James Reka from the Everfresh crew has a show, Down Low Too Slow, opening next Friday at Backwoods Gallery in Melbourne. I don’t know too much about Reka, but both Backwoods Gallery and the Everfresh crew tend to do interesting stuff. Here’s the flyer:
Photo courtesy of Backwoods Gallery
Printing Banksy: Modern Multiples Creates the LA Prints is a short film/interview with Richard Duardo about the prints that he made for Banksy at Modern Multiples back in 2006 for Banksy’s Barely Legal show in LA. The interview was done soon after the prints were made, but the film was just put online last month. It’s just about the closest thing to a behind-the-scene looks as anyone has ever gotten when it comes to Banksy.
As for that whole story in the video about Richard Duardo destroying the screens and test prints and whatnot, there’s more documentation of that on another little-seen YouTube video (and you can spot Mr. Brainwash filming there too).
Printing Banksy via Melrose&Fairfax
While the lawsuit between Shepard Fairey and the AP was settled in January, there was still a suit between Obey Clothing and the AP. That suit was finally settled, according to PDN Pulse. Both suits surrounded Fairey’s Hope portrait of Obama from a few years ago.
The terms of the settlement with Obey Clothing (as well as some of the retailers who sold clothing with Hope on it) include three important points:
1. Neither side is backing down and admitting that they were wrong. They both get to stick to their beliefs (the AP that the use of a photo they owned as the basis for Hope being infringement and Obey Clothing that it was fair use).
2. Obey Clothing “will not use another AP photo without obtaining a license from the AP.”
3. (and here’s why I say this series of unfortunate events is almost over) Obey Clothing “will collaborate to create and sell apparel using Shepard Fairey’s graphics based on photographs owned by the AP.”
You may remember these terms as sounding pretty familiar as they are pretty much identical to the terms of the settlement with Shepard Fairey, except dealing with clothing.
And yes, condition #3 does mean that there will probably a series of half-assed-and-photoshopped-in-5-minutes-to-OBEY-specification prints and t-shirts based on some famous photographs that the AP owns the rights to. Does the AP seriously think this is going to make them look good? I know people (including myself) have criticized some pretty low quality prints from Fairey from time to time, but damn, besides just the very real possibility of Shepard making some poor designs in a large enough series, I wouldn’t blame the guy if these upcoming designs based on AP-licensed images were intentionally half-assed just to spite the AP.
Or maybe I’m just writing spitefully because I wish Shepard had seen his day in court to patriotically defend the right of fair use… After all, I did buy a print from him last year.
Photo courtesy of Obeygiant.com
Hieronymus has what I think is his first LA solo show opening this Friday. Tell All See All will be held at Studio5216 and is part installation and part an exhibition of hundreds of pages from his sketchbooks. Reminds me a bit of Escif last year at Pictures on Walls. So check out Hieronymus at Studio5216 in LA on Friday from 8-11pm, or during the day through March 28th.
Photo courtesy of Hieronymus
Phlegm just sent this over from the latest abandoned site he is working at. More soon. Also, check out this other cool mural by Phlegm on Unurth.
Photo by Phlegm
Next week in London, Mike Ballard aka Cept is opening his latest solo show: Ultra Nomadic Def Smith Cycle at Edel Assanti Project Space. It opens Wednesday, March 23rd from 6-9pm, but I’m not sure how long it runs. I’m looking forward to Graffoto‘s review.
The next show at Shepard and Amanda Fairey’s Subliminal Projects promises to be one of my personal favorites there. Curated by Peter Frank and Lisa Kahane, Art, Access & Decay: New York 1975 – 1985 looks at one of my favorite periods of street art, one that I think is consistently underrated in favor of the graffiti from that time (or else solely represented by Haring and Basquiat, like representing today’s street art solely with Shepard Fairey and Banksy). The show draws heavily from CoLab, Fashion Moda and the East Village artists of the time.
Artists include: John Ahearn, Liza Bear, Andrea Callard, Thom Corn, CRASH, Jody Culkin, DAZE, Jane Dickson, Stefan Eins, Coleen Fitzgibbon, Mike Glier, Robert Goldman, Ilona Granet, Keith Haring, Julie Harrison, Jenny Holzer, GH Hovagimyan, Becky Howland, Lisa Kahane, Christof Kohlhofer, KOOR, Joe Lewis, Michael McClard, Ann Messner, Richard Miller, Joseph Nechvatal, Tom Otterness, Cara Perlman, Virge Piersol, Walter Robinson, Judy Ross, Christy Rupp, Teri Slotkin, David Wojnarowicz and Martin Wong. I don’t know everyone on that list, but it seems to me to be pretty comprehensive and catch most of the major names (minus Basquiat, John Fekner, Don Leicht and Richard Hambleton). Especially cool is the inclusion of Wojnarowicz. Most people don’t realize that he did street art. And I guess the same could probably be said of Jenny Holzer.
I’m excited to see that someone has put this show together, especially at a space like Subliminal Projects. Street art history does not go: Haring to Blek to Beautiful Losers to Banksy, and this early period is well worth a closer look.
And of course, the timing for this show is very intentional. Art, Access & Decay opens on April 2nd and runs through the end of the month. That mean that LA MOCA’s street art show will open dead smack in the middle of Art, Access & Decay‘s run. I will definitely be making my way over to Subliminal while I’m in town for MOCA’s exhibition.
Photo courtesy of Subliminal Projects
This post aims to show two things: 1. Street|Studio: The Place of Street Art In Melbourne by Miso, Ghostpatrol, Timba and occasional Vandalog guest poster Alison Young is a much-needed addition to the crowded world of street art books, and 2. I am really slow about reviewing books and if you’re writing a book and want it reviewed here, it’s probably better to ask one of the other writers to check it out.
I’m going to start with the second aim because it’s brief and less important. I got my copy of Street/Studio just before the London launch event in July 2010. I was then traveling a fair bit, so probably didn’t end up reading it until August/September. And it’s been sitting on my desk since then solely because I am lazy when it comes to actually writing book reviews. So hopefully that clears that up. Now on to the important stuff.
Excluding the Everfresh crew’s book which I’m guessing is more focused on the single crew who are also included in this book, Street|Studio is the only book I can think of that looks specifically at the street art scene in Melbourne, Australia. Given the strong street art scene in Melbourne, something like Street|Studio was long overdue. The book is made up primarily of 10 in-depth profiles a select few street art stars working in Melbourne. Of the artists in this book, I’d probably heard of about half of them, but that does not mean that this book is filled up with random talentless hacks. Melbourne has an active street art scene, but many of Melbourne’s very talented street artists are rarely discussed outside of Australia. Maybe Street|Studio‘s greatest achievement is that it can work as an introduction for the rest of the world to a street art community that, for whatever reason, often seems more cut off from the global community than other cities.
That said, the interviews with each artist are very in-depth, so I was learn a fair amounts even the artists who I was familiar with before reading Street|Studio. I did realize, after finishing, that I hadn’t read the book in the best way though. I read it straight through, except that meant reading extensive interviews of artists whose work I was just being introduced to. That’s a lot of information to take in. For anyone who picks up this book in the future, I’d recommend flipping through the entire thing and primarily looking at the images, finding a bit more about your favorite artists online and then going back to read the interviews. I think I would have gotten even more out of Street|Studio if I’d done that.
The other day over Twitter, Inkfetish asked if anyone could name some innovative London-born street artists. I had some trouble with that (I think some of the current or former BC guys were raised in London but I’m not sure…). Of course, there are some innovative artists like Banksy who moved to London but didn’t start out there, but even including them, it can sometimes seem like a lot of the strength of London’s street art community is that lots of people want to visit. On the other hand, Street|Studio shows very the Melbourne scene as innovative and active, but that activity is coming, primarily, from a Melbourne-based (though not always raised) community. I guess I’m trying to say that after reading Street|Studio, I want to visit Melbourne.
Photos courtesy of Miso and Alison Young
This billboard takeover in Hollywood is nearly perfect. Effective as a billboard takeover for the anti-consumerism, the use of a perfect “Big Brothter-y” image and for completely removing the original text on the billboard. Plus, and here’s the kicker, the artists call themselves Desire Obtain Cherish, so, if you’re in on it, it’s a bit of an ad for them too, but if you’re not (and I’m guess most people are not), it’s just a takeover.
Photo by Desire Obtain Cherish
Very short notice on this one, but Brad Downey‘s latest show, We Are Beginning: Personal Projects in Public Spaces, is opening today at the Caudro Fine Art Gallery in Dubai. I don’t know what this show entails, but given that it is part of a residency program at Caudro, I’m thinking maybe some new Dubai-based street art. Brad is one of my favorite artists, so it’s cool to see that he is one working in such a unique city as Dubai.
