This new series from Above is pretty cool. All put up in Melbourne, Australia.

Photos by Above

Above has a solo show, Here Today Gone Tomorrow, opening today at Lo-Fi Gallery (383 Bourke St. Sydney, Australia). I haven’t liked Above’s indoor work in the past, but from the look of the preview, I think done something very right this time. The most surprising thing about that is that he’s combining some ideas in this work that normally spell “train wreck.” The work combines ripped posters, pop art and images of dead celebrities.  Unless we’re talking about Faile, that combo tends to end in an EPIC FAIL. But this work actually looks some Above has pulled it off, which is exciting. Don’t ask me how or why, but I like this new series. CFYE has plenty of photos posted, and here’s a teaser video:

HERE TODAY GONE TOMORROW (PART 3) from ABOVE on Vimeo.

Just got this note from Above. This is one of my favorite pieces from him in a while…

I just returned this morning from being in the flood ravished city of Brisbane, Australia. With the international attention around the floods I decided to immediately fly from Sydney to Brisbane to make this site specific stencil.  Unfortunately I had another stencil that Friday night I got arrested for right in the middle of painting! oughf!  I spent 10 hours in jail, had a court appearance and got a decent fine so this piece is the only 1 I can submit and offer for you. I tried my best not to make fun at this drastic and horrific situation but instead to empathize and portray just how serious and large the scale of these floods had been with the relative depiction of “NOAH’s” ark being sunk due to the floods.

Photo by Above

A classic Banksy

Many Banksy fans will recognize that classic Because I’m Worthless rat. And Vandalog readers will probably be aware that Banksy’s artwork doesn’t always stay on the wall it’s painted on anymore.

ABOVE‘s latest stencil is an interesting take on those events. Check it out in this video:

“BECAUSE NOW I’M WORTH IT” from ABOVE on Vimeo.

And if you go to the video’s Vimeo page, you’ll see that ABOVE has written an explanation of the piece and how it came about.

Photo by DigitalParadox

This should be interesting. White Walls is doing two shows simultaneously next month. One is Faces In The Mirror with Blek le Rat. The other is Transitions with ABOVE. Blek is the grandfather of outdoor stencil art, and ABOVE is a”post-Banksy” stencil artist. I think this will be Blek le Rat’s first major show since the art market went kablewy, and it’s ABOVE’s first solo show.

I’m very curious to see what these artists are going to do here. You can’t ignore Blek le Rat’s historical importance for street art, but ignoring that, he’s just a guy who cuts stencils. Introducing new iconic imagery won’t be easy, but people will complain just as much if he just makes the same old rats and Caravaggio stencils. And ABOVE works hard to consider placement in his artwork. Will his stencils lose all their power indoors, or will he rethink everything and skillfully consider the placement of his artwork in a gallery space?

Well here’s what White Walls has to say about everything:

White Walls is proud to present a joint show: Faces in the Mirror by Blek le Rat and Transitions by ABOVE. This exhibition brings together the original pioneer stencil artist and his younger counterpart utilizing stencils to create public art in over 40 countries around the world. Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, May 1st 2010, from 7-11 pm.

This homage to stencil art marks Blek le Rat’s first show in San Francisco as well as the debut indoor exhibition of ABOVE. The meeting of these two artists is a passing of the torch from the original stencil artist to a younger generation of urban artists following in his legacy. Blek let Rat first pioneered stencils in the early 80s as a bold, attention grabbing form of street art that was never before seen. ABOVE is the prominent stencil artist of the new generation, drawing on Blek’s methods to project a social message into the urban environment.

Blek le Rat resides outside of Paris, the very city he claimed 30 years ago as a platform for social commentary. He was the first of his time to employ stencils and spray paint for fast, high contrast images on city walls. Faces in the Mirror is a collection of Blek’s iconic imagery of beggars, sheep, rats, and Michelangelo’s David with an AK-47, combined with never before seen images such as Mona Lisa. These forms open conversation about consciousness, social relation, mass media, and commodity fetishism. Known as the godfather of stencil graffiti art, Blek le Rat has been the great inspiration for artists worldwide including Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Space Invader, WK Interact, and ABOVE.

ABOVE has devoted the past 8 years to creating street art in 45 countries around the world, refusing to take his focus off the streets even for gallery exhibitions. It is only because of Blek le Rat’s strong desire to show alongside him that ABOVE finally conceded to his premier indoor exhibition. Transitions is based on three themes from his outdoor works: sign language arrow mobiles, wordplay murals, and colorful figurative stencils. The overarching sentiment is one of optimism, honor, overcoming struggle, and a desire to rise above.

Please join us for the opening reception of Faces in the Mirror by Blek le Rat and Transitions by ABOVE on Saturday, May 1st, 2010, from 7-11pm. The exhibit will be on view through June 5th, 2010, and is open to the public.

The artistic community is continuing to raise money and awareness for the recent earthquakes in Haiti.

ABOVE’s has put up his latest stencil in Cuba. The piece is meant to raise awareness for the continuing struggles of people in Haiti who have been victims of the recent earthquakes.

ABOVE says:

Cuba is less than 90 miles away from Haiti making them very close neighbors. The young and courageous neighbor is embarking to Haiti to help out those who have fallen victim. The recent earthquakes in Haiti has taken over 230,000 innocent lives, wounded 300,000 and made 1,200,000 people homeless.

Please GET INVOLVED and help donate to send aid and resources to the people of Haiti.

Here’s a video of that new painting…

HELP THY NEIGHBOR from ABOVE on Vimeo.

And Agents of Change have put together Au Secour, a group show in London to raise money for Haiti (all the money goes straight to the DEC):

So maybe this is the first of a few posts with street art related gift ideas, maybe not. Here are some prints that are available online for a very low price (but they aren’t cheap. Right Zeus?).

1. Logopops by Sickboy. Last night was Sickboy’s one night only show, Logopops. Lots of hand finished prints are available online for as little as £35 (though you are meant to get a few of them to create a custom cluster of prints).

2. Storm Clouds by Jeff Soto. I must admit that I am becoming more and more of a Jeff Soto fan, especially the watercolor pieces. At just £75, it costs a lot less than I expected.

3. Sprout by Josh Keyes. I am very very wary of recommending this. Josh Keyes is an amazingly talented painter and I do like his work, but I’m not sure if you get the same feel for it through a giclee print. You kind of need to see the originals in person to see what sets him apart from all the other guys painting post-environmental-apocalypse art. Could be awesome though, and it’s a book and (very large editioned) print for $85 so that’s nice.

4. Tempo Boxer by Ace. A staple of the London scene (Blackall Street in particular), Ace does some nice work and a nice print from him goes for between £50-55.

5. Dalek Blue by Dalek/James Marshall. Dalek has two “Space Monkey” prints available on his site, both very nice, but I prefer the blue one.

6. Homeless, Not Hopeless by Above. I mentioned this print the other day, but it’s worth showing again because all the profits go to a good cause.

7. Better Than Nothing by Kid Acne. I suppose you either like his warrior women or you don’t. I do.

8. Make Room For The Emptiness by Jim Houser. This is the print that I want to buy with my grandma’s Christmas money. Love it. And at just $75, I can’t believe it hasn’t sold out yet.

9. Mama Quilla by Fefe Talavera. Another beautiful and affordable print from The BLDG.

10. The Answer by Hera. This lithograph by Hera looks great and comes with my book The Thousands: Painting Outside, Breaking In. It’s £100 for the set, and since the book retails for about £25, that’s an affordable print if I ever saw one. The print is of a sketch by Hera, and she really knows how to sketch.

This past week has been pretty crazy. I’ve been running around NYC seeing friends and art, and now I’m in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Unfortunately, the art world does not hit pause just because I’m taking a holiday. Here are some of the things I would have loved to cover on Vandalog if I’d had the time. And keep an eye on Vandalog tomorrow because I’ll be doing a big wrap up of Primary Flight.

• Invader has gone HUGE in London by Truman Brewery.
• Grifters at Lazarides Gallery looks great. JR amazes me as always, there are some of those new Faile pieces with wooden blocks, and I don’t mind Invader’s neon characters.
• MuTate Britain has reopened for the holiday season. Cool as always.
• Damn you Mark Jenkins. Damn you and your awesomeness straight to hell.
• And last but certainly not least, ABOVE is in a giving mood with a new print to support a homelessness charity.

Above‘s latest video is pretty sick. It’s called Reverse Psychology, and I’m still confused with what exactly is going on:

REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY from ABOVE on Vimeo.

Above says:

There are two sides to every coin, and we all know two wrongs don’t make a right but somehow when it comes to filming a video in reverse then reversing it, it makes total sense? Confused? Watch the video to get a better idea. If you still don’t understand, I can only suggest to try and watch it in reverse?!

The reverse side also has a reverse side. -Japanese proverb.

And it’s also time for another print release from Above. Today 4 new prints went on sale, all screenprinted and signed by Above himself. Each print is $45, or the set of 4 arrows together is $150. They are an edition of 100 each. The prints are for sale on Above’s website.

This latest piece by Above is pretty cool and something that a lot of street artists could learn from. He’s not the first to mix 2d and 3d elements in a piece (in fact, this isn’t even the first time Above has done that), I just still like when he does.

FLYING IN THE WIND from ABOVE on Vimeo.