ANIMAL » Aakash Nihalani

Parting Shot: Go!

Bucky Turco — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:50:21 +0000

Finally, some street art from Aakash Nihalani that doesn’t suck! Brooklyn, NY. |Photo: Jim Kiernan|

Street Artist Sticks Out in India

Will Sherman — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:50:31 +0000

Tape-laying street artist Aakash Nihalani has been doing some traveling, sticking up his geometric designs in Vienna, for the BLK RIVER Festival, and now India. Highlighting how essential documentation is for many modern street artists, Nihalani posts proof of his cubic work before it was quickly peeled off some stone structure in New Delhi.

Photos by Aakash Nihalani

Street Artist’s Interactive Work Is Just As Boring As His Gallery Work

Bucky Turco — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:50:16 +0000

The thing about Aakash Nihalani’s work is that it doesn’t always work, even when it’s outside and illegal. So it’s even harder to justify this 2-dimensional concept in a 3-dimensional medium. But go ahead and check it out, it’s fun for like 5 seconds. |Hragvartanian|

Street Art ‘Doesn’t Work in a Gallery Setting’

Will Sherman — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:49:48 +0000

In contrast to my colleague’s positive take on Poster Boy’s latest work at Jajo Gallery, Jordan Seiler offers a more critical perspective: “PosterBoy’s transformation of the gallery space doesn’t address the underlying advertising and public space issues his work in public so effortlessly tackles….On top of this Aakash’s work looses its spatial relationships, merely becoming a way to hold PosterBoy’s billboards to the wall, albeit in an artistic fashion. I thought to myself, even more than most street art, this work just doesn’t work in a gallery setting.” |Public Ad Campaign|

Poster Boy: Gallery Artist & ‘Anti-Consumerist Zorro’

Bucky Turco — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:56:55 +0000

Recently, the ad rearranging vandal known as Poster Boy collaborated with fellow street artist Aakash Nihalani and some other guy named Ibrahim Ahmed III for an exhibit at the JaJo Gallery in Newark, New Jersey. Unlike his previous show at Easter District, which really had no room to breathe, this installation was far more sophisticated and despite the legality, works! Along with the exhibit, a bandana clad Poster Boy appears in this new video that documented the creative collusion and refers to him “as a kind of anti-consumerist Zorro with a razor blade.” If that’s the case, maybe a mask is in order, because that disguise isn’t disguising much. Click below to see the somewhat revealing footage and hear his philosophical musings.

Photos by jim kiernan

Video by NorthernSoulFilms

Neo-Cons Conspire In Brooklyn

Bucky Turco — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:45:21 +0000

Poster Boy—the artist not the movement—is showcasing some new collaborative installations with fellow Neo-Con Collective members Aakash Nihalani and Ellis G. at 17 Frost Gallery in Brooklyn Saturday, March 21st. For those fluent in art fag, here’s the lofty description of the exhibit: “Their works, on and off the street, possess urgent relevance to modern societal contradictions and conflagrations, confronting the humanness of discomfort and dissatisfaction with typical, routine, existence.” Considering what happened last time he showed up, Poster Boy fall guy Henry Matyjewicz might want to avoid the event altogether.

Public Space Hacking Conspiracy Grows

ANIMAL — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:45:00 +0000

|Photo: Poster Boy|
After recently teaming up with Jordan Seiler of Public Ad Campaign, in a series of work that promises to become bolder as the project develops, Poster Boy has expanded his collaboration further, forming alliances with Ellis Gallagher and Aakash Nihalani, to form a new collective, Neo-Con. Poster Boy noted that the latest work was “originally a collaboration between Poster Boy and Jordan…However, Aakash and Ellis couldn’t wait to get their filthy mitts on the blutiful wall.”

ANIMAL recently caught up with Jordan via email to catch up and talk about the new work, and what we can expect from these artists in the future, who intend to scope out illegal advertising outdoors to create new public space. Talking about the spots they used in their latest collaboration, he said, “They are private contracts between the landlord and NPA outdoor that are not permitted by the DOB…our first collab would be to hit those during the day to see what we could get away with, to see if the cops stopped us —which they didn’t.”
All of these artists are working in the public space, often during the day while commuters, pedestrians, and even police pass by going on about their day. The work they create has fallen into a gray area of legality, with Ellis for instance being reknown for the roadblocks he has faced while working. Jordan explained plans to boldly push this issue further, “[T]his spring would be a much larger version of this project. Ideally we would get together about 40 people to go out during the day like me and PB did, painting about half the NPA ads white. Maybe 250… As you can see what Akash and Ellis did fits into this idea. PB and I believe that advertising is responsible for the criminalization of public space usage by the people who actually live in the city. By releasing the space back to the people we are illustrating the environment we would want to live in as opposed to the one we currently live under.” -Paolo Mastrangelo

Aakash Nihalani Exhibits Art Better Suited for the Street

ANIMAL — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:08:31 +0000

|Photos: ANIMAL|
On Friday, Poster Boy collaborator and tape laying street artist Aakash Nihalani unveiled a solo show in Brooklyn. The work consisted of the signature cube-type stuff he does on the street as well as some laser etched mirrors and painted canvasses. Like many street art exhibits in gallery settings though, the justification for the work is hard to reconcile when the illegal nature of it is removed. Similar to the major flaw of the 11 Spring Street project, when sanctioned, the work lacks punch. Luckily, he’s not moving exclusively into the gallery scene and will still create stuff for the public which ironically, will likely be worth more than than the more polished stuff. More photos after the jump, including our favorite spotted on the way to the gallery.

Additional images via Javier Hernandez-Miyares:

Poster Boy Takes On the World

ANIMAL — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:45:04 +0000

The underground, subway ad remixing artist known as Poster Boy has been on a bit of a rampage lately after taking a brief hiatus. In a new series of alterations, the culture jamming artisan takes shots at the media, fast food, bad shows on Fox and even gentrification—in one instance giving a movie poster for Nicholas Cage’s latest box office bomb Bangkok Dangerous a much more fitting facelift considering a certain Brooklyn neighborhood’s increasing popularity. Collaborator Aakash Nihalani rejoins Poster Boy, attacking the insides of subway cars too. Click below for the creative cluster of constructive vandalism.

(Photos: Poster Boy)

Aakash Nihalani Gets On Board With Poster Boy

ANIMAL — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:53:05 +0000

Just this week we noted how Poster Boy was stepping up his game and true to form, he’s now even collaborating with other artists. Plus he’s not only hitting the subway advertisements, but now also posting stuff up inside the actual subways too. His latest collection of work was done in partnership with Aakash Nihalani, an artist we spotted outside NYU’s Barney Building back in May that uses neon colored tape to create 3D-ish shapes. Click below for a sampling of the new underground images.

Photos: Poster Boy