Author: RJ Rushmore

RJ Rushmore has been involved in contemporary art as a writer, curator, photographer, arts administrator, and fan since 2008. With a focus on street art, graffiti, and public art, RJ facilitates and promotes catalytic and ambitious art outdoors, in galleries, and online. He founded the street art blog Vandalog and has worked at The L.I.S.A. Project NYC, Mural Arts Philadelphia, and Creative Time. Currently, RJ is Co-Curator of Art in Ad Places.
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“Is This Illegal?” ad takeovers

Desire Obtain Cherish recently started a new campaign of anti-billboard pieces using the slogan “Is This Illegal?” which points out that LA is overrun with unlicensed advertising and that street artists who go over billboards can face felony charges even though the billboards themselves are often illegal to begin with. So far, the group has hit up at least one full-sized billboard and some street-level advertising.

When watching this video of their billboard takeover, please ignore the general cheesiness of the video, as the text at the end is actually quite informative:

Benjamin Alejandro has also used the “Is This Illegal?” slogan in a takeover featuring his own work:

Once the issue of the mural moratorium in LA is more or less fixed (should be soon), maybe “Is This Illegal?” will become the new slogan of LA’s outdoor art community and the disruption of illegal advertising will become their new political cause. One can dream…

Photo by Birdman Photos

Via PublicAdCampaign and Melrose&Fairfax

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Do we need a “Go Bombing Day”?

Bomit‘s latest potential project is Go Bombing Day, an attempt at developing an organized day for getting up. In the UK at least, Christmas is already an unofficial Go Bombing Day for writers, but it’s not an organized event and it’s not global. Bomit’s hope is that a more organized Go Bombing Day could encourages artists around the world get active and also acknowledge the great artists who have been instrumental in the development of the street art, graffiti and stickering communities. Bomit is already promising free paint and asking for official participants who will paint on this yet-to-be-determined date and put the words “Go Bombing Day” in their piece. So, is Go Bombing Day a good idea?

Personally, I’m not sure. On the one hand, it would be great to get people out en masse putting up work. More art = good. Maybe it’s that simple. Shouldn’t it be? The event could be the precursor to a number of mini-festivals around the world, sort of like Meeting of Styles. But and organized Go Bombing Day may also mean that artists getting up on that day get enveloped by a sort of brand, even if it’s a noncommercial one. Go Bombing Day might encourage non street artists to paint their first walls, but it may also encourage people to get out and paint that first wall purely for the sake of self-promotion, already a concern in the street art community.

But what do I know? I wouldn’t be a participant in Go Bombing Day anyway. What do the artists think? Let us know in the comments.

Photo by RJ Rushmore

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A Lush update

Lush has been busy this year, but I only have a handful of images to share on Vandalog. As long as you don’t mind some NSFW content, I highly recommend checking his flickr for a more full and explicit sampling of Lush’s recent work, but here are a couple SFW examples…

Photos by Lush

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Mausolee: Sowat and Lek’s abandoned supermarket

Mausolee is the latest street art/urban exploring combo project to emerge. Like The Underbelly Project or The Ghostvillage Project, Mausolee is the takeover of an abandoned space by graffiti art. Mausolee was put together in an abandoned supermarket outside of Paris by Sowat (of the DMV crew) and Lek, who found the last in the summer of 2011 and have since taken 40 artists to paint there.

This week, Sowat and Lek will be unveiling (through documentation) the space this week in Paris from April 12th-14th.

More photos and more info at Arrested Motion.

Photo by S.Butterfly

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“Hypnagogia” – Roa show at Stolenspace

Later this month, Roa will have a 2-location solo show with London’s Stolenspace Gallery. The name of the show, Hypnagogia, comes from the state between being awake and falling asleep. In addition to Stolenspace’s usual location, a second part of the show will be at The Stone Masons (17 Osborne Street, London E1 6TD). Hypnagogia runs from April 20th through May 6th. It will also function as the UK launch event for Roa’s first book.

Photo by Rhisiart Hincks

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Weekend link-o-rama

Bonon. Photo by Kriebel

That was a long week. But at least it was a fun one too. For one thing, Jill Cohen was in town for a show at my university. Definitely have a look at her drawings. That’s some crazy skill. Here’s the art news I’ve been reading:

  • Col has a show coming up very soon at Orchard Windows Gallery in New York.
  • Shai Dahan, Ollio and Ekta got together to paint in Sweden.
  • Roger Gastman has directed an upcoming film about the earliest modern graffiti writers (is that term a contradiction?).
  • Shepard Fairey’s latest print is called Eat The Rich. I hate to be the one to call him out on this one since many will understandably perceive it as hypocritical of me, but can a millionaire artist really legitimately make that statement? I know he is a hard-working guy who has been at this for decades, but then the proper time for that rhetoric was 20 years ago. Not when his art sells for hundreds of thousands to millionaires and his overpriced t-shirts are found in the fanciest clothing stores. Plus, the man is a committed and unashamed capitalist. Thoughts? Maybe he is just using the phrase as an example of a culture he is interested in, rather than as part of an intended propaganda poster?
  • The Vacuum Cleaner is hilarious!
  • Agents of Change members Remi/Rough, LX.One, Steve More and Augustine Kofie painted what may be London’s largest mural just across from King’s Cross.

Photo by Kriebel

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A little something from Brian Barrios

There’s something about this poster by Brian Barrios that I absolutely love, but I can’t quite figure out out. The placement isn’t some impossible spot, but rather somewhere where the piece would look at home. The drawing skill is not noticeably better or worse than Barrios’ previous work, but the subject is captured perfectly. The style isn’t something that hasn’t been done before, but it still looks fresh to me. I dunno exactly why, but I love this poster. I just wish I wouldn’t have to go all the way to the Philippines to see it in the flesh.

Photo by Brian Barrios