FREDDYSAM The artwork of Cape Town based street artist FREDDY SAM

I am on a 4 month travel , research ,painting expedition /adventure.

Follow the project and my Tumblr for info and updates.
http://thecolourproject.tumblr.com/
&
http://freddysam.tumblr.com/

For WWF to promote Earth hour I was invited to paint 2 murals ,1 for JHB and 1 for Cape Town
This was my first time using all acrylic and no spray
(And the last time i will use sprays)
I hosted a workshop with a group of kids in each city to inspire the artwork
In CT we exhibited all the kids art and projected them over my mural for Earth hour
CT mural was in collaboration with Selah (CT) and REMED (MADRID)

Video by Rowan Pybus coming soon

JHB mural
Image Freddy Sam


CT mural
Images by Freddy Sam

Keep reading →

‘WAYS OF SEEING’ JAN 24 - MARCH 9TH 2013 - The result of a month long painting project in Cape Town and Johannesburg curated by Ricky Lee Gordon aka Freddy Sam (Cape Town) with international artists in residence KNOW HOPE (Tel Aviv), Gaia (NY), and Franco JAZ Fasoli (Buenos Aires) . TRAVEL BLOG: http://www.acrylicwalls.tumblr.com PROJECT SPONSORED BY: The Maboneng precinct, The Woodstock Exchange and /A WORD OF ART. .

View my works in the Catalog online here: http://www.a-word-of-art.co.za/exhibition-space/present-exhibition/

See great reviews of the project here:
http://blog.vandalog.com/2013/01/acrylic-walls-a-love-letter-to-south-africa/
and
http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/2013/01/21/acrylic-walls-gaia-jaz-know-hope-freddy-sam-in-s-africa/

Below images by Matt Ginsburg

Excited about this current painting project I am curating.

Curated by me, Freddy Sam (Cape Town) with international artists in residence KNOW HOPE (Tel Aviv), Gaia (NY), Franco JAZ Fasoli (Buenos Aires)

Johannesburg: Dec 23 - 29 / 2012
Cape Town: Dec 29 / 2012 - Jan 30 / 2013

WALLS / TRAVEL / COMMUNITY / ART / EXHIBITION

Exhibition opens at /A WORD OF ART Jan 23 and runs till March 10
/A WORD OF ART - 66 Albert Rd ,Woodstock Cape Town.

Project sponsored by:
The Maboneng precinct, The Woodstock Exchange and /A WORD OF ART.

Follow the project here:
http://acrylicwalls.tumblr.com/

In 1982 Emile YX (Then a school teacher and now legendary Hip Hop activist) wrote a letter to Martha Cooper introducing himself and the small scene here in Cape Town /South Africa.
30 years later i had the privilege of bringing Martha Cooper here for the first time for I ART JOBURG
I got to take Martha to the birth place of SA Hip Hop; Mitchell’s plain introducing Martha to Emile and the pioneers of South African Graffiti, Jammo and Baby.
Martha brought the letter that she saved all those years..
Jammo showed us the very first Graffiti piece in South Africa that he painted in the late 70’s .

Street dialogue with Paul Senyol.

I started adding some street talk/poetry around woodstock,only to find Paul Senyol adding to my work along the way.
Resulting in street dialogue adding to each work over a few weeks.

Progress images by Klaus Warschkow who documented the conservation.

Check my part of the street talk series here:

Pic of the final wall
More pics to follow as my friend Sydelle Willow Smith has promised to get me some better (non instagram) shots. :)

I have been commissioned by the city of Cape Town to paint the Gardens MyCiti Bus station.
Heres the start
More pics to follow this week.

For the last 7 months I have been planning,curating and organizing http://i-art-joburg.com/
Allot of hard work,good people and good times has now come to an end.

Artists:

Remed

Cameron Platter

Roa

Steve ESPO Powers

Falko

Above photos by Martha Cooper.

I got to paint 1 day in Soweto,My favorite day of the project by far.

And ran a mural workshop with the kids.(More like a collaboration)

See here for more pics from the day,
http://i-art-joburg.com/i-art-joburg-crew-day-trip-to-soweto/
Above photos by Sydelle Willow Smith

Martha Cooper was here for 4 weeks documenting the project.
I really got to know the living legend quite well and we have become dear friends,I am humbled by her energy and humility.(And the great big smile she always has on.)

Photo by Sydelle Willow Smith
One of the greatest things I’ve had the pleasure of being part of
Martha Cooper SOWEBO/SOWETO zine.check it out here
http://i-art-joburg.com/martha-cooper-soweto-sowebo/

Curating her work at the final show is defiantly one of the highlights of my life,

See more here:
http://i-art-joburg.com/

Now time to take this inspiration and do some painting of my own.

This was an amazing experience.

Yesterday National Geographic spent the day filming with me,as part of a documentary on South African cultural ambassadors to come out at the end of June.

I started this new mural for them to film.
“We listen to the colours of our city,Peace Love Creativity”

I have been here,for 5 days,I think (My jetlag really hit me)
And everyday seems to get better.
I have not made any art in the last 4 months,not a painting and not even a sketch due to my focus to building /A WORD OF ART and /ANDPEOPLE where I act as a organiser,curator,producer and creative director.
But im not complaining i love to compose situations for other artists,an appreciating audience, and for a greater local culture overall.
South Africa is starving for production,so it needs to be done,The culture is there,in fact the more I travel the more i realise how much we have and how unique and fresh it is.

But as i always say,”we are all artists it just depends on how much you bring it out”
So when Gaia invited me to openwalls Baltimore and sent me a photo of my wall,the artist inside me got as excited as a 5 year old kid ready to bring it all out.
My imagination and vision started to align,a sort of art jazz started to play inside me.
Now I am here working on the biggest wall I ever made,and i am truly very happy and humbled for this life i get to live.

Gaia for openwalls

Adding some colour to my wall
‘Acrylic mountain”

Martha Cooper is a legendary documentary photographer of the early hip hop and graffiti movements,responsible for books such as “hip hop files” and “subway art” which were partly responsible for the explosive boom of the movements,
She is based in NY but was born in Baltimore and in the last years bought a home here,near the neighbourhood from where she was born,I was honoured when she invited me for a tour of her home and gave me a signed photograph and a copy her classic “street play” book.

Exploring the freight train grave yard




Doodles(Bay area USA),Interesni kazki(Kiev Ukraine),Specter (NY USA)

And at the end of great day we had a feast fit for kings :)

The Baltimore Boys

IM GOING TO BALTIMORE!

For:
OPEN WALLS BALTIMORE
http://openwallsbaltimore.com/

From the Curator Gaia
“Open Walls Baltimore is a project that I have been personally co-ordinating with the not for profit Station North and is supported by the PNC foundation and a generous Our Town grant from the NEA. The intention is of course to produce great art on the streets and put on for my city that I love so much. Yet, of course, as every public art project must be, the OWB initiative will hopefully produce more than just spectacular murals. This is about an investment in a neighborhood that is burdened by 150 vacant homes and bridging the gaps between the artist community that calls Station North home and the residents of Greenmount West. Inspired by my experience with both Wynwood Walls in Miami and Living Walls in Atlanta, this initial and very exciting start will hopefully result in a continued support for public art and experimental intervention that can become more holistic as time moves forward. The current line up is as follows: Interesni Kazki, Maya Hayuk, Swoon, Specter, Doodles, Jaz, Ever, Freddy Sam, Mata Ruda, Nanook, MOMO, Vhils, Sten and Lex, Chris Stain, Jetsonorama, Overunder, and others. The website is now live. More to come!!!”

Artist Gaia,and Photos here are by Martha Cooper and info comes via http://blog.vandalog.com/
Follow the project on FB here;