December 2008

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas soup lines….

RIPPED from today’s headlines comes this — (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)AP – Skittish employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, dramatic proof the country is careening deeper into recession.

Another unemployed artist blogging to you live from a free wi-fi pannini chain deep in the heart of a lifeless NYC shopping district

Oops, sorry to report that more people were kicked to the curb last month in the U.S. than since Sonny and Cher were still together (never got over that). Hmm, 1974. Yes, another great man was in the White House at the time, working hard to cement a permanent legacy of low approval ratings. New York was on the cusp of a debilitating financial crisis that forced program cuts across the board, many of our youth were fighting in an aimless foreign quick-sand war, and alienated teens here were in the MTA trainyards tagging the 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,A,B,C,D,E,F through Z trains.

“Don’t worry babe, I’m TOTALLY going to score that job from the temp agency Monday. Totally. Everything is going to be cool! Come on, you wanna dance? Yo, I just requested some old-school Prince! That’s your jam!” (artists unknown) (photo Jaime Rojo from “Brooklyn Street Art” book)

Since you don’t have a freaking job anymore, it’s time to make some street art, right?

Our neighbors to the south in Virginia, have found this solution – (from Fredericksburg.com)

NEW STUDIO IN FREDERICKSBURG TO SHOWCASE MODERN AND URBAN ART, STARTING THIS WEEKEND SPRAY PAINT AS FINE ART

Spray-can art exhibit at new Jackson Street Gallery
Date published: 12/4/2008 BY SUSANNAH CLARK

When artist Jeremy Gann lost his IT job last January, he started looking for less expensive canvases to paint on.

“I started painting on spray-paint cans because they were all I could afford,” he said.

Gann is now the owner of the brand-new Jackson Street Gallery in Fredericksburg. Gann’s spray cans, as well as aerosol-can creations from other established local artists, can be viewed at the gallery’s opening exhibit, “Contents Under Pressure.”

The show will have a First Friday reception tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

Along with decorative spray cans, “Contents Under Pressure” features paintings and sculptures inspired by graffiti and other urban contemporary art.

Gann, who has lived in Fredericksburg his whole life, said he was inspired to create the show by street artists he encountered while visiting New York City.

“People tend to look at [urban art] as lowbrow,” Gann said. “I want to show people that graffiti is a lot more than junk on a wall.” read more here