Normally I’d like to avoid doing a link-o-rama post in the middle of the week, but there have been a number of big stories to break in the last 24 hours or so, and since I’m in the middle of moving house, there’s no way I was going to be able to otherwise cover them in a timely manner. So here we go…
- The artist Ai Weiwei has been released on bail from a Chinese prison, but one of his friends that the Chinese also detained has still not been heard from.
- Banksy has reacted to Tox’s conviction for graffiti (and likely prison sentence) with this piece of street art in Camden. Banksy’s old pal Ben Eine testified on Tox’s behalf at the trial, claiming that just about anyone could be imitating Tox’s tags and pieces because they are so simple, and that the man on trial may have been the victim of imitators rather than still being a graffiti writer, as the prosecutors argued. The prosecutor also told the jury that Tox “is no Banksy. He doesn’t have the artistic skills, so he has to get his tag up as much as possible.” Banksy has actually referenced Tox in his work before. Not all that surprisingly, the Banksy piece is already being covered in plexiglass to protect it (UPDATE: actually it’s been boarded up). To my knowledge, no one has ever covered a Tox tag in plexiglass, although perhaps now they should…
- Liu Bolin, aka that artist who paints himself into landscapes and photographs himself sort of disappearing, has collaborated with Kenny Scharf on his latest piece at Kenny’s mural in NYC. Wooster Collective has that story.
- Although Art in the Streets was supposed to move from MOCA in LA to the Brooklyn Museum next year, the Brooklyn museum has cancelled their iteration of the street art and graffiti show. They cite financial difficulties, but the show is set to break attendance records in LA, so that’s probably some BS to cover their asses. The show has already caused controversy in NYC, and there is speculation that the cancellation is due to political pressure and fears about that controversy. Hopefully a museum with some balls will pick up the show and it will still make it to NYC.
- That controversy in NYC about Art in the Streets cited this article which has been floating around for a while about why the show is so evil. Saber has just written the best response to that article that I’ve read so far.
Photo by Mark J P
