Major hat tip to Ian Cox for coming across this one, as well as Caroline Caldwell for alerting me to Ian’s find and for research help.
A car commercial currently airing on UK television for the Hyundai i20 appears to steal the work of at least half a dozen street artists in just 30 seconds. Here’s the ad:
I guess this just goes to show you what advertising executives mean by “inspiration”.
How many stolen pieces can you spot? Spoilers after the jump.
Jaz, drawing entirely with charcoal in Buenos Aires.
Had a quick holiday in New York City combined with a nasty cold to delay posting this link-o-rama, but I’m back so here we go…
Dave aka nolionsinengland has been a friend and also one of my favorite street art/graffiti photographers for many years now. I’m very excited to see that he’s now offering street art tours of London in addition to his street art photography workshops. There aren’t too many people who can take me on a graffiti or street art tour of London, but Dave has shown me around before and he still schools me every time we meet up. This guy knows his stuff, and regular reads of this site have seen his photos on here for years. I haven’t taken this tour of course, but from every experience I’ve had with Dave over the past 5 or so years, I cannot recommend him highly enough.
Another longtime friend whose work I’ve admired is Know Hope, so I’m overjoyed to see him getting some serious recognition in the UK with a solo show coming up at Lazarides Gallery’s Rathbone Place location. Like Os Gemeos, Know Hope make work that grabs me and sucks me in to his world, and that’s a rare and beautiful experience. The show opens August 2nd.
Banksy’s No Ball Games street piece in London has been removed from the wall and is due to be sold next year. The profits from the sale will be going to charity, but I’m curious if that means the profits for person who owns the wall, or if the group organizing the removal and sale are also forgoing any profits. The company that removed this wall is the same one that managed the sale of Banksy’s Slave Labour street piece earlier this year.
Faile are on the cover of the latest issue of Very Nearly Almost, so there will be launch events in both NYC and London. The NYC launch is July 31st at Reed Projects and the London launch will be 8th August at Lazarides.
This year’s Living Walls conference/festival line up has been announced. The festival (my personal favorite in the USA) will be August 14th-18th in Atlanta. Caroline and I will be there, as well Steve and Jaime of Brooklyn Street Art. I highly encourage you to make the trip out if at all possible. Artist painting this year include Jaz, Inti, Know Hope, Freddy Sam, Trek Matthews and many more. More info about the conference (including all the things planned besides the murals) here. Also, you can donate to the conference here.
Remi/Rough recently put together a book of sketches that you can read online. Most artists who have met me know that I’m always carrying around a blackbook, and that I love to collect sketches, so this project of Remi’s was a real joy for me. It’s really fascinating to see what’s going on behind the scenes with this work.
Caroline and I went to this show in Brooklyn on Saturday night. I was really impressed with EKG’s drawings. A few of them definitely reminded me of Rammellzee. Col’s screenprints on wood were also interesting as a change of pace for someone who I’ve always known as a master with spray can.
The Walls Project is a series of legal spots organized by the folks behind Global Street Art. To date, they’ve organized over fifty of spots in London for local and international artists to paint. A lot of the spots they find are the roll-down shutters for shops in East London. It’s great to know that there are a couple of friendly guys in London who are simply interested in helping artists find more spots to paint and making their daily commutes a bit more interesting. You can see more of the walls and a map here.
It’s been quite a while since we’ve looked at what Malarky‘s up to, so here are a few walls of colorful characters from him and friends over the past year…
Malarky in Zagreb, Croatia. Photo courtesy of Malarky.Malarky in London. Photo by Hookedblog.Malarky and Lucas in London. Photo by HookedBlog.Malarky in London. Photo by HookedBlog.Malarky in London. Photo by HookedBlog.Malarky, 45RPM, and Richt in Bristol. Photo courtesy of Malarky.
This weekend saw the return of the Whitecross Street Party and the Rise of the Non-Conformists Art Show. Each year, the event gets bigger and bigger featuring an array of talented artists that display their work for several months in the heart of London. Always a fan of White Cross, this year’s line-up was the best yet featuring large scale works by Malarky, Ronzo, Shepard Fairey, Conor Harrington and so many more which will be on display until September.
Below are just some teaser images of the work, but check back for pictures of the antics from the weekend.
Malarky x Pez in London (and spot the Mr. Penfold). Photo by HookedBlog
I have always been a fan of colourful character based street art. For me personally, there is only so much of the polar opposite, stencil art, I can take before I find it all merges into one large mess of overlapping ideas and style. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy the use of stencils on the street, and there are a few artists that I really appreciate, Mobstr for one. But I rather enjoy seeing streets of brightly painted walls and shutters with a variety of characters and shapes popping out at me.
HUH? by Mobstr. Photo by HookedBlog
There seems to be a steady increase in the amount of artists painting in this style, one in which I feel the Burning Candy Crew recently promoted in the UK, but has been pushed by a variety of other artists including Malarky, Lucas, Ronzo, Billy, Sweet Toof, Paul Insect, Vinnie Nylon, and Mr. Penfold, among others.
My enjoyment of character based street art has been stirred this week by Pez, painting some nice pieces in the run up to his show at Tony’s Gallery, but also through Mr. Penfold’s exploits in Birmingham. I hope you enjoy them all as much I as do.
Pez in London. Photo by HookedBlog.Mr. Penfold x Tempo 33 in Birmingham. Photo by Mr. PenfoldMr. Penfold in Birmingham. Photo by Mr Penfold
I was finally been able to set aside some time this past weekend to ready Very Nearly Almost‘s issue #17. As usual, VNA have confirmed why they are my favorite magazine covering street art. For their latest issue, which is admittedly not that new so sorry for the delay, VNA interview some of the most interesting figures in street art, including El Mac and Interesni Kazki. Juxtapoz also recently had an interview with IK, but I get bored with Juxtapoz’s interview and found VNA’s interview interesting, so that’s saying something. As long as you ignore the interview with Goldie, VNA has once again shown their commitment to producing a magazine which is equally timely and timeless. They speak with some of the best-known names in street art today, but the magazine will be almost just as readable in a year or more.
The interviews with El Mac and Pablo Delgado were particular highlights for me. El Mac is well-spoken and just seems like a smart guy, which is always nice to learn. And Delgado is a figure who seemed to pop up out of nowhere in London and get bloggers and photographers all wondering “Who the hell is this guy putting up awesome tiny pieces all over Shoreditch?” practically overnight.
Steve Powers, Malarky, Word to Mother, Dabs and Myla, and Best Ever exhibit on The Wall.
Little over a week ago I was watching Word to Mother painting his outdoor piece for Moniker Art Fair. Allocated one of the 3 by 4 metre recesses he took to the piece with gusto. Layer after layer of tag and dub was laid down and a day later, a final coat of white was rollered onto the wall.
Appropriately dubbed, “The Wall”, the expanse of brick along Great Eastern Street has played host to a variety of artists, both local and international. Dabs & Myla, Best Ever and Malarky followed Word to Mother, but I could also name drop Steve Powers, Herakut, Nychos, SheOne, Shep Fairey and Know Hope among others. However soon after an artist completes a piece it is buffed or covered by another artist, pretty much like any wall I suppose.
But Village Underground hope this will all change following a Kickstarter fundraising project. Their aim is to raise enough funds to design, build and install bullet proof metal and glass frames over the recesses to protect the art work from theft and vandalism. In essence this will allow for artists to produce work in a variety of methods and on a mix of mediums. And with the addition of a digital wall and 10 million passing cars a year, “The Wall” will become London’s most public art gallery.
In a way I feel its a bit of a shame that the wall will be covered, but I’m sure you will agree that the project will certainly be interesting. Plus Village Underground, despite indicating that the artists will now obviously be able to sell their work, maintain they are working on a not-for-profit basis. It’s good to see that this project isn’t just about making money for them then!
For more info, including a nice little video, and to donate head here.
From somewhere inside the creative mind of Malarky comes Malarkistan, an exhibition come super party, showing paintings, prints, polaroids, t-shirts, bags and ‘other crap’.
Opening tomorrow night, August 18th, at 7pm in Barcelona (details on the flyer), it should be a great night out. So if you’re around, make sure you head along and say hi to Malarko.
There are a couple new collaborations involving Sweet Toof to share today. Two with American writer Smells and one with Paul Insect. I’ve got to say, Smells has to be one the best writing names there is. Also Screw. That’s a good one as well. Because they work so well in tandem with other writers. Anyway, here’s the work:
Smells and Sweet ToofPaul Insect and Sweet ToofPaul Insect and Sweet Toof
And while I’m on the topic of an artist that some people think I blog about a bit too much, I might as well mention that occasional Sweet Toof collaborator Malarkyhasbeenverybusylately.
