Comments on: Brick Lane in Art trailer

By: RJ Rushmore

RJ Rushmore — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 21:28:00 +0000

It’s true that Vandalog and some other blogs art all cogs in this machinery if you will, which ends up promoting certain cities or certain styles or certain artists. I don’t think it is a conscious thing on any individual’s part. I for one know that I have a weakness of gravitating towards those cities and not seeking out random artists from Alabama as much as perhaps I should. I think Unurth does a great job of that. Because I see this weakness of mine, but, unlike you, I still see value in what I do write about, I’ve recently tried to get Vandalog to branch out a bit by adding guest posts from Lois Stavsky and our new contributor Monica. Both of them do a better job than I do at finding underrated or unknown but talented street artists.

I disagree with your second paragraph, other than the idea that some artists may not want to promote their work on blogs or sell it or anything like that. If they don’t, that’s their choice and there are certainly good reasons for going that route. But there are a number of examples where it is just the unfortunate case that artists DO need to paint a bit in these epicenters or promote themselves very well online if they want to be able to make a living as an artist. Personally, I’ve got nothing wrong with people making a living with art, although I am uncomfortable with blatant use of street art as advertising when there is little or no artistic intent (flyposting ads for an upcoming show for example).

For an “insider” as so many have termed me, I resit the status quo more often than most. It’s not every day, but it does happen when I actually disagree with the status quo. Check my last 5 featured posts: JR in LA plus his new book (I point out that this book is pricey, even though I like JR and that publisher is a friend, something I doubt most other blogs are saying), An interview with OverUnder (certainly not the most mainstream artist, although not completely off the grid either), Christy Rupp’s Rats (pointing out that neither Banksy nor Blek were the first to put up black rats on the street, and promoting an artist who is not well-known to street art fans outside of street art history buffs), Press The Button (project taking place in a city not known for street art by two artists who are not part of the street art elite). Admittedly, the next few are about Retna, Swoon and Roa, but I didn’t say I was always trying to disrupt the status quo (and even with the Retna posts, I think most if not all of the posts about his latest show mention the craziness of it which is apparent when you look beyond the art, which I like). Maybe by comparing myself against other blogs, you’ll see it as me saying Vandalog is one of the better smelling piles of rubbish, but we’ll have to disagree there.

By: Shinupapole

Shinupapole — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:19:00 +0000

In reply to RJ Rushmore.

My point is that by your actions you actively continue to promote and reinforce the idea that these handful of cities are the zenith of street art. Whereas in reality they are just the designated showrooms for the commercialisation of the artform.

If you’re a street artist and you have to relocate to one of these cities where the apparatus exists for the easy viewing, reporting and sale of your work then you’re just lazily catering to a market rathering than expressing yourself through your art. If the work is strong it’ll speak for itself no matter where it’s placed, and maybe if it doesn’t get seen on every single blog going, may be no bad thing?

There’s a whole rich world of art in many forms going on in the world that doesn’t rely on an army of bloggers having the art laid out in a few spots located in small square milage of a transiently trendy area in order to be promoted and then converted into merchandise sales.

Case in point Brick Lane is a tacky tourist trap with very little of artistic merit being created there, with all the usual supsects doing the rounds before an upcoming show.

Maybe it’s time to look and think a little deeper, rather than just posting mailouts from galleries or the same default opinions that support the status quo?

P.S I like the little hint at your minimal online sleuthing, subtley implying you’re watching my actions with a whiff of power and authority. Very vandal.

By: RJ Rushmore

RJ Rushmore — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 19:17:00 +0000

Sorry. Let’s call it 4 instead of 3. I would say London, NYC, Sao Paulo and Berlin (and some people would add Melbourne, but that I find that the Australian scene is too isolated from the rest of the world to put it in this same list. Lister and Isoe had to move to NYC and Berlin respectively to break out of the Australian bubble. Hopefully the book that Alison Young, Miso and Ghostpatrol put out last year will help change that). Those 4 are cities that artists make an effort travel to or even move to, where some artists can make a living off their art if they so choose more easily than if they lived elsewhere, where they can be surrounded by other artists (both those working with street art and graffiti and those who are not), where there are photographers documenting the scene extensively and where photographers make special efforts to visit the city in order to document the local scene, where there have been respected street artists and/or graffiti writers for decades, where the city’s identity seems to be intertwined with art (particularly street art), where the public has a love of street art, etc. Yeah, a lot of the cities that you listed have thriving scenes of their own, but they are not, for the most part, on the same level as these epicenters. What word would you rather I use? There are clearly a few cities (and we can disagree on the exact number), where the street art scenes are more pronounced and internationally renowned than in other cities throughout the world. That was my point. Whether that exact number of those cities is 2 or whether it is 10, London is definitely on that list and Brick Lane and the nearby area is (or at least was) at the center of the London street art scene.

I post things that don’t violate the comment policy, clearly stated on the “About” page of the site. Your recent comments, or at least recent comments from your IP address, have violated that comment policy for excessive language. Thank you for not violating it in this instance, which means I can publish your comment.

By: Passuparope

Passuparope — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:31:00 +0000

Well you do like to stick your neck out on subjects you know little about but pretend otherwise. 3 epicenters in the world of street art? So what are the 3? London, Bristol, Paris, Marseilles, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Milan, Rome, Naples, Berlin, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Sao Paulo, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco etc, etc?

I’m assuming as you base all street art’s importance around it’s percieved monetary value I’m guessing for yo it’s London, New York and Los Angeles as that’s where most of the shows and auctions take place?

P.S I’m going to post this on another blog you’re familiar with as you do have a habit of not posting anything that doesn’t suit your narrow agenda of self interest.