"Black Rose" by Ludo

Were you at the launch of Very Nearly Almost on Thursday? Well we probably didn’t see each other, since I was out of there by 8pm! Damn jet lag. Dunno how it lasted so long. Anyway, I’m in London for the summer now. I missed a link-o-rama post last week, so here’s some stuff you should check out but haven’t seen on Vandalog over the last few weeks.

• I plan to pick up this book on San Fransisco graffiti in the 80′s and 90′s.
• Don’t Panic interviewed Kid Acne.
• 1000 swings are going to be installed across LA in strange places. Yes.
• Speaking of 1000, Invader has placed his 1000th piece in Paris and has a show there soon to celebrate.
• Street artists like Herakut painted murals in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
• KAWS has some new paintings at Art Hong Kong.
• Faile have brought their random cube paintings to a new interactive level with their Puzzle Box pieces. There are original “puzzle boxes” for sale where you can rearrange the cubes any way you would like, or you can try the puzzles out online or through an iPod/iPad app. Check it all out here.
• This piece by Cyrcle and Chad Muska is either one of the most annoying pieces of so-called street art I’ve seen all year, or a very clever conceptual piece that still fails. Either, it’s an ad for some Chad Muska shoes trying to be street art, or it’s a commentary on the apparent double-standard that many street art fans (myself included) have when it comes to encouraging individuals to place art on the street but discouraging advertises from using the streets in a similar way to sell products. Problem is, if this is some conceptual joke (which I highly doubt), it fails like a lot of attempts at conceptual street art because it requires an artists’ statement or so much prior knowledge that it is extremely likely to be effectively be an advertisement for the vast majority of viewers, negating any conceptual/humorous basis for the piece. Or I suppose it’s both an ad for his shoes and a commentary on that double-standard, but since I don’t like wheatpasted ads, particularly those that try to pass themselves off as street art, well then I’m just upset about that. Stick to skateboarding Chad.

Photo by Ludo

Rhythm is a Dancer is Kid Acne‘s latest solo show, opening next week at Stolenspace Gallery in London. The show will focus on Kid Acne’s art fag characters. While Neckface utilized the pun in a similar way earlier, Kid Acne has done some cool stuff with this series. Also, I think Neckface just did cartoons of “fags,” not “art fags.” Anyway, Kid Acne’s art fags are fun. It should be interesting to see them come indoors (especially since that’s what so-called “art fags” do, right? Bring their street art indoors and sell out?). Kid Acne definitely knows how to have a little laugh at himself, and I like that.

The show opens on the evening of March 31st and runs through April 24th. Check it out.

Photo courtesy of Stolenspace Gallery

Kid Acne recently painted the above giant “art fag” in Sheffield, UK. Check out the tiny Kid Acne standing above it. Sven at Arrested Motion says that the mural can be seen for miles around. What I’m wondering is how long the mural will last. After all, most of the mural is a giant white wall, perfect for some fresh graffiti. I don’t want to encourage that to happen. I like the mural. I just think the site looks too tempting for certain writers to ignore. I just hope that Kid Acne is well respected in Sheffield.

Photos by Sven/A Million Pieces for Arrested Motion

Sweet Toof and Pins aka Paul Insect

Had a pretty interesting week. Last Friday was the opening of, Sex Drive, the latest show at The Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, where I work part time. It’s a pretty great show, so if you’re in the Philadelphia area, I’d say it’s worth stopping by. But if you’re not, there’s also a lot of online content. But here’s what’s going on the more Vandalog-relevant world this week:

• Kid Acne and Dscreet painted a pretty cool collaboration.
• I just read Kid Acne’s latest zine, which is pretty cool for Kid Acne fans.
• MOMO’s also got a new zine out.
• An impressive Os Gêmeos is going to be for sale at Philips de Pury later this month.
• This looks like a great mural project in Madrid.
• You’ve got to have an appreciation for beautiful handpainted signs like these.
• There’s a trailer out for a film called How To Sell A Banksy. It seems to be about a person or group who are trying to sell a street piece by Banksy that they removed or somehow got their hands on. I’m not sure what to think of the whole thing. On the one hand, it certainly raises some questions about the value of art and what Banksy is (like the guy from Andipa, a dealer in secondhand Banksy artwork, saying that perhaps Banksy’s street pieces are absolutely worthless), but I can’t help but believe that those questions will be obscured in the film by the filmmakers themselves being sucked into the system. They are trying to sell something after all, how could they not become part of this system that the film seem to be critiquing?

Photo by nolionsinengland

The Wa. Photo by the artist

There are a few street pieces to share today.

Above is something by The Wa in the tradition of Roadsworth or Darius & Downey, which I think it just fantastic.

And here’s something that Kid Acne put up in London from his Art Fags series (Hooked has more images):

Kid Acne. Photo by Hooked

Here’s two billboards from Ludo:

Ludo. Photo by the artist

It’s worth noting that Ludo is selling a few works on paper with 100% of sales going to Skateistan.

Ludo. Photo by the artist

And Monica wanted to share this piece from E1000ink (who also has some cool new work on Rebel:Art):

E1000ink. Photo by the artist

Photos by The Wa, Hooked, Ludo and E1000ink

Elfo's road sign for an underground robber

Getting back in the swing of things at school this week. Fair warning, today is the first meeting of a class I’m taking about conceptual art. I’m excited and the professor seems awesome, but just fair warning: That class could bleed over into the rest of my life and lead to an increase in bullshitting from me here on Vandalog. Unfortunately, I haven’t sorted out a proper internet connection yet since getting back to school, so I’ve been a bit lax this week. Here’s what’s been going on:

• This isn’t street art or urban art or low brow or anything really related to Vandalog, but one of my favorite artists, Hiroyuki Doi, has a show on in New York right now. Definitely check it out.
• Kid Acne has a new zine out.
• This collaboration between Malarky, Billy and Mighty Mo is great.
• At first I hated this sculpture from Jeremy Fish, but now I’m thinking I’d love to walk by it every day.
• Last week I asked about graffiti photographers in Philadelphia, and Fat Cap has found a great one.
• I think some of these pieces from Phil Jones are old, some just remind me of Asbestos’ Lost series and some are pretty meh, but damn overall Jones is kicking ass with some fun street art.
• Felice Varini makes me smile.
• Exit Through The Gift Shop was nominated for a BAFTA and won an award for documentaries. In other Banksy news, someone is trying to sell 5 Banksy works on paper, basically preparatory works, for £125,000.
• This “news” article reads like a press release for Bonhams, but there is one surprising bit of information in there: Apparently the Shepard Fairey Peace Goddess, which sold earlier this month at Bonhams for £27,600, is the highest price ever paid for a Shepard Fairey work at auction. I would have thought he’d reached a higher number by now, but I guess most of the work that goes to auction tends to be prints and HPMs, not the large collages or retired stencils that might have otherwise already reached that number. UPDATE: Of course, the article is wrong. That isn’t the highest price paid for a Shepard Fairey work at auction. Not sure if this price is the highest, but it’s much higher than the Bonhams result. So I guess that article is just a giant press release. Sorry.
• And because that last thing was all about money, here’s a relevant old piece from Twist/Barry McGee.
• Jose Parla has been busy in Toronto (Thanks to Simon for the tip).

Photo by Elfo

Remi/Roughe and Stormie Mills. Photo courtesy of Remi

Here’s a hodge-podge of photos of some of my favorite murals from Miami this year… Probably more to come in future posts as well. Most of these were part of Primary Flight.

Kid Acne, The London Police, Will Barras and Ema. Photo by S.Vegas

How and Nosm (click to see a a large size of this wall). Photo by tatscruinc

Invader. Photo by Hargo

Shepard Fairey and Overunder. Photo by Hargo

Jeff Soto and Maxx242. Photo by S.Vegas

Amaze by Barry McGee. Photo by S.Vegas

Cash For Your Warhol. Photo by Hargo

Dabs and Myla. Photo courtesy of Thinkspace

Photos by S.Vegas, Hargo, tatscruinc and courtesy of Thinkspace and Remi

Dscreet, Skewville and Kid Acne

Kid Acne, Skewville and part of Burning Candy worked together a bit in Miami. I think all of these murals were for Primary Flight. Above is a mural they did together, and here are some of the things they did separately:

James Jessop and Dscreet

Kid Acne

And lots from Skewville:

68 pairs of Primarly Flight/Skewville shoes

The folks from Plaztik Mag (is that John Fekner's Stanley Cup in the background?)

Photos by Burning Candy, Kid Acne and Skewville

Sticker by Hieronymus

Wow. It’s actually Friday night already? This week went by really fast. I think I’ve been sleeping too much. Well, while I was sleeping, these things nearly slipped me by:

• A film is being made about The Underbelly Project, and they are looking for reactions from the public. This Sunday, New Yorkers get have their reactions (positive or negative) on film. More info on the film’s website. I’ve been interviewed for this a couple of times, and I can’t wait to see the finished film.
• Shepard Fairey is guest-editing the latest issue of PAPER Magazine. Great price for an art/culture magazine by the way: I just realized that a two-year subscription to PAPER Magazine is $15! Juxtapoz costs more than that per year just for a digital subscription (more issues per year though)!
• Graffoto are raving about Mantis‘ solo show in Hackney Wick. Honestly, I saw a few photos in the preview and thought something along the lines of “What? These are paintings and they aren’t funny or clever and they aren’t amazing. This isn’t what I love about Mantis at all!” Well I stand corrected. While I still think a lot of the paintings are pretty unappealing, there are some great drawings and even a nice painting or two. The man can draw!
• Jordan Seiler is playing a game with outdoor advertising companies in NYC and Philadelphia.
• Kid Acne has a solo show in London open now.
• A Basquiat was defaced in Paris. Kyle Chayka asks if it really even matters?
• Political graffiti in Afghanistan is pretty interesting.
• People have been tagging up Barry McGee’s wall of tags in New York. Not writers, but just regular people. As beautiful as that wall was when it was first painted, I love that more people are writing on it. I guess the existence of the tags and a while background is sort of inviting average people to interact.
• I really enjoyed this interview with Phlegm.
• Arrested Motion has photos from Best Ever’s London solo show.
• Swoon is building at musical house in New Orleans.
• This street art/graffiti film festival event in Spain looks pretty interesting.
• There’s a new interview with me online at $200 Art Collecting, a blog with one of the best concepts I’ve heard in a long time: buy great art for $200 or less.

The week’s not up yet though, and I’ve committed to doing at least one useful thing before it is: Tomorrow I’m going to try using my kitchen for the first time since going to university. Wish me luck…

Photo by LoisInWonderland

Photo by Luna Park

I’m racing through my computer science homework right now and also throwing this post together before it gets to be too late. I have to be up early tomorrow to get to Washington D.C. for The Daily Show’s Rally To Restore Sanity. I probably shouldn’t been spending my entire day on my way to and from that rally, but it’s going to be an insane day. So between planning getting 50 students to the rally and teaching a course on street art at my university (not an official course, there’s no homework or exams and I don’t get paid), things had to slip through my fingers this week:

• TrustoCorp had a show in LA.
• Kid Acne has a London solo show coming up in November.
• Who else loves Barbara Kruger? Amsterdam and Juxtapoz do.
• This is sort of an odd project… Graffiti writers painting homages to classic graffiti pieces from Subway Art throughout New York City.
• Artists including Ben Wolf and Swoon recently painted an abandoned town in Connecticut.
• JR was in National Geographic, with an ad right next the article that might rip off his work a bit.
• A 3D painting at Cordy House in London.
• There’s a film about Steve Powers’ A Love Letter For You Project, and it just premiered in Philadelphia. Also, Steve has a new website with some work available to purchase and plenty of photos.

Photo by Luna Park