I was finally been able to set aside some time this past weekend to ready Very Nearly Almost‘s issue #17. As usual, VNA have confirmed why they are my favorite magazine covering street art. For their latest issue, which is admittedly not that new so sorry for the delay, VNA interview some of the most interesting figures in street art, including El Mac and Interesni Kazki. Juxtapoz also recently had an interview with IK, but I get bored with Juxtapoz’s interview and found VNA’s interview interesting, so that’s saying something. As long as you ignore the interview with Goldie, VNA has once again shown their commitment to producing a magazine which is equally timely and timeless. They speak with some of the best-known names in street art today, but the magazine will be almost just as readable in a year or more.

The interviews with El Mac and Pablo Delgado were particular highlights for me. El Mac is well-spoken and just seems like a smart guy, which is always nice to learn. And Delgado is a figure who seemed to pop up out of nowhere in London and get bloggers and photographers all wondering “Who the hell is this guy putting up awesome tiny pieces all over Shoreditch?” practically overnight.

There’s also an interview with Malarky which should act as good documentation of his work on Brick Lane given that a lot of it won’t be around for much longer.

For the most part, I read other art magazines because I have to if I want Vandalog to be any good, but I read Very Nearly Almost because I enjoy it.

You can pick up a copy of VNA #17 online.

Photos courtesy of Very Nearly Almost

In this video of Jaz working in Mexico last December, Jaz shares some insights into his thoughts on graffiti, his art and why he works outdoors.

JAZ EN MÉXICO from Filmaciones de la Ciudad on Vimeo.

Photo courtesy of Brooklynite Gallery

El Decertor

Thanks to spending the weekend in NYC for Skewville’s show at Factory Fresh (on now and great), I am late with this week’s link-o-rama. Nonetheless, here it is:

• When David Choe painted Facebook’s offices back in 2005, he was given two options: He could either take a couple thousand dollars as payment, or stock in the company. He chose the stock. Assuming that Choe has held onto that stock, the New York Times estimates that Choe may be worth $200 millions pretty soon. So of course, Choe ended up on the front page of the NYTimes and is being written about all over the web, but he is also a talented artist. Here’s some of what he painted in Facebook’s offices (he just painted their new offices as well) and here’s what Choe and a few friends got up to in Denver recently.
• Eloquent Vandals, a film about the Nuart festival, is now streaming online.
• Ron English has two great new sculptures that are well-worth checking out: Fat Tony (the tiger) which will be for sale as a toy and Hulk Obama, which looks like a customization by Ron that may or may not ever be for sale.
• Another great wall by Phlegm in Sheffield.
• Dabs and Myla have a touching Christmas tradition (now let’s get a fun discussion going in the comments about the ethics/humility of making a video about that tradition).
• This collaboration between Reka, Ghostpatrol and TwoOne turned out really nicely.

Photo by El Decertor

Know Hope sent over some images of his recent work indoors and outdoors. The indoor piece, Substitute, is for an upcoming group show at White Wallsin San Fransisco. That show opens February 11th.

Collaboration between Know Hope and Seth. Photo by Seth

Photos courtesy of Know Hope

Leon Reid IV and Julia Marchesi have teamed up for Reid’s latest project: The Hundred Story House. It’s a sculpture designed to house free books at a park in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill Park. The idea is that the sculpture will function as free library on an honor-system. People can take books or leave them, and the sculpture could be a place where people know they can find great books to read for free. But Leon and Julia need $13,000 to make their vision happen, so they have gone to Kickstarter in the hope of raising that money. Here’s their pitch:

So far, they’ve raised about 13% of their goal, and they have 28 days to go. To support The Hundred Story House or learn more, check out the Kickstarter page.

Sometimes I randomly come across really great artists on flickr, and few things are more fun than that. Most recently, I’ve been exploring Mikolaj Rejs‘ flickr page. Here are some of my favorites from Mikolaj.

Photos by Mikolaj Rejs

ND'A. Photo by ND'A

Three of the finest up-and-coming street artists around just came through Philadelphia. Streets Dept. has some great shots of two spots by Gaia, so I’m going to focus on ND’A and LNY‘s work.

LNY. Photo by LNY

ND'A. Photo by ND'A

LNY. Photo by LNY

There are detailed shots of LNY’s wheatpastes and some spraypainted works by LNY after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

Phil Lumbang is the first American to have a show at Newcastle’s Unit 44 gallery. Lumbang is known for his cartoon characters like his trademark bear, his work with The Hundreds and for being an assistant to Shepard Fairey. Even people (and I sometimes include myself in this category) who usually get sick and tired of the artists who build their brands based on repetitive logos might enjoy Lumbang. Unlike Shepard Fairey or D*face for example, Lumbang’s characters may be repetitive but they are also fun and a bit heartwarming. Who could say “no” to a mural that just tries to make people smile? I’m excited to see how he is received in the UK. New Arrival opens on February 3rd at Unit 44.

PS, the guys at Very Nearly Almost have a little teaser of the show.

Street art is moving online. If you’re a regular reader, you’ve probably noticed that street artists are making art on the street for the purpose of photographing it and sharing the images online (and maybe you remember these posts). I think it is too early to say for sure whether this transition is a good thing, a bad thing or just change, but it has gotten so pervasive that street art that comments on street art now often focuses on pointing out this transition from in-the-flesh street art to art that was intended to be shared digitally. Here are a few recent examples…

1. Reblog This by mobstr (shown above). This piece was painted in Shoreditch, a spot where it would have been seen by countless street art photographers, but it only lasted 7 hours before getting buffed. No matter. Mobstr got a great photo of it and put that photo online. Now it’s all ready to be reblogged on tumblr.

2. What ever happened to street art on the street? by Lush. Both a comment on the proliferation of street art online and the commercialization of the movement. This image is available as a print at Backwoods Gallery. Lush has also made animated gifs of his work, something else that can only be viewed digitally but is created on the street.

3. Fine by Elfo. The text is in Italian and references this work by Giuseppe Chiari. It translates to “Street art is finished, stop all together.” Rather than painting this in a busy city center, Elfo put it on an abandoned building in what looks like the countryside. The audience for the work is (primarily) the audience that will see this photo online and Elfo is well aware of that. Does this mean the death of street art though? Of course not. Chiari continued making art after his declaration, and Elfo has already made more street art. It’s just that Elfo’s public is primarily a digital one, either seeking his work out or coming across it randomly on a site like tumblr, but either way viewing it for free.

For more about this shift towards a digital street and a digital public, here are two posts I wrote a while ago.

Photos by mobstr, Lush and Elfo

As expected, Skewville‘s latest show looks like it kicks ass. Playground Tactics is on now through February 4th at White Walls Gallery in San Fransisco and the Skewville twins have once again put together a perfect combination of smaller drawings, paintings, sculptures and large installation work. It’s playful, but what better way to do art about a playground? Curbs and Stoops have pics of the installation, and here are some of the paintings, drawings and smaller sculptures…

Also, Factory Fresh in Bushwick is hosting a retrospective of Skewville’s work next month. Skewville’s 80th Birthday: A Retro Retrospective opens on February 3rd and runs through March 11th.

Read the rest of this entry »