This is sort of like Muto 2.0, but now David Ellis is involved as well. Watch and be amazed by Blu and Ellis’ artwork. It was made inside an abandoned monastery just outside of Grottaglie, Italy during preparations for FAME Festival.
COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.
As previously mentioned, Logan Hicks is curating a street art show for Green Day inspired by their latest album, 21st Century Breakdown. Well now we know that the show is called The Art of Rock and it will be opening at Stolenspace Gallery in London on the 22nd of October. I particularly like Broken Crow’s piece. Here are a few preview images:
More info at Urbanpainting.info
Well this is now two new Banksy pieces on the street in one week (see: Ikea Punk) (and three in about a month) and the 3rd 4th (UPDATE: Thanks to Mick for sending this image of the piece at the Barely Legal show from 2006) iteration of his “No Ball Games” image.
First there was this piece up for sale at the Dreweatts Urban Art Auction in March. If I remember correctly the piece was for charity and direct from Banksy:
Then there was this piece at Banksy Versus The Bristol Museum. If you look carefully, in some photos of this painting, you can see that Banksy has sprayed over the image of a tv and replaced it with this new sign:
And now with “No Ball Games” on the street (somewhere in London), it is looking great and truly where it belongs. Some pieces work well indoors, some work well outdoors. Banksy knows this. Yesterday’s post about his “Ikea Punk” is a good example of this point.
At Banksy Versus The Bristol Museum, there was a stencil piece of an anarchist being helped by his grandmother who was getting him dressed for a protest, and it was perfect for being inside. With “Ikea Punk”, that is an image (involving a similar character) that only works outside.
“No Ball Games” (IMHO) didn’t work as well indoors because for one thing that green background wasn’t enjoyable to look at, and for another thing that’s just the kind of joke that fits perfectly on a wall somewhere. Not to say this wouldn’t make a nice screen print, but like a sketch by Blu, what you’d really be buying is a nice piece of work and a memory of what the piece looks like outdoors.
Another reason I prefer this image outdoors instead of at Banksy Versus the Bristol Museum is that I’m a fool. When I saw that piece at the Bristol Museum and noticed that it was the same piece that was at Dreweatts but repainted slightly, I got the idea of a tv in my mind, and thought that the “No Ball Games” sign was a flat screen television. The mind plays tricks on us / I’m lazy. And I didn’t think the piece worked as well with a flat screen tv. Clearly though, after thinking about the piece for 2 seconds, you can see that a street sign is being thrown, not a flat screen tv, and the piece outdoors makes that even more clear.
Is this just the start of Banksy’s renewed work in London? Let’s hope so.
If I weren’t at Fame Festival this weekend, I would have been in Brighton enjoying Prescription Art‘s latest show which is a 3 person show with duo Best Ever and Belgian Roa. Best Ever have only been around as a street art duo for about a year and have already made a strong impression on the London scene, and without Roa I can’t imagine that Ghent, Belgium would even have a street art scene (no offense to other painters in Ghent, but Roa just seem to paint something new every day).
Here are some pics:
All photos by Prescription Art, and you can see more on their flickr
One of my favorite songs by AFI is “I Wanna Get A Mohawk” (see video at the end of this post), my favorite stencil from Banksy versus The Bristol Museum was this piece of an “anarchist’s” grandma helping him get dressed for a protest, so I guess it’s not too surprising that Banksy’s latest piece is probably my favorite outdoor piece by him since New Orleans.
This piece is in Brighton Croydon, right near an Ikea store.
Maybe the reason I love this piece so much is because I’m definitely a lot like that faux-punk. I’ve grown up very privileged, I sprayed a crappy stencil at Cans Festival, I’ve gone through phases of extreme left-leaning political outrage, and now I collect street art and I’m taking a gap year to travel (and do other things). If you can’t laugh at yourself, what can you laugh at?
And besides, for a stencil, that’s some real craftsmanship that few other artists even attempt.
That song by AFI:
A couple of weeks ago I posted an interview with James Marshall on FADwebsite, but I thought it would be worth reposting part of it here because I know not everybody reading Vandalog also reads FAD where I post from time to time.
So here’s the first half of what you can find on FAD:
2 How did you evolve into a professional artist?
by accident…just sort of happened..in reality it is still happening…its never really a finished process.
3 What drove you to make art as a professional vocation?
if I could make a living making art then that was better than making a living doing some other shit.
4 Explain your inspiration?
it varies from day to day….it just sort of exist in different forms..at different times…
5 In what way does your inspiration transform into ideas?
naturally I guess…i don’t really think about it… I just trust that it will happen
6 From Ideas to production of art – how? And why?
that’s a good question for someone else… I don’t really think about it…
7 Could your ideas be portrayed in any other medium? If so which?
sure I guess… Any number of things…architecture…sculpture…fabric…
8 Which artists would you most like to blatantly rip off?
none….what would be the point of that..
9 Why is your art made?
because I make it
10 What does being an artist mean to you?
nothing… It just is what it is… Why worry about what it means…
Some news from the street artists of Brazil:
Last Sunday one of the biggest avenues of São Paulo, Av. 23 de Maio, received the biggest graffiti and street art attack ever. All the action was illegal and was done by 150 artists during the day on 1km of a grey wall. The protest is against the government buff of the Law “CITY CLEAN”. There were artists from all ages and styles, because the most important thing was to paint all of the avenue. You can see amazing graffiti works (character and letters) and works made by artists that were doing their first work. The variety of styles includes pixação, stencils and much more. The action was incredible and the cops arrived there and didn’t know what to do, so they only took 9 graffiti artist (only 3 police cars) to the police department to try to understand what it was that. The authority understood that was an art-manifestation, so the artists could go home. The government is now painting the wall with grey paint as they usually do every week.
Photos by JuGranjeia:
Here’s something from Hera for you to think about:
I’ll be back from FAME Festival on Monday.
PS, I can’t wait to see what Herakut paint for The Thousands.
I know Barry McGee was the subject of a post on Wednesday, but I didn’t realize that he had YET ANOTHER major project going on. He’s in Rome. Now, I’d heard something about him being in NY Minute, a group show there, but had completely forgotten when that was (it opens Saturday), but what nobody expected (then again, with McGee you need to expect the unexpected) was that he would have a solo show opening in Rome as well. Mr. Brown opened at Galleria Alessandra Bonomo on the 18th. No pictures yet I’m afraid.
The film I am most looking forward to in 2009 is Where The Wild Things Are. I could go on and on about how excited I am to see it and how upset I am that I won’t be able to pay to do so (WHY MUST THE FILM BE RELEASED TWO MONTHS LATER IN THE UK THAN THE USA?), but let’s just say I want to see the movie.
Veng and Chris of Robots Will Kill have gotten me even more excited about the film and the book with their latest mural. The piece is at Espeis Outside and was curated by Brooklyn Street Art. Here’s a photo of the finished piece and a time lapse film. For more, check out Brooklyn Street Art.
