Poster Boy recently put up this memorial to Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922 – January 27, 2010).
It may have seemed that PB hasn’t been doing much on the streets recently, but he has in fact been working very hard on a big project that is soon to be unveiled. I won’t say any more, but if you’re a fan of Poster Boy’s courageous activism art, you’ll be very excited when more is announced.
In the meantime, check out past Poster Boy work here.
– Elisa
When a ground-breaking artist collaborates with a cool brand, the result is often amazing. That was the case when Aakash Nihalani teamed up with Sean John. It’s not necessary to add but it should be noted that Diddy, the clothing brand’s creator, is one of the world’s most influential urban taste makers, and Aakash just significantly upped the coolness factor of the clothes. Check out the results below.
Keep in mind that Aakash left for Miami literally the day after his solo exhibit On & Off (Often On) opened at Carmichael Gallery in LA to get working on this- this guy is on a roll.
More info on the new Sean John Miami shop here. All images courtesy of Aakash Nihalani.
– Elisa
Now that all of the court cases have been dropped, Jordan has sent out the official link to the NYSAT billboard takeover project. http://www.publicadcampaign.com/nysat/ The gallery section of the site reveals the tremendous scope of the whitewashing and artmaking, all of which lasted no more than a couple hours.
and speaking of cash4…
and of course this post wouldn’t be complete without a piece by yours truly. Props to Will Sherman and Derek Amengual for the documentation amongst innumerable others.
This looks like a really cool film. New Brow: The Rise of Underground Art is a documentary about the new brow/low brow/pop surrealism/graffiti art/street art/enjoyed-by-Juxtapoz art movements. The film made the rounds at film festivals in the states, and now next month is the UK premiere, thanks to London Miles Gallery.
The press release:
London Miles Gallery is proud to host the premiere UK screening of Contemporary Art documentary, New Brow – The rise of Underground Art, a feature film presented by Humble Pictures in association with The Shooting Gallery from San Francisco, California. The documentary features some of today’s most influential and groundbreaking artists from the New Contemporary Art movement, such as Shepard Fairey, Ron English, Silvia Ji, Gary Baseman, Shag and many more, who speak openly and enlighteningly about the growing art movement and its origins. The documentary not only includes first-hand accounts from an impressive list of pioneering artists, but also showcases the important galleries and collectors who adopted, and continue to drive the New Contemporary Art movement today.
New Brow has been the official selection of the San Francisco Film festival, Rader Hamburg Film Festival, The Tulsa United Film Festival, The Hot Springs Film Festival and the Golden State Film Festival. New Brow premiered at the 2009 Golden State Film Festival where it received the second largest attendance behind a special screening of Star Wars, the Empire Strikes Back. It has been screened in cities across America and has made its way to Europe, Australia and now to London this February.
London Miles will be screening New Brow on Saturday the 20th of February at 4:00pm and the 27th February at 2:00pm and 5:30pm. Tickets are £8.00 and the film will be shown in the Project Room in Westbourne Studios, 242 Acklam Rd, London, W10 5JJ. Please purchase advance tickets at www.londonmiles.com, or reserve by email to info@londonmiles.com.
And the trailer:
New Brow Trailer 1 from New Brow on Vimeo.
Banksy and Shepard Fairey, probably the world’s two best-known active street artists, have been in the news a lot the last few days. Arrested Motion has a nice roundup of all the latest Banksy news, and Culture Monster reports that Shepard Fairey is facing a criminal investigation over his legal case with the AP.
Been meaning to get this up on Vandalog for a while. Armsrock, one of my favorite artists, is going to be very busy in the next couple months. Here are three great projects for fans and collectors to look forward to – a solo, an outdoor presentation, and a 2-person exhibit:
“Zettelkasten” will consist of a site-specific installation that draws upon the people and environment around Sankt Hans Gade, where Armsrock was born and raised. It opens February 5 at We Are Related in Copenhagen and runs through March 14 2010.
“Bispeengbuen”, also in Copenhagen, runs from February 10 – 28 2010 and will feature new atmospheric and rhythmic light drawings from Armsrock. I love it when he does this style of work. Find out more about the project here.
Now I’m particularly excited about this third show, as it takes place in LA and I’ll be able to go to it! Here, Armsrock will create a collaborative installation with Imminent Disaster at Thinkspace. More on all these shows soon!
– Elisa
Steve Powers says:
Hello,
Celebrating the release of “A Love Letter For You Brick Valentines On The Philly Skyline” book by Free News Projects, we’re doing a series of events in Philadelphia. The one I’ll tell you about here is I am taking over the Northern Liberties Tattoo shop for a week (more or less depending on demand), and the only artwork that will be on offer will be all Steve Powers, all week long. All your favorite icons, punchlines, poignant reminders of the futility of life, hilarious illustrations of our inadequacies, True depictions of true love from the Love Letter project, and of course, PIGEONS. Its all here, it’s cheap, its permanent. No, I’m not tattooing, no skills. I will, however, sign your arm and let one of the skilled pros on staff at Todd’s shop re-ink it, fair enough? Sometime during the week, we’ll be having a book signing at Exit Philadelphia Skateshop next door, watch the project blog www.aloveletterforyou.com for time and date. THANKS
Best Regards
Steve
Banksy’s film Exit Through the Gift Shop premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday. The LA Times has a review…
The movie doesn’t appear anywhere in the Sundance Film Festival’s catalogue. Outside a small circle of ultra-secretive confidantes, nobody knows its director’s identity and whereabouts. And the film’s place in the Sundance schedule wasn’t even announced until last week.That hasn’t stopped acclaimed British street artist Banksy’s “Exit Through the Gift Shop” from becoming Park City’s hottest ticket.
Outside Park City’s 446-seat Library Center Theater, Banksy fans started queuing up hours before “Gift Shop’s” 8:30 p.m. screening in 15-degree weather, even if their chances of getting in were slim. The screening, which was also a sales event for the film’s representatives, Cinetic Media, felt more like a feverish night club, with Jared Leto, Adrian Grenier and uber hipster Danny Masterson (of “That ’70s Show”) in the packed house.
A film-within-a-film that begins as a chronicle of guerrilla art and its most prominent creators but morphs into a sly satire of celebrity, consumerism, the art world and filmmaking itself, “Exit Through the Gift Shop” is a nearly impossible work to categorize. That doesn’t begin to describe the contradictions that surround the new movie that’s both about — and made by — the controversial and hugely popular artist.
“Trying to make a movie which truly conveys the raw thrill and expressive power of art is very difficult. So I haven’t bothered,” Banksy said in a statement to The Times e-mailed from his publicist, Jo Brooks. “Instead this is a simple everyday tale of life, longing and mindless vandalism.”
….
Read the rest on The LA Times‘ website…
Anybody looking for a free D*Face print? Look no further. Vandalog has one special edition of Very Nearly Almost issue #10 to give away. But more on that in a second.
Frankly, VNA is my favorite art magazine (yes, I like Juxtapoz, but it rarely beats VNA), in part because they get better with every issue. Issue 10 is a real milestone issue for VNA. There are the usual photos of street art in London and around the world, interviews with Shok1, D*face, Dalek and more, and other bits like product reviews. Basically, it’s the usual great mag for a price of just £4.
And about that D*face print…
VNA did a special promotion with D*Face for this issue. He designed the cover, and at the launch party they had a special edition of 150 screenprinted covers available. They also made just a few of those covers in a blue colorway (as seen above). That’s what I’ve got sitting on my desk right now, and it’s available for one lucky Vandalog reader who can answer this question: In what American state did D*face recently paint the “Ridiculous Pool”? Just email your answer to rj(a-t)vandalog(dot)com before Tuesday the 26th at 4pm London time. I’ll randomly select a winner from the people who answer correctly. This is a pretty unique opportunity, because only a few of these blue covers were printed, and they aren’t available for sale anywhere.
Oh, and if you don’t know about the Ridiculous Pool, here it is:
You can buy Very Nearly Almost in store or online.
I’m sure this is just the first of many posts updating the information on Banksy’s film Exit Through The Gift Shop.
The BBC reports that yes, as speculated everywhere online but here, the film will premiere on Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival as a sort of secret surprise entry and will open in UK cinemas on March 5th.
According to the BCC, “It is described as the story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on him.” This can only mean one thing, Mr. Brainwash. Also, MBW is shown in the trailer. For a while, rumors have been circulating that MBW is Banksy, either as a massive prank on the art world that shows how good PR can make any crappy artist popular, or as an experiment to see if Banksy would be popular without the Banksy “brand name” to back him up. Well that’s just not the case. Unfortunately, MBW is a real person who thinks he is an artist, and it’s well known that he started his art career while making a documentary film about Banksy and other street artists. Apparently, this is that film. I can’t wait to see it, I only hope it makes people realize what a terrible artist MBW is, instead of adding to his allure.
Also, although it hasn’t been reported if Banksy will reveal his identity or not (let’s hope not), Banksy will appear on camera in the film in some form.
