Work in Guatemala by STRANGER

Well I’ve been back in London for about a week now, and I am beginning to understand why people think it’s so grey. When you live here, you get used to it, but wow I’ve only been away for a few months and already I think the constant greyness is annoying. Still, it’s good to be home. Here’s what the world has been up to while I’ve been watching it rain.

• A group of artists protested the removal of Blu’s mural outside of MOCA this week by projecting images onto the buffed wall. Here’s a news story and a video.
• José Parlá has a new book coming out and a solo show in New York next month. Arrested Motion has more info on both those things and the book is currently available online.
• Dimitris Taxis does some great wheatpastes.
• King Adz has put together a show opening this weekend in Ireland with Blek le Rat, Asbestos, Laser 3.14 and others.
• Kyle Chayka went on a bit of a rant about Banksy’s possible Oscar nomination, but he makes some good points.
• Also on the topic of Exit Through The Gift Shop, the NYTimes is reporting that a man who has come forward as an original editor of Mr. Brainwash’s film Life Remote Control wants some credit for making the film that eventually sort of morphed into Exit.
• Carolina A. Miranda wrote the latest cover article for the magazine ARTnews about the future of street art and it moving away from figurative work. You can read the entire article online. On the one hand, a move away from pop-art and figurative art seems to be counter-productive to the “art for the people” ethos at the core of so much street art, but it’s also certainly easier to turn a pop-art image into a marketing campaign while an abstract painting may do a better job of brightening up a grey wall without the artist and the viewer immediately thinking of dollar signs. I think street artists will just have to be careful to not become so conceptual that the possibility for people to understand or appreciate the art on some level without an artist’s statement is lost.
• Some graffiti writers are tagging up ancient rock art sites in Nevada.
• Mat Gleason named Banksy and Shepard Fairey among the top overrated artists of the decade. Check out this video for why Gleason thinks that Shepard isn’t an artist!
• A mural by Shepard Fairey was partially painted over in LA by some other artists/writers. No big deal right? Happens all the time, right? Wrong, apparently. The mural was painted over by another artist showing at a gallery nearby. According to JetSetGraffiti, the artist has since apologized and will be paying for Shepard to repair the wall with a new mural. Okay, so should that mural still be there untouched? Maybe. Sounds like the local neighborhood liked it. Can it suck when things get dissed or buffed or written over accidentally or whatever else? Yeah. Should the artist have to pay for damages? Hell no! That’s the sort of thing that happens when you get arrested by the police for graffiti or street art, not something that art lovers should impose upon each other. The mural didn’t last forever. That’s the nature of street art. It sucks sometimes and there are ways to deal with it, but don’t make the vandal pay for damages!
• NBC has done a really disturbing promotion in NYC’s parks for their new superhero show. Publicadcampaign explains.

Photo by Not Another Street Artist

The nice thing about street art is that, for 99% of the people who look at it (the people who see it on the street and not on blogs like this one), there’s not market consideration about “how much is that worth?” or anything like that. But then there’s the 1% of us (the people who follow blogs and write and forums and so on) who do see the art market side of street art. Sometimes the art market provides opportunities for Boxi, Steve Powers and other artists can show up in London and paint walls with permission and free paint. Other times, the art market makes me want to cry.

This week, Philips de Pury had a few pieces in their London day auction by low-brow and street artists. Street Art Is Dead notes that two Mr. Brainwash pieces sold for £42,000 and £75,000 even though the estimates were already a seemingly insane £7-9,000 and £15-20,000 respectively. What makes those results even more disgusting is when you compare them to other results in that same sale:

• A massive and beautiful Ryan McGinness which has been shown in The Saatchi Gallery sold for just under £19,000. A collector could have 4 of those paintings, or one crappy Mr. Brainwash.
• The Kaws piece pictured above sold for £13,750. Not my favorite, but you would think that Star Wars fans would be all over that one.
• And then the two most surprising results were that both a Margaret Kilgallen cluster and an old Barry McGee piece failed to sell at all! While this particular Kilgallen cluster has been floating around for quite a while, it’s not a bad piece and Kilgallen’s art is almost impossible to find for sale.

Similarly, while it doesn’t outrage me quite as much, I don’t exactly understand why this Banksy sold for $75,000. It’s just not a strong image.

The art market makes no sense and sometimes I wish it would just go away.

Photo courtesy of Phillips de Pury

I really do not advocate artists tagging over others’ work usually (unless it is absolute shit/Waterloo Tunnel/or the artist does it himself), but in this case I applaud TrustoCorp for doing what other artists have wanted to for awhile: vandalize MBW’s street art. Granted the guy is a joke, and his portrayal in Exit Through the Gift Shop did not exactly help to improve his credibility in the art world.  TrustoCorps’s work is a physical manifestation of the discussion around Mr.Brainwash and his so called “art” so I smiled when I woke up this morning and saw these pictures. I especially liked the use of the phrase “Locals Only” which harkens back to summer memories of New Yorkers invading my beach on the Jersey Coast. Go away MBW and stop putting up street art. I would rather see a 14-year-old bombing for the first time paint on a wall then see your post modern Warhol wannabe stencils on the streets. And while I’m ranting, Dear Bennies, please stay off the Jersey beaches. Love Stephanie.

Here are some of the pictures from TrustocCorp’s Flickr. You can see the rest from his destructive spree here

Phillips de Pury’s May 13th and May 14th Contemporary Art auctions have a number of interesting paintings up for grabs, but here’s a few of the pieces that are more relevant to Vandalog.

• Lot 116. Rubber by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Estimated at $1,500,000-2,500,000.

• Lot 145. Untitled by Banksy. Estimated $150,00-250,000.
  I’d love to hear what somebody who can see this in person things of this lot. Seems like an expensive estimate, but it’s a big painting (188 x 180 cm). And it’s from 2003, which for me is one of Banksy’s best years. Can Banksy have a best year? That sounds really weird doesn’t it? But it’s something I seem to have noticed.
• Lot 433. Pyramid (yellow on blue) by Keith Haring. Estimated $30,000-40,000.

• Lot 434. Pyramid (blue on yellow) by Keith Haring. Estimated $30,000-40,000.
  I love this piece. Not so much the yellow on blue pyramid with a similar design (lot 433). But this one, I love.

• Lot 436. Untitled by Barry McGee. Estimated $8,000-12,000.
  Not really for me, but perfect for the true McGee fans out there.
• Lot 437. Charlie Chaplin Pink by Mr. Brainwash. Estimated $50,000-70,000.
  Imagine a Nick Walker mood board, but made by Mr. Brainwash (no offense intended Nick). Ugliness overload. And not only that. It looks so boring. Doesn’t challenge or interest me in the least. But I hate almost everything that MBW signs, so I’m obviously not the best person to comment on this painting.

Some of the most interesting work in these auction for me actually isn’t the work by street artists. There’s a lot great art by artists like Chris Johanson, so it’s worth flipping through the full catalog if you’re curious.

This week’s issue of The Sunday Times Magazine has a really nice cover designed by Banksy. The magazine also includes an article on the artist and an interview.

The article covers such a wide range of topics from his identity and personal life to the art market to why CCTVs are irritating, so I’m not even going to try and pick out my favorite bits. The article is a good read though, and if you’re not completely sick of Banksy-mania, it’s worth reading. You can find it online here.

On a related noted, The Times had an article on Saturday about Mr. Brainwash and Exit Through The Gift Shop. It’s probably the best article I’ve read so far to look at Mr. Brainwash as a person and artist in an unbiased and thought-provoking manner. They even speak to MBW himself and get his take on the film, which definitely strays from the official story. You can read that article here.

Photo by Annar_50

I didn’t intend to post anything more about Mr. Brainwash’s Icons “art show,” but then Animal New York make this hilarious video:

If you’re in New York City this weekend, be prepared to shield your eyes in case you accidentally catch a glimpse of Mr. Brainwash‘s show Icons. Please, somebody who likes his work, please explain to me what you like and what I am missing (no conspiracy theories please). I am so confused! That is all I will say for now on the subject.

… and two relatively new elbowtoe pieces. Took Clownsoldier out to this wall. The MBW literally went up the other night cause when I was scoping this spot it wasn’t there. So all of this is totally fresh.

One thing that makes street art so great is the dialog it creates, and the opportunity for collaboration.  Of course, I think it’s going to be a while before I see anything better than Skewville’s Your Ad Here, but Elbow-toe has made something pretty interesting out of a decaying wheatpaste by Mr. Brainwash.

Photo by guy_on_the_streets

I really like The Opera Gallery. The put on good shows. They put Ron English and Banksy next to old masters. Great stuff.

Well now they are doing a Mr. Brainwash show at their New York City location. Check out the website, if you dare. Not 100% sure when the show opens, but I hear it’s sometime in December, and the website says he is already in NYC, so it must be soon.

I will probably go see this show in person just to be sure, but I have no faith that it will be any good. Portraits made out of broken records sounds like something you would buy at the Sunday market. But hey, I’m just one guy with an opinion. Does anybody disagree?