Roger Gastman + NTWRK’s “Beyond the Streets” Digital Art Fair
Free to view and featuring one-of-a-kind pieces from FUTURA2000, Guerrilla Girls, Shantell Martin and more
Author, curator and graffiti historian Roger Gastman’s roving street art exhibition, Beyond the Streets, has celebrated and extended the legacy of many seminal figures in the explosive artistic movement. On 5-6 December, when many folks would usually be clamoring for exhibitions and events amidst Miami Art Week, Gastman and shopping platform NTWRK will showcase a variation of Beyond the Streets, this time as a digital art fair with more than 100 unique pieces from some of the biggest names in contemporary art—at an array of prices. And as with any other fair, Gastman has not neglected the spectacle of it all: NTWRK will drop engaging short-form videos every 15 to 30 minutes during the free two-day event.
For his in-person exhibitions, Gastman had never been into the idea of simply placing work in a white cube. For an online iteration, he certainly didn’t want a static virtual fair or website viewing room that was anything like what he’d seen thus far. NTWRK approached him with the idea of a fair driven by fast-paced video content. Gastman spoke with some of the visionary artists he’d worked with before and realized this might let a new generation of viewers into their world for education through entertainment.
“We have edited together well over 50 pieces of content from the artists—that’s several hours of short-form video, from 45-second spots to 10- to 15-minute conversations [like Pushead with Shepard Fairey and Fab Five Freddy with Futura], most of which have never been seen before. That includes behind the scenes in artists studios,” Gastman tells us. Viewers don’t need to sit in the app all day though—they can hop in and catch up as they please.
Regarding curation, Gastman wanted to extend the event’s offerings and explore beyond the expected names. “We wanted to have a really big range. We wanted to surprise people. We wanted to tweak things,” he says. For instance, “We are doing a collection with Garbage Pail Kids. We got 50 artists to reimagine their favorite Garbage Pail Card. They’re print-on-demand and only this weekend.” The roster of talent involved also includes Felipe Pantone (who served as the fair’s artistic director, too), Mister Cartoon, Guerrilla Girls, Kenny Scharf, Shantell Martin and even Action Bronson.
From Chinatown Market and André Saraiva to Rammellzee and Maya Hayuk, Gastman secured “the best works we can get.” He adds, “The point of an art fair is to showcase artwork and hopefully place the artwork,” but that they’re trying to “tell a message over a weekend. You can sit in your house. You can enjoy this and be inspired and see some of your favorite artists and learn about some artists that you do not know and follow them from there.” And as entertaining as it sounds, everyone will likely benefit from the art education, too.
You can download the NTWRK app for free now. Beyond the Streets runs 10AM to 7PM PST on 5-6 December.
Hero image courtesy of Mister Cartoon by Steve Zeitzoff
