Seems like the streetwear blogs have been drooling over this latest toys from Kaws. His Pinocchio toys and shirts are about to be released, and all the usual Kaws lovers are of course eager to get their hands on this new design. But AnimalNY tells it like it is:
His latest partnership is with Disney and for me, like graffiti writers painting legal walls, there’s something weak about obtaining permission from the companies that should be getting knocked-off.
I’m not particularly a Kaws hater. In fact, I like A LOT of his work, both new and old. This new toy is pretty meh though, and I just don’t get why everybody is so excited about it. And yeah, kind of funn that he actually licensed the image from Disney. To be fair to Kaws though, his graffiti days are long behind him, and I don’t think anybody should have any misconceptions about that. He’s an artist/designer now. Not a subversive artist/graffiti writer. Nothing inherently wrong with that. It’s just a change (though admittedly not a recent one).
It’s had like a million views at this point (and I’m not exaggerating) so you’ve probably seen this video already, but it’s still fun to watch. If you’re a fan, you can support the Poster Boy movement, the new Poster Boy book, The War of Art and the new street art/graffiti legal defence fund K.A.R.A.T.E. (about time we had one of these) in four different cities on Saturday night:
I wasn’t planning to make much mention of Banksy‘s latest work (the above stencil which can be found at a beach in Hastings). As usual though, it seems the story surrounding the art is more interesting than the piece itself: The Hastings graffiti removal squad will be leaving Banksy’s work alone. Not something entirely new from town councils. What I really love about Hastings though is what councilor Jay Kramer has said about the situation:
I think this is great.
I know that we have a zero tolerance policy on graffiti, and that is absolutely right. However, we have to be flexible so on this occasion I have agreed that Banksy can be an exception to our rule and can stay.
So, the town has a zero-tolerance policy on graffiti (and presumably street art too) except in cases where the work is an instant tourist attraction. In those cases, the policy is not so zero-tolerance. That’s a “Banksy-tolerance” policy, and that’s a pretty short-sighted way of doing things.
Been in NYC for the last few days. Besides being busy, it seems like the hotel I was at still hadn’t quite figured out the concept of wifi extending to all rooms in the hotel… So now I’ve got a lot of stories to post about. Here’s what I missed while I was away, though you may have read about it elsewhere:
I’ve actually been meaning to post about this for a while. Ken Harman from Arrested Motion and the Hi-Fructose Blog, just curated one of the better group shows I’ve seen. Some artists of particular note would be Emory Douglas (a major influence on Shepard Fairey and important propaganda-maker in his own right), Dabs, Myla, Mike Shine and Monica Canilao. A Decade With No Name is open on Saturdays and Sundays through September 12th at 54 Washington St. Oakland, CA. My Love For You Is A Stampede of Horses has photos of Monica’s installation, and Spoke has photos of everything else and is where you can purchase the artwork.
Papergirl NY is bringing Germany’s Papergirl concept to the USA. Basically, artists get together to distribute a bunch of free art to members of the public by riding around on bikes. Their YouTube video shows what happens in a bit more detail. Papergirl NY events are taking place in New York City this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday they will be at the DUMBO Arts Center, and then Papergirl will move to The Armory where you can find them Friday through Sunday.
Mobstr hasn’t been around forever, but his humor can already rival Banksy.
Blu and Ericailcane are in Stavanger for Nuart, and their wall is one of Blu’s boldest political statements yet (after all, Stavanger is an oil-funded city, and oil money from taxes pretty much funds Nuart). Nice stuff.
The Electric Windows Project in Beacon was a great success this year, getting out some great art and bringing together Brooklyn hipsters and longtime Beacon residents…
But by Tuesday, dozens of outraged townies assembled at the Beacon city planning board meeting to protest a couple of pieces I did. After a quick briefing in closed session with the city attorney, who went over the first amendment with planning board members, the board announced that although it had no legal right to order the work taken down, it would allow the public to express their outrage over the fact that I used Jesus as a corporate spokesmodel and “Crack” as a criticism of fast food in a couple of “subvertisements.”
The board let me speak first, and I expressed surprise that my work created such a furor. I’m always surprised when this kind of thing happens… which is often and usually propagated by people who don’t understand or fully take in the work but instead attach their own agenda to it.
After I spoke, a wave of angry Christians took their turns at the mike. One woman wanted to know why she couldn’t paste up the photos of dead fetuses that she routinely held up at the health clinic. Others wanted to know what gave me the right to comment on the most powerful religion on the planet. And one board member expressed outraged that I was promoting crack… to the children. Afterwards, a teacher got up to helpfully explain that children don’t understand metaphor.
Then a self-professed stateside noncombat post traumatic stress-afflicted veteran informed me that he had notified Miller High Life about my offensive parody of their brand..
So English returned to Beacon and modified the posters. Check out the new posters on his Juxtapoz blog.
Most days, I’m a fan of Shepard Fairey. He’s been getting up longer and harder than almost anybody else in street art, he’s a talented artist and few others have done more for the street art scene. But nobody’s perfect, and the bigger the star, the more bigger those imperfections. Every once in a while, I do a post like this about the latest crazy things Shepard has said or done.
Joaquin Phoenix
1. There are the posters depicting Joaquin Phoenix which have been popping up in a few major US cities. Forget about this being illegally place guerrilla advertising for some film, they’re pretty unappealing to look at. Even if they were straight up street art, they’d be pretty unremarkable, unless you were remarking on their poor design. Well, according to New York Magazine, these posters were designed by Shepard Fairey and they are presumably being placed by his street team. The poor design of this image is EXACTLY WHY people criticize 1-layer stencils and Shepard’s poster style as nothing more than failed art students putting a photo through Photoshop. And that’s not what all 1-layer stencils or Shepard Fairey images are. Some of them are brilliant (I think). Then again, the rumor about this Joaquin Phoenix documentary is that the last two or so years of Joanquin’s life have been some elaborate performance piece about a man gaining fame through a career path that he has no business being on. Kind of like the ending that everyone was hoping for with Mr. Brainwash in Exit Through The Gift Shop, except that Joaquin is trying to be a rapper. So if the rumors are true, maybe this sub-par poster is just another component of the hoax.
2. Last week, a mural Shepard recently put up in San Diego was partially tagged over by a fire-extinguisher-wielding writer going by the name of Polo Joe. It was a nice mural. It’s a shame to see it written on so swiftly. I’m sure plenty of people will disagree with me on that point, but I liked the mural. Unfortunately, pieces getting covered, written over, removed or even just decaying is part of street art and graffiti. Every artist that I know accepts this as part of the culture. Typically, street artists are more open to this than graffiti writers. And yet, I’m not that shocked by Shepard Fairey releasing a statement about this wall getting written over. After all, a lot of people who enjoy that mural might have expected it to last longer. What did surprise me a bit was what Shepard said in his statement: “The endeavor fulfills some need for the heckler but has no redeeming value to any of the other participants, but I firmly believe in street art as a democratic forum. In street art, tenacity always wins and I’m not going away.” That just sounds a bit supercilious to me. Polo Joe is not merely a “heckler” who should be completely ignored. He was making a statement with his tag. I wouldn’t expect Shepard to agree with Polo Joe, but since Shepard has been involved in street art for longer than I have been alive, I figured he wouldn’t just brush aside such an important part of graffiti and street art culture so simply. Like Team Robbo writing over Banksy, Polo Joe might be annoying and ruining a piece of art history and I might wish he didn’t do it, but he has as much right to tag over a Shepard Fairey mural as Shepard has to put up a poster without permission. I think it’s unfortunate that Shepard agree (or if he does, won’t admit that he does).
You may have seen the above photo on Banksy‘s website. Just another one of his pieces from the recent US tour. Certainly not the best, not even the best piece he painted in Detroit. In fact, I’d say that that this caged bird is one of those pieces that nobody would care about if it weren’t by Banksy. But it is by Banksy, and it was left unprotected in the abandoned and falling apart Packard Plant. That’s the same location as his Trees piece, which was famously removed from the plant earlier this year. Now Caged Bird is for sale on eBay. Well, something looking like Caged Bird is for sale and the wall is missing from the Packard Plant, but that’s no guarantee that the wall on eBay is legit (as was shown back in April when a Banksy wall was removed in LA and a look-alike was on eBay).
So far, Caged Bird has had no bids, but the seller is asking for $75,000. So if you’re looking for an 1,800lb slab on concrete which may have a boring stencil by Banksy on it, now you know where to look. The auction ends in less than 3 days. Just remember that Banksy’s authentication service, Pest Control, doesn’t authenticate street pieces.
For more on this story, check out the Detroit Free Press. Just don’t believe their expert who says “The (canary) piece is like having one of his more substantial works that he’s done.” That’s BS.
Very Nearly Almost issue number 12 is launching next week at the Pure Evil Gallery in London. This issue of VNA features M-City, Buff Monster, Mr. Jago and more. Oh and then there’s the cover: Roa. I did the interview with Roa, but I think the most interesting part of that feature is going to be the photos. I haven’t seen the finished version yet, but it’s going to be something a bit different. I won’t spoil what makes that bird on the cover so unique, but you may be able to figure it out for yourself with some clever googling.
At the launch party, you’ll be able to buy a special edition of VNA with a screenprinted cover. Plus Mr. Jago will be there doing some painting. So make sure to stop by Pure Evil Gallery on Thursday the 12th from 6-9pm and let me know what you think.
And so it is, the only piece that has been buffed in DC since my recent visit in July has in fact been a permission wall. Due to complaints from local neighbors, the manager of Whole Foods circumvented the building owner and had the piece painted over. The result of which is a perfect reflection of the former Rooster figure and two hands in negative space. For the full description on the whole ordeal visit Worn Magazine http://www.wornmagazine.com/2010/08/gaia-painted-over/
If you didn’t absolutely hate yesterday’s post about Faile’s recent project in Lisboa, you absolutely have to check out Target’s much more detailed post on the project. There is such much detail in the piece that my post just did not even begin to capture. At the very least, check out this video tour he made:
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