"Circus" ad disruption in Philadelphia by Sorry

Wow, last week went by quickly. And Steph moved in with me today, temporarily. Should be a crazy few weeks. Here’s what I’ve been meaning to write about:

• JR’s show at Centre Pompidou is open.
• Ludo’s got a new sculpture for sale.
• Faile’s new print with Paper Monster could have been great, but I think they picked such a weak image to work with. Oh well. I’m sure there will be more and better Faile prints in the future.
• The remnants of a historic Cost/Revs piece can now be seen up close from a newly opened section of the Highline in NYC.
• Banksy is sponsoring Art in the Streets at MOCA in LA so that visits are free every Monday from 11-5 through the rest of the show’s run.
• A large Kaws sculpture moved from the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum to The Standard Hotel in NYC. And there’s this new video interview with Kaws too.
• New from Phlegm.
• Lois posted some photos, but here’s even more from Logan Hicks’ show at Opera Gallery.
• I’ve never heard of Anton Steenbock, but I want to see more like this.
• Glen E. Friedman has won his lawsuit against Mr. Brainwash for using Friedman’s iconic photograph of Run DMC. I still say I’d rather have seen MBW win this case. Not because I think MBW’s work based on that photo looked good, but because I’d rather see more room for artists to re-appropriate content and less restrictions on copyrighted material. What MBW did to Friedman’s photograph was transformative. The original photo is a great photo and an iconic one. What MBW did was make it look totally silly. And that should be covered by fair use, for the benefit of better artists.

Photo by Carolinecaldwell

Here are some photos found on the SuprBo blog that feature JR at work in Paris. The artist is currently getting ready for the group Pompidou exhibit, Paris – Delhi- Bombay, opening May 28th.

JR for Art in the Streets

Last night, the LA Weekly revealed the list of almost all the artists in MOCA’s Art in the Streets show, opening next week. Here it is:

Alexis Ross, Andre, A-One,Barry McGee, Bear 167, Bill Daniel, Bill Ray, Blade, Charlie Ahearn, Chaz Bojorquez, Coco144, Cost, Craig Costello, Craig R. Stecyk III, Crash, Dan Murphy, Dash Snow, Daze, Delta, Devin Flynn, Don Leicht, Dondi, Drugs, Ed Templeton, Eine, Erik Brunetti, Estevan Oriol, Fab 5 Freddy, Freedom, Futura, Gordon Matta-Clark, Gusmano Cesaretti, Haze, Henry Chalfant, Howard Gribble, Hugh Holland, Invader, Irak, Iz the Wiz, Jamie Reid, James Prigoff, Jane Dickson, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Ahearn, John Fekner, Jon Naar, Josh Lazcano, JR, Kaws, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Kiely Jenkins, Koor, Lady Pink, Larry Clark, Lee Quinones, Loomit, Malcolm McLaren, Mare 139, Margaret Kilgallen, Mark Gonzales, Martha Cooper, Miss Van, Mister Cartoon, Mode 2, Neckface, Noc, Os Gêmeos, Patti Astor, Phase 2, Rammellzee, Retna, Revok, Revolt, Revs, Risk, Roa, Robbie Conal, Ron English, Saber, Sharp, Shepard Fairey, SJK161, Snake 1, Spike Jonze, Stelios Faitakis, Stephen Powers, Steve Grody, Swoon, Taki 183, Teen Witch, Terry Richardson, Todd James, Toxic, Tracy 168, Zephyr.

The LA Weekly also reports that there is one more “extra bonus artist.” We here at Vandalog can exclusively complete the line up for Art in the Streets and say that the one extra bonus secret artist is…. Banksy!

I’m being sarcastic. The final artist is Banksy, but that isn’t news. Banksy’s involvement in the show was confirmed by Deitch MONTHS ago in the LA Times.

So yeah, that’s the full line up for Art in the Streets. Not the exactly list that I or anyone would’ve come up with, but I think it’s an overall solid show. A bit heavy on the LA writers and there are some big gaps, but I’m still thinking this will be an interesting show. One important thing has been pointed out to me though: This show could very well define all future street art and graffiti museum shows. Any gaps in Art in the Streets could easily carry on for a long time to come. Should Jeffrey Deitch be the definer of street art? I can’t think of many people better suited for the task, but I’m not sure any single person should have that responsibility to begin with… So I think it’s important to keep in mind that this list, and this show, is not the end-all-be-all of street art history. To many people, what I’m saying is obvious, but I think it’s still worth a mention.

Photo by Brandon Shigeta

Here are some pictures sent to us by JR for his latest project in Tunisia. In his true fashion, the photographer/street artist took pictures of residents around the country. Calling the project “Artocracy,” the outdoor works consist of one of the first organized street art exhibits in an Arab country. Posting the works in symbolic areas correlated with the revolution, JR received a lot of backlash from people in the area, but has managed to capture some beautiful portraits with six Tunisian photographers- Sophia Barakat, Rania Dourai, Wissal Dargueche, Aziz Tnani, Hichem Driss amd Hela Ammar.

Photos courtesy of InsideOut Project

Some of the first posters going up for JR's Inside Out project. Photo by raudog

I’m still not sure how I feel about JR‘s new project, Inside Out, which was launched this week at the TED conference. Here’s a summary of the project and here’s his speech from the conference (which will not show up if you’re reading this post in certain RSS readers):

The basic premise is that JR’s studio will print out black and white photos that you take and send you the posters if you’ll post them outside. There was even a photo booth in Long Beach, California where people could get posters printed instantly, but that has closed. Perhaps I’m being a pessimist, but I am not sure that Inside Out will change the world. I just imagine a bunch of self-important wanna-be Lindsay Lohan’s printing out pictures of themselves because they think it will make them famous. That said, I can certainly see the benefits of this project in the sort of communities that JR traditionally works. The question is, will those communities have enough access to cameras and awareness of the project? And compared to previous TED Prize projects, the potential impact of Inside Out is very different. The impact of Inside Out is just so individual. Not that that’s a bad thing, it just seems odd for TED. But hey, so many more people are being exposed to JR’s projects, and that’s a good thing.

So we’ll see how Inside Out goes. While I’m not confident that it is going to be a success, I’m hopeful.

Photo by raudog

JR is continuing his work LA, as part of a push before both MOCA’s Art In The Streets show and the announcement of how JR plans to use his TED Prize. While the LA Weekly has been documenting JR’s murals, official images from JR are now showing up on his website.

The New York Times is even getting interested in JR with a large article on him published last week.

So far, it isn’t known exactly how JR plans to use his TED Prize money, but that will be announced on Wednesday evening with a live streaming event online.

Photo by JR

I came across Street Art View only the other day, which is pretty pathetic considering the number of Facebook and Twitter posts on it. Right now I am teetering on how I feel about it. Powered by Red Bull (who seem to have their hands in street art related activities a lot recently) and Google Maps, the site allows people to virtually “tag” graff and street art as depicted on the Street View. Thing is though, isn’t most of the work already covered/altered/buffed/etc.? Just an initial look, there is work from JR and Banksy that are no longer on the streets. For historical purposes, I guess this is a good idea because you can find exact locations or learn where they used to be. But in the present, works change so much, that tagging something on the map misleads people looking to see works. Also, since the Street View is already created, won’t new works not be able to be seen at all? This is like a “Where is Waldo” of street art from a certain time period. I personally enjoyed finding the wizard more enjoyable.

This map is a lot like Marxism to me- sounds good in theory, but shit in practice.

I also hear there is an Iphone app in the making (already created?) that you can take a photo of a piece and it recognizes the artist when people upload the same work and tag it as an artist? I read this somewhere a few weeks ago, but don’t remember where. I bet the cops will have a field day with that application.

http://streetartview.com/

JR seems to be going non-stop with putting put murals in LA right now. The LA Weekly are covering that pretty well, but the above wall deserves a special mention. It’s part of the Geffen Contemporary at the MOCA, the same building where Blu‘s mural was buffed last year. This isn’t the same wall, but it’s the same building and JR did this mural for the same even, MOCA’s upcoming street art show. This is interesting because of the outcry over the buffing of Blu’s mural. There was definitely speculation that artists would pull out of the show over issues of censorship and to stand in solidarity with Blu. JR is the first artist since Blu to put up a wall as part of the MOCA show, which opens in April. Not to gloss over the events with Blu, hopefully this is a sign that the show will continue on without any more glitches and be a success. I suppose the other side of this is that someone could say that JR is turning his back on his principles or something, but I think that the TED folk generally are pretty smart about who they give large grants to.

Via MOCA’s blog

Photo courtesy of MOCA

Escif, whose interview in a recent issue of Juxtapoz is really good

It was sunny and 65 today in Philly. It’s going to be back to snow by next week, but in the mean time, it looks like those of us on the East coast are having a great end to our week are hopefully spending some time outdoors. If you do happen to be inside this weekend though, here are some things worth checking out:

• Akay gets complicated with simple vandalism by using a robot.
• Shepard Fairey is going to be speaking in LA on March 7th.
• Looks like Vhils and MaisMenos have each put together some great work for a show in Portugal. I especially love MaisMenos’ piece To Buy or Not To Be.
• Here’s a short video interview with Ripo.
• And more from JR in LA. This wall was part of the LA Freewalls Project.

Photo by Escif

JR is in LA putting up some murals. The LA Weekly has plenty of photos. Also, his new book, The Wrinkles of the City – Shanghai, that I mentioned a few days ago is available now on Drago’s website. Fair warning: The book’s not cheap.

Photo by Shannon Cottrell of the LA WEEKLY