This new series from Above is pretty cool. All put up in Melbourne, Australia.
Photos by Above
Black Socks ask “What’s Art in the Street?”
In reference to the Art in the Streets show on now at MOCA in LA, the Black Socks movement sent out the above image with the following statement:
1_ Art in the streets isn’t domestication of artists
…it’s freedom for artists.2_ Art in the streets isn’t people manipulation…
…it’s an approach to people.3_ Art in the streets isn’t city decoration…
..it’s a reflection about cities.4_ Art in the streets isn’t governments advertising…
…it’s a criticism about how governments are doing.5_Art in the streets isn’t market speculation…
…it’s free, for all the people!6_Art in the streets isn’t art on museums, nor art on galleries, nor Street Art…
…it’s just art in the streets.It’s false that Street Art has turned street into a museum…
Street Art has turned street into an amusement park!Sugar free cities!
Certainly an idealistic view of street art, but there’s definitely something to be said for being an idealist. It’s certainly more fun that being a realist!
Photo by Black Socks
Art in the Streets link-o-rama
Why haven’t hotels figured out that they should have strong free wifi in all rooms? And, if they make you pay for wifi, the signal and speed had better be amazing? Starbucks has it figured out, and I don’t have to pay a boatload of money to hang out in a Starbucks for a couple of hours (unless I’m drinking their coffee while I’m there). And yet, hotels haven’t seemed to get the message. So that problem, and the general busyness of the last few days in LA, is why I am woefully late covering the opening of Art in the Streets at MOCA in LA, probably the biggest indoor event this year relating to street art or graffiti. And I’m still going to be woefully late with coverage today. Expect a full review in a couple of days, but in the mean time, here’s some of the best reviews and coverage from around the web:
- Some overviews of the show by Arrested Motion and Sour Harvest.
- Lots of photos of sections by Lee, The Fun Gallery, Swoon, Barry McGee, Todd James, Steve Powers, Rammellzee, CR Stecyk III, Ed Templeton, Shepard Fairey, Banksy (whose section is a work in progress) and Os Gêmeos.
- Some thoughts on KATSU’s fire extinguisher on the side of the museum (since buffed and painted over with a mural).
- Unurth’s thoughts on the show (and Hyperallergic’s comments on Unurth’s review).
- Jake Dobkin’s comment on the lack of political content in Art in the Streets.
- Hyperallergic on this being the “first” exhibition of its kind.
- A review from The LA Times.
- The LA Times reports on an increase in graffiti throughout LA because of the show. A. Umm… duh. B. MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch attributed this increase to “some of the young taggers who are anarchic,” but neglected to mention that some artists in Art in the Streets are involved too. Barry McGee, Amaze, ESPO and friends painted some graffiti. I saw some McGee stickers around the museum. And Shepard Fairey’s crew has been hitting up electric boxes right out in front of MOCA without permission.
Banksy’s Crayon Forclosure for sale
A couple of days ago, I got an email from someone selling Banksy‘s Crayon Foreclosure piece (photo above), painted earlier this year in LA. The seller describes the piece as and 12 x 8 feet and “mixed media on concrete.” Of course, the piece would never come with official Pest Control certification (standard for legitimate Banksy artwork), as Pest Control does not authenticate Banksy’s street pieces, but the piece does appear on Banksy’s website. No word yet on the price that is being asked.
Photo courtesy of Banksy’s website
Veng, OverUnder, Chris, Peeta and Never
American Folk Art Museum brings graffiti to Venice
The American Folk Museum (AFAM) is one of my favorite places to visit when I’m in New York. I’ve always found something a bit strange though: this NYC based museum dedicated to self-taught artists has never done anything related to graffiti. Until now. This summer, AFAM is putting 4 old-school graffiti writers in an exhibition in Venice during the Venice Biennale. Vision and Vernacular: Eight African-American Artists in Venice includes four self-taught graffiti writers selected by Carlo McCormick: Blade, Quik, Daze and Sharp. Each artist will make an installation at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi. The show runs from June 1st-15th. This show should be really interesting, especially in contrast to the rest of the Biennale, and is definitely a giant leap forward for AFAM by acknowledging graffiti.
In a seemingly odd match, the exhibition is sponsored by Benetton, as in United Colors of Benetton, but hey, whatever gets the job done done!
Image courtesy of AFAM
Gaia at Haverford College
This new mural by Gaia was painted last weekend at my school, Haverford College (a bit outside of Philadelphia). Just thought I’d share.
Martha Cooper gets remixed at Carmichael Gallery
Carmichael Gallery in LA has a pretty crazy show on right now. Martha Cooper: Remix has street and graffiti artists giving their takes on classic photographs by Martha Cooper, one of the photographers behind the classic Subway Art book. Here’s a bit of the show, but check out Arrested Motion for many more photos. Remix runs through May 7th.
Photos courtesy of Arrested Motion
The Hole heads to LA – Facemaker
Get ready for some irony: Jeffrey Deitch closes Deitch Projects and leaves to be director at MOCA in LA, Kathy Grayson aka Deitch’s right hand woman at Deitch Projects opens The Hole in NYC to fill the hole left by Deitch’s departure and now The Hole has a show opening in LA this Wednesday night to coincide with MOCA’s Art in the Streets show.
The Hole are putting on a show, Facemaker, at Royal/T in Culver City. Basically, Facemaker is a portraits show. Despite one of the silliest press releases I’ve read this month (“The show will explore interpretations of the most universal element of human perception: the face.”), the show looks to be something worth seeing. The line-up is beyond impressive. Here it is:
Ben Jones, Barry McGee, Kenny Scharf, Joe Grillo, assume vivid astro focus, Tomoo Gokita, Eric Yahnker, Jane Moseley, Olaf Breuning, KAWS, Ted Mineo, David Shrigley, Shepard Fairey, Eddie Martinez, Taylor McKimens, Francine, Speigel, Avery Newman, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Robert Lazzarini, Aurel Schmidt, Kembra Pfahler, Rivas & Tullie, Aaron Johnson, Brian Belott, Matt Leines, Swoon, Allison Schulnik, Clare Rojas, Jules de Balincourt, Michael Williams, Takeshi Murata, Anders Oinonen, Justin Samson, Misaki Kawai, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Dennis Tyfus, Katherine Bernhardt, Todd James, Matt Greene, Stefan Bondell, Spencer Sweeney, Nate Lowman, Mat Brinkman, Jakub Julian Ziolkowski, Billy Grant, Adam Tullie and FriendsWithYou
So regardless of a crazy press release, this is still something to get excited about. I’ll be there Wednesday at the opening (8pm-midnight) and the show runs through June 30th.
Image courtesy of The Hole
Katsu puts a massive tag on MOCA (for real this time)
Update: Here’s a photo of the piece being buffed in the middle of the night.
Katsu might be New York City’ smartest writer. He used a fire extinguisher to tag a massive wall on the outside of MOCA in LA, right by the entrance to their Art in the Streets show. Of course we can never be 100% sure what goes on behind closed doors, but from all I’ve heard, this was a legitimately illegal hit. He’s faked this sort of thing before with some clever video editing, but apparently this one is real. While I haven’t seen any photos of the piece taken by random passersby or reputable graffiti photographers, I’ve heard from folks in LA that this is real.
Here’s the video of him painting the piece in broad daylight:
So now the question is: What happens next? This may sound crazy, but I’d be more upset about this piece being buffed than Blu’s mural on MOCA, precisely because illegal pieces like this are what cannot be brought into a museum context except through bold actions like Katsu actually going up and hitting the building like graffiti writers are supposed to do. In fact, I’m surprised it took this long. I’ve been saying since December how the MOCA building is a perfect target for a writer with a fire extinguisher.
And, as I’m writing this, someone has posted a comment on the YouTube video saying that the wall has already been buffed… If that’s true, damn. Well, it’s MOCA’s right as property owner to do what they want and that can’t be denied (just as it would be fair for Katsu to hit the spot again), but still definitely sucks. I would’ve loved for that to be the first thing people saw as they entered the museum for Art in the Streets. I just hope they find a good artist willing to paint that spot instead (and one that Katsu won’t immediately tag over).
Even in the off chance that the video is a fake, well, he’s still got his name out there in the digital world, hence, successfully achieving fame almost as if it were real.