Galo, 2051 and Ottograph

So much going on behind the scenes this week for a couple of upcoming events. Can’t wait to say more. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to write about one of them. Here’s what I didn’t have a chance to post about this week:

• Sick burner by Jume.
• I wish I could have seen Mark Jenkins’ installation at Carmichael Gallery’s Volta booth in the flesh.
• OaKoAk: A french street artist who is kind of awesome.
• Some shots from Vhils‘ latest solo show in Portugal.
• Someone is placing “hipster traps” around NYC.
• Shepard Fairey’s Revolutions show looks pretty cool.
• Check out Contra Projects’ booth and murals from Scope NYC.
• The LA Police are trying to interfere with a graffiti writer’s art career by not allowing him to use his name (Smear) with anything relating to his artwork. And then they arrested him.
• Just rediscovered this piece from last year by WorldWarWon where he “graffiti-ed” an iceberg.
• Tika has a show coming up in Berlin.
• Galo, 2051 and Ottograph have a show opening soon in San Fransisco at Lower Haters Gallery.

Photo by Galo

Poster by Morley

Wow. This week has gone by really quickly. I guess the world feels like it is moving faster when you are running on less sleep. Such a counter-intuitive thing. Anyway, here is what has been going on that I didn’t have a chance to write about this week:

• Two members of the Russian artist/activist group Voina are finally out on bail, in part thanks to Banksy.
• These doors to nowhere sound like a fantastic project.
• Arrested Motion has a studio visit with Luc Price.
• I love this new wall from Oker and Mr. Dheo.
• Stik has a show in London next week.
• Mau Mau’s new work is simple, but it made me smile.
• The line up for Contra Projects’ booth at SCOPE NY next week is looking pretty good.
• Vhils and Brad Downey in Lisbon.
• One of these two Banksy’s is terrible, one is one of his strongest all year. Can you guess which I think is which?

Photo by Morley

Here’s a fancy new video from Vhils of his artistic process set to hip music and slow motion.

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

Sowat DMV and Gris

This might have been one of the least productive weeks of my life. Just one of those weeks. Here’s some of the stuff I didn’t post about while procrastinating 30 minutes of homework for 3 hours on Thursday:

• The Underdogs‘ book is available online. The Portuguese collective features artists like Vhils and Tosco.
• JR has a book coming out with Drago towards the end of April.
• José Parlá has a solo show in NYC opening in March.
• These works from Yola in Poland remind me of John Ahearn’s sculptures.
• And actually, this new sculpture from Leon Reid IV (aka Darius) kind of reminds me of Ahearn as well.
• Amazing video of the 1UP crew in Berlin. Just watch.
• Sorry I’m late on this one, but the latest Cash For Your Warhol print has already sold out.
• NohJColey put up an interactive sculpture (and there’s this one too).

Photo by Sowat DMV

Vandalog was sent over some pretty cool videos hyping the new Underdog show in Lisbon, Portugal opening Friday. Featuring primarily Portuguese artists, the goal of the project is to raise awareness of street art in Portugal.

Leading the show is the young whirlwind artist, Vhils, who created this trailer for the show in conjunction with Orelha Negra.

Vhils x Orelha Negra Colab from Vhils on Vimeo.

The other is a video promoting the rebellious nature of the show representing the Maismenos project.

± TO PROTEST AND TO SUBVERT ± teaser video UNDERDOGS from PlusqueMinusque on Vimeo.

The Underdogs project is a new venture from Vhils and a number of other (primarily Portuguese) street artists who are trying to gain more awareness for street art in Portugal. Some of the artists included in the group include Vhils and Tosco. Vhils tell Vandalog that the core of The Underdogs is a drive to make a platform for showing and uplifting street art in Portugal in a variety of different ways.

I’m still not 100% sure of everything that the project will involve, but their launch event is taking place this Friday at Vera Cortês in Lisbon. For that event, The Underdogs have teamed up with Pictures on Walls to show some prints by Blu, Steve Powers and others. In addition to being an art exhibition, the launch event will double as the launch of The Underdogs’ first book, a book about the Portuguese street art scene and its history.

For more info about The Underdogs and their launch party, check out Target’s blog.

This could be the start of something pretty interesting. If you’re in Lisbon, definitely something to check out. Let us know how it goes.

Vhils aka Alexandre Farto had a book full of his best artwork published this fall. I was sent a copy a couple of weeks ago and have been thoroughly enjoying it since. I remember the first time I saw Vhils’ art. Probably the same as most of his fans, I was blown away by what he did at Cans Festival back in 2008. At the time, I knew almost nothing about street art, but I could tell that Vhils was doing something very different and powerful. I’ve been a fan ever since, even if I’ve occasionally been critical of him. When I heard that Vhils was putting together a book, I knew I’d have to add it to my collection.

Vhils hasn’t disappointed. At over 150 pages, Selected Works 2005-2010 includes almost all of my favorite pieces indoors and outdoors from Vhils, and many that I didn’t know existed. Vhils’ art is definitely best experienced outdoors, but to see all of his walls in the flesh would mean traveling around the globe from Moscow to Italy to California and other spots in between, so a book will have to do. Thankfully, this book is really well printed. While Selected Works 2005-2010 isn’t likely to be of interest to people who aren’t already fans of Vhils, for fans like me, it’s a great overview and reminder of why we follow Vhils’ work.

You can buy Vhils’ Selected Works 2005-2010 online for €19.90 or €29.90 for a signed version.

Photo by Ian Cox

A mobile projection by Armsrock

Here’s what I missed this week, or where people just wrote things that I couldn’t do or wrote them better than I could:

• It’s just a few weeks until Nick Walker’s solo show in London. In Gods We Trust opens on October 12th at Art Sensus, a new gallery. Hooked has details and an image. Very curious to see what Nick comes up with and how it is received not that he’s moved away from his vandal character. Presumably, most of the works will be the things he has been painting in recent months in Paris and New York. I won’t voice my expectations for the show, positive or negative. I wouldn’t want to upset anybody.
• The Hi-Fructose blog has an interview with Angelo, the founder of FAME Festival.
• This book of stickers looks pretty interesting.
• The launch party is over, but Vhils has a book out this week in the Netherlands.
• Speaking of Vhils, he has a new print out at Pictures on Walls, but I think he’s done much better with a similar concept before.
• I’m not always a fan of Zevs, but sometimes he gets it so right.
• Armsrock has made a mobile projection unit so that he can more easily do work like in the photo at the top of this post. More examples on his blog.

Photo by Armsrock

Elfo

So, I like to procrastinate. This week, I didn’t get to post everything I wanted to here because I was catching up on homework. I spent 12 hours on trains and buses last weekend, and didn’t get a single piece of homework done. Because of that, I haven’t been able to write about everything awesome in street art this week, but other people did:

• Unurth had some fantastic posts this week: It looks like Swoon was in New Orleans, and Zilda has put up some beautiful wheatpastes in Brittany.
• Also from Swoon, here’s some photos of work by her and C215 in Venice.
• Similarly, Target posted some photos this week that you have to check out: Bruno Santinho’s placement is spot-on, and of course there’s Vhils’ wall for Nuart.
• The Ma’Claim crew (Rusk, Tasso, Case and Akut) are in LA right now painting. Haven’t seen any pictures yet though. And if you’re in LA, they’ve be doing some live painting followed by a talk on Saturday. Sour Harvest has the details on all that.
• Dran, Bom.K and Sowat have been up to some craziness in Spain.
• Steph mentioned that Ron English has a massive show on in NYC right now called Status Factory, but I just want to remind everyone to check out the sculptures from that show. For me, some of the most interesting work Ron has done indoors. And to check out the entire show, of course Arrested Motion has the photos you want.
• Jenny Holzer (one of the original street artists from way before I was born) has made some sneakers with Keds to support The Whitney. They’re out of a lot of sizes on the Keds website, but Bloomingdales.com seems to have a slightly better selection. Still, both sites are out of low-top black ones in my size, so if anybody has that in a 9, let me know.
• Ross Morrison has been posting some stunning portraits of urban and street artists.
• Sickboy and Shepard both have some new books (actually Shepard’s is an updated version of his recent Arktip magazine). Shepard’s looks nice and I like Sickboy, but I’m not sure I need a whole book from him just yet.
• Quel Beast has his first solo show coming up on October 9th. Andrew Michael Ford is putting the show on at King’s Country Bar in Brooklyn. Should definitely be worth checking out. It’s always interesting to see how street artists bring their work indoors for the first time.
• Nolionsinengland has photographed two awesome rollers: Mighty Mo & Gold Peg right next to Village Underground and Type with a sort of ESPO tribute roller I guess.

Photo by Elfo