us to purchase the materials we need to create this large mural AND pay for the more ambitious aspects of the show, funds permitting,  Carlos will be installing site specific large sculptural works coming out of the gallery through the windows and onto the street...

WHY PRE-funding the show? sculpture installation is expensive, as is bringing MARE139's large sculptures down from New York to the Carrack: this live street art project will cover the expenses associated with this show, travel, shipping and materials....

Another (different) detail of what might come out of this ... again we shall see! (@#$%!)

This picture below gives you a feel for what we are going to do... but this not exactly what we'll do of course, and depending on community participation we might go bigger too, since we'll be doing this live and off-the-cuff no-one really knows how we're going to go on this one!

About Mare139:

Carlos Mare139 Rodriguez is a 2010-11 Scholar in Residence at New York University's Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, a 2010 USA Artist

Nominee, and a 2010 HHTF Creative Grant award winner.

A NYC based sculptor/painter who in 1985 pioneered a novel version of urban graffiti as modern sculpture. Throughout his career as a sculptor, Mare139 has consistently brought innovation to the genreʼs aesthetic and vocabulary. His admiration of early Cubist, Futurist and Avante Guarde sculpture inspired the investigation of merging aesthetics between 'graffiti' styles and the vision of such movements. Often citing the influences of modernists Picasso, Gonzales, Tatlin and others in his metal sculpture work he also recalls the style masters of his generation, Noc167, Dondi White, Kel First, by close participation with these artists and exposure to many of the finest examples of early modern sculpture he confidently perused on a quest to reinterpret modern graffiti by bridging it to earlier periods of modern art.

Exhibiting and lecturing throughout the US and Europe he lends voice to importance of arts advocacy and art literacy to ensure and promote the rich cultural legacy of urban arts. His works have been exhibited at The Grand Palis in Paris, Whitney Museum at Philip Morris, Brighton University of Art -England, and various galleries domestically and internationally.

Beyond fine art Mare139 designed the award for the Annual BET/Black Entertainment Award, recipients include Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Prince, Jay Z, Prince Snoop Dog, Beyonce, Kobe Bryant, and many others.

An early adaptor to emerging technologies he was a community advocate for artists in NYC inspiring them to join the digital revolution during the early 1990s. Subsequently he earned the prestigious 2006 Webby Award for his launch of the Hip Hop documentary Style Wars website.

In 2006-07 Mare139 worked closely with Actor/Director Robert DeNiro on the film The Good Shepherd as a documenter of ʻthe making of the movieʼ and as member of Mr. DeNiroʼs editing team.

In addition his writings have been published in collaboration with Martha Coopers brilliant photo book Street Play that documents the imaginative ʻplayʼ of children in NYC during the late 1970ʼs. His writings capture the creative play and dangers of his youth in the South Bronx.

More at www.mare139.com, www.M139design.com