Various artists. Photo by Paris sous les sticks

It almost goes without saying that Martha Cooper has been one of the most important documentarians of graffiti culture for the last few decades. Her urban and hip hop culture photography is iconic. More recently, Martha Cooper has expanded her graffiti documentation to the photography and collection of stickers. Her two latest books, Going Postal and Name Tagging, spotlight sticker art made with postal labels and Hello My Name Is stickers.

On Saturday from 1-3pm, Martha will join sticker fanatic and author of one of my favorite books, DB Burkeman, for a book signing at a sticker exhibition curated by DB. The show, STUCK-UP: A Selected History of Alternative & Pop Culture Told Through Stickers, is at Chicago’s Maxwell Colette Gallery and features stickers from a top-notch roster of artists.

I would gladly hop on the next plane and see this exhibit in person, but that was not an option so instead I asked Martha Cooper a few questions.

Caroline: In your book Name Tagging, you explain how you began appreciating stickers after you bought your first digital camera. What was it about the digital medium that initiated this interest in stickers?

Martha Cooper: Pre-digital, I rarely took my heavy, bulky Nikon out unless I was headed for something specific to shoot.  It cost about 50 cents for film and processing every time I clicked the shutter. So although I had noticed stickers for years, I hadn’t looked at them closely and hadn’t bothered to shoot many.

My first digital camera was a little Olympus that I could easily carry around with me all the time.  It had a very good close-up lens and performed well under low light. Once I had the camera, it didn’t cost any more to keep shooting so I was free to take as many photos as I wanted. Transitioning from analog to digital was a challenge. Shooting stickers was an unstressful way to practice new technology with interesting subject matter.

C: What led to you removing and collecting stickers off the street, rather than just photographing them?

MC: I’ve always been a collector. I like to look at different examples of things. At first after shooting a nice sticker, I printed it and saved it in an album. That began to feel unsatisfactory–I wanted the original. I only shoot and collect hand drawn stickers and this is pretty much the only form of graffiti and street art that can actually be removed from the street. Of course writers have criticized me for this and I know this is a dubious defense, but someday I hope to have a museum sticker exhibit.

Various artists. Photos by Lois Stavsky

Read the rest of this entry »

Mecro freight in Philadelphia

It’s another slow week, but things should start to get going again soon. The holidays can’t last forever. Here are bits of news from around the web that didn’t make it into their own post here this week:

• I wrote a list (with some help from Caroline Caldwell) for Complex.com of 10 street artists to watch in 2012. Let me know what you think in comments on this post or over on Complex.com.
• Adam Void aka Avoid pi is in an upcoming group show at Mighty Tanaka (and they have a new space).
• This Cash4 interview is good for a laugh.
• Blank has designed some posters that he would like to send out to all the Occupy protests, but he needs funding.
• But this might be my favorite Occupy-related art so far (site is NSFW).
• If you’re in Atlanta, do not miss this talk with Brad Downey.
• Or if you’re in NYC, there’s this evening with Ron English at MoMA.
• Fans of Os Gemeos should check out this photo album of their work in Brazil.

Photo by Damonabnormal

This past Thursday, we came upon Jon Burgerman gracing Artist Alley @ Extra Place off East 1^st Street between Bowery and 2nd Ave. with his wonderfully zany characters.  Yesterday Tara returned for the artists’ reception, where — she reports — the vibes were as cool as the art. The current artwork remains @ Extra Place through March 18, 2012. Here are some more shots of “Groundbreak” curated by Joyce Manalo of ArtForward & Keith Schweitzer of MaNY Project:

Abe Lincoln, Jr.'s lovable characters

Jon Burgerman's completed sidewalk mural

Abe Lincoln, Jr. in a rather somber pose & Jon Burgerman seemingly as cheerful as his art

Photos by Tara Murray

When he wasn’t dodging the rain this morning, the multi-talented Jon Burgerman was outside Extra Place, an alley off Manhattan’s East 1^st Street between the Bowery and 2nd Avenue, gracing the sidewalk with his intriguing mix of overlapping comical characters. He was getting ready for the opening of  “Groundbreak,” an outdoor exhibit, also featuring the artwork of Abe Lincoln, Jr. and Ellis Gallagher aka Ellis G. Curated by Joyce Manalo and Keith Schweitzer and presented by FABnyc’s ArtUp Program, “Groundbreak” opens with a reception, hosted by Oaxaca Taqueria at 16 Extra Place, this Saturday afternoon at 2pm.

Jon Burgerman, photo by Lois Stavsky

Burgerman's artwork on sidewalk of Extra Place; photo by Damien Kelly

Photos by Lois Stavsky and Damien Kelly

Alone (aka Tanha) reports from Tehran that his city recently hosted its third public street art/graffiti event. While the first two were held  in gallery spaces,  SPRAY 2011 — presented by KolahStudio and hosted by Adrenaline Extreme Sports — took place outdoors on a 70-meter wall. Alone shared the following video and photos of the successful event:

Photos and video courtesy of A1one

Great news: Leon Reid IV‘s proposed Tourist-in-Chief sculpture (proposal above) has gotten the go-ahead and will be installed in Union Square Park this Saturday, October 1st from 8am until 7pm.

Photo courtesy of The NY Art Book Fair

This week, the annual NY Art Book Fair is taking place at PS1. Pantheon Projects, a group being launched out of the Pantheon exhibition that took place earlier this year in NYC, has a booth at the fair, as does the Italian publisher Drago. The fair is open, with free admission, this Wednesday the 30th through this Sunday the 2nd.

Pantheon Projects has a couple interesting projects going on at the fair as part of the zine tent. They will be launching a graff zine called Signal as well as selling Adam VOID & DROID’s graff zine, Learning to Die, Live the Dream II. They’ll also be selling Daniel Feral’s history of graffiti and street art poster and the exhibition catalog for the Pantheon show. On Saturday from 3:00-3:45, there will be a signing of the exhibition catalog featuring Charlie Ahearn, Chris Pape aka Freedom, KET1 RIS and Toofly.

Drago will be showing off their latest titles, including launching a new book by Chris Stain: Long Story Short. Chris will be around presenting and signing the new book on Saturday from 1-4pm. More on Drago’s plans can be found here.

Images courtesy of NY Book Fair, Pantheon Projects and Drago

For all of those who have been to Williamsburg’s Kent Avenue, Monster Island is a memorable building in attendance amongst the glistening condos that have reshaped the neighborhood’s landscape and demographics. Slated for demolition, the murals adorning the side of this non-profit artist space were washed away in a veil of vibrant color; a sad chapter in the gentrification of the area.

For more photos, Check out Luna Park’s coverage of the event at the Street Spot

Photos by Luna Park

Rone (Melbourne 2010)

A note from the editor: This interview is the first in a series of interviews with some of the Australian artists in the Young & Free show opening next week at 941 Geary in San Fransisco. Over the next week or so, Luke McManus and I (well, almost entirely Luke) will be interviewing a number of artists involved in the show. Hopefully, this will take Vandalog a step in the right direction towards better recognition of the thriving Australian street art scene. I’m pleased that we can start this series off with Luke’s interview with Rone, a member of Melbourne’s much-respected Everfresh Crew. – RJ

Rone (Everfresh) is one of the most well known and recognised street artists in Melbourne. Rone’s iconic girl face paste ups have adorned many of Melbourne’s underpasses, intersections and unused billboards as well as numerous walls for as long as I have loved street art.  Rone has also hit walls in cities around the world including Los Angeles, New York, London, Toyko, Barcelona and Hong Kong. One of the girls was featured in Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Rone’s recent show ‘L’inconnue de la Rue’ (The unknown girl of the street) at Backwoods gallery in Collingwood (Melbourne) was a huge hit and possibly the show of the year so far. Every painting was sold before the exhibition opened.

I caught up with Rone recently to ask him a couple of questions. This is what he said.

LM: You must be excited about ‘Young and Free’. What do you think about this amazing opportunity and the impact it will have on the awareness of Melbourne, and Australian, street art and artists?

Rone: I’m stoked to be involved in this exhibition not just to get myself out there but to let people know about how strong the graffiti and street art community is in Melbourne and all over Australia. We have had so many internationals come here over the years and be amazed about how much we have going on but because we aren’t New York or London we unfortunately don’t get noticed as often.

LM: Tell me about your background. How did you get into street art?

Rone: I moved to Melbourne around 2000 to study graphic design. I was fascinated by the stencil works by HA-HA, Sync & Psalm that was around at the time. I started painting at skate spots with friends I skated with. Finding spots to skate soon turned into finding spots to paint.

LM: What does your name mean?

Rone: Nothing really, just a nick name that stuck.

LM: What do you enjoy most about the whole street art process? The creation, the night missions etc?

Rone: Hard to say one thing, I guess there is nothing better than seeing your work up a long way from home. I think that’s what a lot of graffiti is about- I was here, I did this.

LM: Who or what inspires you?

Rone: The noise on the walls is what I’ve been looking at lately. The way things decay on the street, rotting & ripped posters, buffed walls etc. The constant battle between artists, bill posters and the buff. I want my artwork to feel like that.

LM: Which artists are you into at the moment? Local and International.

Rone: Locally;  Many of the crew on the Y&F line are huge inspirations but i’m always in awe of the work of Merda, Phibs, Twoone & Al stark. International; JR, Blu & ROA are all doing amazing things.

LM: Where do you work from and what is your studio space like?

Rone: I work from Everfresh Studio, the studio looks like a 15 year old vandals dream. I’ve set up a screen printing area to make posters and a bit of a space to paint from.

LM: What is always in your “toolkit”?

Rone: Stickers, posters, glue & a broom.

LM: What has been the highlight (or highlights) of your career to date?

Rone: Being part of the National Gallery of Australia’s collection, Putting on a exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, which gave me a chance to build the Graff mobile.

LM: I’ve been loving your recent work a lot. Tell me about your evolved style and also your recent show “L’inconnue de la Rue”.

Rone: “L’inconnue de la Rue” was my first solo exhibition so I wanted to bring the feel of my work on the street into the gallery. I screen printed a series of posters that became the background for the stenciled portraits. (Video). The idea was to create works the were quite rough and unrefined that contrast against the beauty of the girl. “L’inconnue de la Rue” was inspired by the story of L’Inconnue de la Seine, in which the body of an unknown girl was pulled out of the Seine River in Paris. Her peaceful expression added to the mystery surrounding her death. L’inconnue de la rue was my adaption of the story.

"L’inconnue de la Rue"

"L’inconnue de la Rue"

Work from "L’inconnue de la Rue" - N

Work from "L’inconnue de la Rue" - Pain & Guilt

Work from "L’inconnue de la Rue" - Colere

Close ups

Close ups

Close ups

Early Rone (Melbourne ~2004)

Rone (Melbourne ~2009)

Rone (Flinders Street station, Melbourne ~2007)

Rone (New York ~2011)

Photos courtesy of Rone

Neckface

With my mind still on Living Walls, I’ve got some catching up to do with what’s been going on outside of Atlanta. So here’s some of that catching up…

• King Robbo is currently having serious health issues, and there’s a fundraising art auction at Cargo for him next month.
• Brooklyn Street Art’s LA show, Street Art Saved My Life, opened and BSA has photo of the entire thing.
• The Zoo Project are a major street art force in Paris, and this wall is one of my favorites from them in a while.
• Tristan Manco contributed a list of his 10 favorite pieces of street art to The Guardian.
• Shepard Fairey had quite an ordeal in Copenhagen. On the whole, I’ve got to agree with Shepard on this one. He made a mistake and tried to make it right, but people still beat him up and newspapers still sensationalized their stories in inaccurate ways. Uncool. That said, it’s worth pointing out that right in the midst of Shepard complaining about newspapers getting their facts straight and being ethical, he writes “I adhere to my ethical beliefs in all areas of my artistic and business practice.” I hate to kick a guy while he’s down, but it needs to be mentioned that Shepard did attempt to falsify evidence during his lawsuit with the AP, so those ethics aren’t always adhered to. Anyway, sucks that Shepard and Obey Clothing’s Romeo Trinidad were beat up.
• Futura and Stash getting up in NYC.
• James Marshal aka Dalek is trying something very different with his new work.
• Nunca, Miss Van and others are at work on a mural project in Berlin.
• Sao Paulo’s Museum of Art just opened a huge show of street artists including JR, Swoon, Invader and Remed.

Photos by Sabeth718