Year: 2009

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Very different street art

Here are two very original pieces of street art (if you can even call it that, I guess street intervention is more appropriate).

First up are Sean Martindale and Eric Cheung who have been making Toronto just a bit greener in their spare time.

posterplants

Plants

Plants

Sure is a lot nicer than a wall of advertisements. More on their blog. (Via CitySPK)

And then there is this sign in New York:

Photo by Jordan Seiler
Photo by Jordan Seiler

Jordan over at Public Ad Campaign says this about the flyer:

I took one of the phone numbers and promptly called. An answering machine immediately picked up and said the following before the familiar beep telling me it had begun recording. How Bizarre.

“Free yourself from your burdens.
Record your confession or secret after the tone.
There is not limit on the number or the length of the messages,
And its completely anonymous.”

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Very Nearly Almost issue 9

A few weeks ago I picked up the latest issue of Very Nearly Almost, and about two weeks ago I promised its editor, George, that I would mention it on Vandalog. So, here’s that long overdue mention.

VNA Cover

For those who don’t know, Very Nearly Almost is a London-based street art magazine. I’ve been reading VNA for I guess nearly a year now, and each issue is better than the last.

Issue 9 features all the usual VNA goodness (photos of every good piece of street art and some good graffiti to have popped up in London since the last issue went to print), plus some interviews and artist profiles, photos of other cities, and product reviews.

Sickboy

The interview with Ludo was probably the highlight for me, because I’v never known anything about the guy behind the “Nature’s Revenge” series. There are also interviews with Meggs and Jeff Soto and features on a few other great artists.

Very Nearly Almost

VNA has the love and devotion of a ‘zine behind it, without the low Kinko’s production values.

You can by VNA at some stores (such as Concrete Hermit in London) and online. If you live in London, this is a great documentation of street art from this spring, and if you live elsewhere, well London street art is awesome, and VNA proves it.

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Opening soon at Carmichael Gallery

This month’s offerings at Carmichael Gallery are a bit different from their usual fare. In the front gallery, Guy Denning has a solo show, and in the rear gallery, an all female group show called A Mirror Distorted. I say these are a bit different because only one artist of the whole bunch works on the street. The rest are considered part of the enigma that is urban art. Both shows open on August 6th.

Guy Denning

From Slamxhype:

Celebrity Will Eat Itself explores the notion of the eternally solipsistic über-celebrity in all its splendor, hedonism, and pain. With intense brushstrokes and a dynamic use of texture, Denning unravels the darkness inherent in the socially dysfunctional idols of our time and the potentially damaging effects of Hollywood idolatry on both the idols and the idol-worshippers.

Says Denning, “I think this obsession is damaging not only to cultural growth but also to general social well-being and development.”

Denning has long entranced fans with the striking style and ethereal beauty of his androgynous portraiture. Sexual and temporal politics, objectification and isolation are illuminated through a carefully honed juxtaposition of shape and shade. His paintings blend an elegant classical form with an unflinching reflection upon issues that dog contemporary Western society.

Carmichael

From Carmichael Gallery:

Carmichael Gallery invites you to attend A Mirror Distorted, an all-female international group show featuring new works on canvas, paper and mixed media fabric by artists Andrea Michaelsson, Candice Tripp, Cherri Wood and Pam Glew.

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Fire Extinguishers in New York

Recently there has been a slew of fire extinguisher tags New York. Reader is back in the city so he has definitely made his mark as of late with this scourge of graffiti.

Deeker
Deeker
Boans
Boans
Reader completing Katsus unfinished business
Reader completing Katsu's unfinished business
Politically incorrect
Politically incorrect
Amen??
Amen??

Some oldies but still worthy of mention

Avoid ADHD
Avoid ADHD
Curtis
Curtis

– Gaia

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A Vandalog street art exhibition

Could I be anymore excited right now? Probably not. Finally, it’s time to announce what I’ve been planning quietly for a while now.

Vandalog Impressive

This November, I’ll be curating an exhibition of jaw-droppingly impressive street art in London. One day, street art will be in the Tate Modern and there will probably be a museum or two devoted to it, but for now, there is London on November 18th. This exhibition will feature original work by some of the top names in street art: Faile, Banksy, KAWS, Shepard Fairey, Swoon, Herakut, Barry McGee and many more. Most of the work will come from private collections, but there will be a few brand new pieces direct from the artists. Naturally I’m bias about this whole exhibition, but I think it’s going to look pretty amazing.

Last summer, the Tate Modern put street art outside their museum, and this year the Bristol Museum let Banksy take over for a few months. Those are definite steps in the right direction, but I’m organizing this exhibition to show to the art world and the public that there are great works of art within the sphere of “street art,” and that street artists deserve a place in art history. Unlike any show that a gallery can organize (not that there’s anything wrong with art galleries), the goal of this exhibition is not to sell work, but to publicize it, and the vast majority of the work on display won’t be for sale. It’s on loan from collectors. To help extend that promotion effort even further, Drago Lab will be publishing a companion book to the exhibition.

You might be wondering, why it is that I keep saying “the exhibition” instead of whatever I’ve decided to call this project? I’ve decided to reach out to the greater street art community for suggestions on what I should name the exhibition. I had a few ideas myself, but I figure somebody out there must have a better name for it than I can possibly come up with. So if you have an idea of what I should call this project, just email it to rj@vandalog.com and let me know.  I don’t want to turn this into a contest, since it’s more about trying to reach out to the global community of street art fans, but whoever comes up with a name will definitely get a shout out on Vandalog.

The exhibition will be open from November 18th through the 22nd of November at Village Underground in London (54 Holywell Lane, London, EC2A 3PQ).

Also, if you’re a UK based street art collector and interested in getting involved with this project, I’m still looking for more artwork to borrow so just shoot me an email (rj@vandalog.com).