Right now it would appear that there are new development in the world of Street Art daily, and some times you may want to revisit the best stuff to measure it against what is new and see how it stands up, and check how your perception of the work may have changed. A recognized talent on big walled installations around the world, Street artist BLU pretty much pioneered the category of stop motion animation in the Street Art world during the late 2000s and no one has matched the imagination and ingenuity that BLU brings to everything he touches.
Here’s an example of the freewheeling explorer attitude that characterizes the best of Street Art. Utilizing the least expensive art materials, including garbage, you can make any place a stage for expanding your mind and sense of discovery. A testament to compelling story telling, this nearly 10 minute long video doesn’t feel like a commitment, but rather an escape.
Street Artist Ron English has played many a visual trick on unsuspecting passersby, reflecting normalized consumer culture back through a funhouse mirror to illuminate the darker, more hypocritical aspects of unconscious living. Like the skits on Saturday Night Live, English’s brand of “POPaganda” has to stretch into the outlandish to lampoon the new normal, all for some social commentary that goes down with a spoonful of artistic sugar.
And now, for your voyeuristic edutainment, the reality show format is employed to take you on the revered “road trip” across the U.S. with the new American family: Ron, his wife, and kids (and assistants). Combining stunningly well-appointed suburban normality and bombed out urban abandonment, the gas-guzzling white flight this time is reverse back to the hood for a bit of wheat pasting, cameras in tow. The final part of this brand new trilogy ties it all together, but you’ll notice the juxtapositions almost immediately along with the mundane and satirical. It’s just hard to know which one is which.
Artists, muralists, and graffiti artists How and Nosm – “That’s what we do, that’s who we are.” In this new video they talk about their beginnings in the world of graffiti, before becoming world renowned fine artist and epic muralists.
How can you not be riveted to Al Jazeera online and Twitter and Facebook and Youtube right now as a purely people-powered movement in the streets of major cities all over Egypt is working to dislodge their president? Even after the government shut down the internet in the most comprehensive way in history, Egyptians have taken to the streets to reassert their right to self-determination.
Mint&Serf & BSA @ District 36 Tonight
Joe Iurato and Shai Dahan @ Vincent Michael Gallery in Philadelphia
Exhibition Details
What: Natural Selections & Salvation: Featuring New Works from Shai Dahan and Joe Iurato
Where: Vincent Michael Gallery
1050 N. Hancock St. Suite #63 Philadelphia, PA 19123
When: Exhibit runs February 4th thru February 25th Opening Reception Friday, February 4th 7pm – 10pm
Conor Harrington in Tel Aviv (VIDEO)
Crossing Lines is a short film that documents Irish artist Conor Harrington’s trip to Tel Aviv, Israel and Bethleham, Palestine in May 2010.
Keep your eyes open today for a new print release celebrating American Hardcore superstar and punk poet laureate Henry Rollins. Dude is a far cry from the pretty candy coated mummification of punk that ensued as it became a commercialized lifestyle. This is the first of a two part release by Obey celebrating the quest for truth that fires inside Henry.
18 x 24 Screen Print, Signed and Numbered Edition of 700.
Tackling the little stuff, Street Artist BLU addresses Evolution, the possible end of all life, and the the Big Bang Theory
We’re posting this video online just as New York is going to lunch – or more likely, is ordering lunch for delivery because nobody wants to venture out into the crushing heatwave. This grand opus of animation and ingenious humor deserves the ten minutes you’ll need while crunching on your deli sandwich and potato chips.
Inside of two minutes, Retna puts the lie to some of the street’s arguments about the legitimacy of these three routes that the creative spirit can follow. Turns out that walls only divide.
After leaving the sight of the first mural for the Living Walls Conference I found bugs pressed in between the pages of my notebook; these bugs came in addition to bugs in my ears, up and down my legs and arms and threatening to fly in my mouth while visiting the wall. The almost 100 foot long and 35 foot tall wall painted by Doodles backs up to a wooded area on the BeltLine lovingly called “the jungle” by the people who assisted him and came to watch as he crawled on top of a three level scaffolding to paint, sometimes sporting a respirator.
This “jungle” is a wooded area with vines dangling from the treetops and creates a nice seclusion from the cold buildings and shopping center that surrounds the wall, making it nearly forgettable that it is yards away from a barbwire fence and the intersection of Ralph David Abernathy and White Street in the West End.
The contradictory locations that sit on either side of the first wall is fitting for a mural which functions with so many ideas that are both in contrast to each other but also in close proximity. Doodles developed his theme over time, letting the idea grow as he worked. The direction of the wall changed while the artist was on a short break from painting. Flooded with constant news of the BP oil spill he decided that it was an issue he wanted to cover in his piece for Living Walls. Doodles abandoned the idea of painting a man shooting an arrow at the moon and developed the idea of a beautiful man with sinister intentions. The man, nicknamed “Poseidon”, wraps around the large warehouse holding a large trident with a snake weaving through the middle spoke, creating the illusion of a money sign. The black trident penetrates the man’s abdomen, which resembles the ocean; in this way, the trident mimics the oil leak.
Through out the work folk art style designs are infused with signs that represent the Poseidon figure’s power; Doodles said the single eye represents a God-like power. These signs of power coexist with symbols of the oil spill, like a wail’s tail that resembles an oil well.
Despite the heavy subject mater, there is simplicity to the wall. Not to distract from the message of the oil spill, Doodles left it up to the logos and symbols to speak for the art without distraction of a multitude of colors. In this way, it is the logos and the imagery that stands out in the piece, most importantly the BP flower on the Poseidon figure’s face.
Doodles said that he liked the idea of using the universal language of logos and symbols to convey his message.
Doodles is a 22 year old who smiles often, and has a sweet easygoing nature. Originally from an island off the cost of Washington state. He went to art school for a short time before hoping trains and hitchhiking. He has been working on his art for four years now. Doodles’ piece is on the corner of Ralph David Abernathy and White Street adjacent to BeltLine. The BeltLine is a 22-mile path incorporating railway, trails and paths that once functioned in the mid-twentieth century and has since been reworked to feature public and interactive art.
Doodles work is the first Living Walls mural for the BeltLine Project.
Here’s a Video from Atlanta: Another Street Artist Opinion on BP
And Finally, this New Sticker on the Streets in NYC
Street Art takes many turns and I frankly never know where it’s going to turn up. Technically, it would seem that some street artists are always challenging themselves, and you, to reevaluate your core assumptions. Like this ornate sign decoration, which, by the way, does not impede drivers ability to see the message. You wondered how this one stayed up, right? – This week it was in Dumbo, Brooklyn and at first it seemed quite impossible that it was taped to the sky. It appeared in the Images of the Week a couple of days ago – and now there is this video wending its way through the digital world.
As the scourge of financial immorality continues to sprint at top speed through the hallways of power the street artist commentaries are addressing the issue in a concrete fashion.
Here Street Artist Ronzo installs a “Credit Crunch Monster” in a film reminiscent made in the style of silent films during the Great Depression.
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Saturday Night Live Brings Back Previous Presidents to Talk to Obama
“I’ve come back from the dead to tell Mr. Reach-Across-The-Aisle here to grow a pair,” Reagan says.
Two of Street Art’s Strongest Talents Talk About How the Creative Spirit Evolves
The video is produced by The Social Creative, a London based collective which makes films for issues that matter. They work with charities, not for profit agencies and creative and cultural enterprises, including a body of work comprised of web films and short documentaries.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
