herakut "the giant storybook project" comes to rochester!

herakut is one of my favorite contemporary artists. well, its actually two artists: hera is a classically trained painter, and akut is self-taught. together they create some of the most intriguing and compelling mural/'street' art in the world. i stumbled upon them back in 2009 in juxtapoz magazine and immediately went online to find out more.

i first posted about them that day, after finding some great youtube videos. i admired the style in which they worked - the imagery, the materials, the spaces they used and HOW they used them. i missed painting and working in collaboration with my mentor, bill stephens, and this just made me love herakut even more (incidently, you can see bill's and my doodles here, although they are far less interesting and compelling than the work of hera and akut).

they have put out a few books that are worth checking out. i have 'after the laughter' and its a wild ride through their installation and mural work... layed out like a scrapbook or artists' sketchbook.

anyway, the point of this whole post is that herakut has a new project that they are working on with jim carrey (yes, that jim carrey) called "the giant storybook project". they are travelling all over the world painting large scale murals that will be used to create a children's book. the idea is fantastic and so creative, and the work thus far is just what you would expect from these artists.

the best part of this project is that its coming to ROCHESTER! im not sure exactly how we swung this one, but in my mind its a pretty big 'get'. we are the 5th stop, following lexington (kentucky - 2 murals), eresing (outside of munich, germany), montreal, and toronto. (you can click on the city name to see a photo gallery of each mural).

the murals in rochester will be painted at 208 andrews street (between clinton and st. paul), and 480 west main street (just west of 490). the second piece will be a smaller scale and started once the first is completed.

and on top of all of this, hera and akut will be giving an artist talk at RIT on wednesday from 6-8. more details here.

you should stop by and check out their work - they encourage kids and pets. i'll be bringing josh and hopefully some of my students.

check out the video and pictures to see what the whole project is all about. or find our more on the project's facebook page.


Herakut from Bullhorn on Vimeo.

lexington 1 - the beginning

lexington 1 - finished product

lexington 1 - elementary class visit

lexington 2 - finished product

lexington 2 - in progress detail

eresing (st. ottilien archabbey) - finished product

montreal

montreal - detail

toronto - finished product

rochester - getting started!