Year: 2012

Posted on

Graffiti vs. Street Art: A debate I don’t understand

Sometimes when I’m making these Wild Style Wednesday posts, I have a difficult time deciding whether I can include a piece because I can’t distinguish if it is “graffiti” or really just “street art”. For some reason, that matters. I ask myself questions like “Does the work have arrows?” “Is there reference to a 3-letter-name graffiti crew?” “Was this done with a legitimate risk of arrest?”

Instead of WSW this week, I’ve decided to compile some photos that didn’t make it into a previous WSW post, and assign them to more fitting ‘subcategories’ of graffiti/street art.

A mural of graffiti.
By MataOne in Renaix. Photo by Startape Photographe.
Ghetto product placement
Satyr, Goser, 4Gets and Mr. Ef in East Bay. Photo by FunkandJazz.
Pop-contemporary egoism
Adek and MQ in San Francisco. Photo by FunkandJazz
Slap-stick vandalism 
By Lush in Australia. Photo by Merciful Fate.
Caricature of a “graffiti artist” painted illegally.
By Graphis in Brazil.
Noncommissioned neo-cubist mural
BemsGF in France. Photo by GhettoFarceur.
Graffiti disguised as street art.
Ed Mun in Brazil.
Art school vandalism
Snek, Graphis and Terone. Photo by Graphis.
Childstyle graffiti.
Alissa in Brazil. Photo by Graphis.
Unwarranted expressionism
Bims and Rems. Photo by GhettoFarceur.

Let’s play a game.

VIEWERS DECIDE FIVE: Street art? Graffiti? Subcategory?

1.

Cranio in Brazil.

2.

L’Arabe-Stré in France. Photo by GhettoFarceur.

3.

Feustay, Sway and Kalouf in Niort. Photo by Startape Photographe.

4.

Mr. Wany and Coze. Photo by Heavy Artillery.

5.

A tag by Amour in Paris. Photo by Morac19.

 Photos by Cranio, Ed Mun, FunkandJazz, GhettoFarceur, Graphis1, Heavy Artillery, Merciful Fate, Nardstar and Startape Photographe

Posted on

From the Lyric to the Symbolic: ND’A at Bushwick 5 Points

Over two days, artist ND’A was invited to paint a tall narrow space nestled between Nick Walker and Jay Shells at  Bushwick 5 Points. At the crossroads where St Nicholas, Troutman, and Scott meet, Joe Ficalora has created a street art oasis. While his family have owned the buildings for years, Joe has taken it upon himself to breathe new life into them. When speaking to Joe, you can tell the passion he has for the artists with whom he shares his walls. This passion has created a space where artists from other countries as well as the New York area can have a more permanent home than the temporal streets that surround his buildings.

Since his visit to Mexico in June with LNY, ND’A’s style has shifted from text-based to the symbolic. Originally incorporating lyrics from various sources including music, the artist has moved towards a more universal meaning for his murals. Rather than having the text connote a specific reference, he is using symbols to create an appeal for the general public. For example, “drunk or sober never lose your composure,” as he used in his Bushwick Open Studios panel, will divide viewers as either those who understand the RZA line or those who are left feeling outside the reference. However, when removing the lyrics and leaving only the symbols behind a crown, a wolf, a bike lock, and a foam finger can take on a number of meanings for those who venture to Bushwick 5 Points.

Photos by Rhiannon Platt

Posted on

“Cause and Effect” Captures the Beat of the Streets

Ski URNY

For sheer fun, few exhibits I’ve seen this summer surpass “Cause and Effect” at 211 Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Curated by UR New York (2ESAE & SKI) and Tone MST, it features works in various genres by a range of artists whose works are seen on NYC streets. Graffiti and street art meet here and fuse seamlessly – sometimes within the same pieces. Here are a few more images:

Cern
Sofia Maldonado
KA

The exhibit continues through August 22nd.

Photos by Lois Stavsky

Posted on

A mural that reduces air pollution

This new mural by Andreco is more than just a nice painting of a tree in Bologna, it actually helps the environment by reducing air pollution. Andreco used a special kind of photochemical paint that reduces the amount of nitrogen monoxide in the air. Andreco’s mural is part of the Frontier project, curated by Claudio
Musso e Fabiola Naldi and coordinated by the City of Bologna.

Click to view large

Photos by Andreco

Posted on

OBEY is the drug

That thing above this text? Yeah, that’s Love is The Drug, the latest print by Shepard Fairey. When people complain about Fairey’s work not being up to the standard that it once was, this might be the sort of product that they’re thinking about.

I don’t think it’s entirely fair to criticize Fairey for putting out mediocre prints from time to time. After all, he puts out a lot of work. Not all of it is going to be great. But this one just seems particularly disappointing. Love is The Drug is red and black and gold, and nobody would care about it if Shepard Fairey’s signature wasn’t in the lower right corner and an OBEY star logo wasn’t in the top left.

Despite the weak image, my bet is that the print will still sell out in less than an hour once it is released for sale sometime on Tuesday.

Photo courtesy of OBEY Giant

Posted on

Texts from Know Hope

Know Hope has gone in bit of a different direction lately with his street work. As we saw during the Brandalism project, the text/poetry that has long been in Know Hope’s work has come to the fore and the characters have (at least for now) disappeared. Of course, he’s not the first to write short quips or poems on the street, but they are nice. What do you think of this sort of new direction for Know Hope?

Okay this piece has a flag in it too, which is like some pieces Know Hope has done in the past, but I like it so I’m including it in this post anyway.

Photos by Know Hope

Posted on

“Deep In The Cut” at Mighty Tanaka

Joe Iurato for Welling Court

Deep In The Cut, the two-man show with Joe Iurato and Chris Stain, opened last week at Mighty Tanaka in Brooklyn. It runs through September 7th.

As recently as June both artists worked within eyeshot of one another for the Welling Court mural project. With this familiarity, visitors may think that they’ve seen every iteration of the Stain/Iurato pairing. However, both artists have gone above and beyond the labor required for a typical gallery show and the results are astounding.

Chris Stain and Billy Mode at Welling Court

On the surface, Chris Stain and Joe Iurato appear to be tied together because of their stylistic choices. Both typically work in minimalistic color palettes, with the occasional pop of color thrown in for good measure. Both depict relatively realistic portraiture.

Chris Stain

However, when put side by side in a gallery instead of spread out over blocks, it is the outstanding differences of these artists that makes the work of Iurato and Stain that makes viewers’ knees buckle in awe. Stain is known for depicting the everyday man. Drawing upon his working class background, whether it is a former student of his or someone else from his life, the artist renders portraits of people that are highly relatable.

Joe Iurato

In contrast, Iurato takes what would look like your average person walking on the street and adds hints of the divine. Many of the pieces that the artist created for Deep In The Cut show his hooded modern day saints, emblazoned with halos. By placing modern day saints in conversation with working class hero, Mighty Tanaka has created a dialogue that has to be seen for the full impact to come across. As with many ethereal things, words cannot do it justice.

Photos by Rhiannon Platt

Posted on

Living Walls is underway

This year’s Living Walls Conference has begun and the team are posting daily updates to Vimeo. Here are the first three days. I’ll be arriving in Atlanta for the conference in less than 24 hours. Please join me on Wednesday night for an evening of short films and Friday evening for a panel about gender and identity in street art. And also, I’m sure the rest of the conference events will be interesting too. Here’s the full line up of Living Walls activities.

Posted on

You & Me at Bushwick’s Low Brow Artique

EKG & Dark Clouds

Opening this evening from 6-9pm at Bushwick’s stylish Low Brow Artique is You and Me, an intriguing exhibit of collaborative pieces in a range of textures and styles. Curated by Rhiannon Platt, it features works by Cash4 & Smells, OCMC & This Is Awkward, Veng & Sofia Maldonado, Chris & Veng (RWK), EKG & Dark Clouds, Matt Siren & Fenix and Royce Bannon & Russell King, The exhibit continues through September 1 at 143 Central Avenue.  Here are two more pieces:

Veng & Sofia Maldonado
Matt Siren & Fenix

Photos by Tara Murray and Lois Stavsky