Art News – Page 53 – Vandalog

November 30, 2008

Street Art Awards in The Observer

The Street Art Awards (organized by Auction Saboteur) are this Thursday at Rough Trade East. The event sounds like it will be a fun time, and there’s a bunch of great looking work in the charity raffle. The awards are sure to be packed, as they’ve gotten coverage in The Observer today. It’s a great article well worth a read:

‘Twenty-five years ago I was doing one-man shows and street art was outcast; people thought it was outrageous. It was pretty hairy in those days, when graffiti artists would go out and paint trains. Then, it was all about getting your train seen from one side of the city to the other,’ recalls Goldie, one of the contenders for the first Street Art awards on Thursday.

Read the rest here.

Via UK Street Art

November 26, 2008

Street Art Awards

The Street Art Awards is coming up next week, and although the deadline for submissions has passed, you can still register to vote for your favorite street art of 2008. And of course, there is the actual awards ceremony on December 4th at Rough Trade East where you can win original art in a charity raffle.

From the website:

Street Art Awards Party and Charity Auction 2008

The first ever Street Art Awards party and charity auction, featuring over 50 international contemporary artists, will be held at Rough Trade East on 4th December.

Urban art business, Auction Saboteur, has organised the awards that will celebrate the best urban and street art offerings from 2008. All money raised will go to the Single Homeless Charity.

The Awards Ceremony

The night will see Rough Trade East turned into an urban art bazaar with attractions including: charity art tombola, pin the devil tail on the banker, hook-a-duck-outa-an-oil-slick, a magician, DJ’s and lots of art related prizes.

Each attendee will be given a ballot paper on entry and asked to vote for their favourite artist from the shortlist. The winners will receive a specially designed sculpture that will also be up for grabs on the night.

The charity art tombola will give people the chance to win anything from a special, one off, custom piece of art, on either a reclaimed record cover or vinyl record, to a jar of jam or bar of soap.

Tombola tickets will be £5 each – a bargain if you win a Matt Small original (his work usually sells in the region of £5K – £6K). If you win the soap at least you’ve contributed to a good cause – your conscience will be clean.

November 25, 2008

Cake and The Community

The Mongrel has an interesting interview up with Cake. Cake is a New York wheatpaster, and she was recently in Prescription Art‘s Outside In show. Regardless of whether you’re a fan of Cake or not, the interview has some interesting stuff about the etiquette of pasting.

Cake and Peru Anna Anna Peru. Photo by Ω ohm Ω

Here’s a short excerpt

“It is strange for me to see long time pasters still go out and paste blindly- with no regard to what lives on the surface before they get to it. Its complete disrespect. It also says something important about the paster- that they are unaware of the environment in which they are adding to/ working with. Which is also strange- I once put a sticker over Naks and then posted a photo of myself doing it. It wasn’t until the community pointed it out that I realized it. I hadn’t even noticed the tag when I was there. My practice changed immediately after that. Now I am hyper aware of where I place my work. I go out with respect.”

Cake isn’t the first artist that I’ve heard say something like that. Maybe it’s a pattern. Wheatpaste artists start out just pasting anywhere, and then, after a big mistake or two, they get conscientious of the rest of the scene and learn to respect it even more.

November 23, 2008

How To Find A Hero

Last night I posted about Hero leaving work throughout London today. Well those pieces have dropped now, and Hero’s posted photos on his flickr of where they are. Here’s a few locations, and for the rest, go to Hero’s flickr.

November 23, 2008

Hero Drops Sunday + My Find

So it seems like a few artists were took notice of Adam Neate’s massive 1000 piece drop last weekend.

Last night, I was walking down Brick Lane after MuTATE Britain (more on that later tonight) and what do I see (besides an awesome Barry McGee piece)? A piece just propped up against a shopfront, mine for the taking. The work (photo below) wasn’t signed though, so maybe somebody could tell me who made it. Anyway, I took it home with me, and it’s made a great addition to my collection. It’s not by the next Adam Neate, but for given the price, it was a great deal. A big thank you to whoever painted it.

But if you’re a bit jealous of me or all those guys who got Adam Neates last week, all is not lost. Tomorrow (Sunday), Hero is going to be dropping 10 pieces somewhere in the West End.

Here’s a couple of the pieces he’ll be dropping:

November 20, 2008July 14, 2009

BBC Street Art Documentary

BBC World Service has an audio-documentary out on street art. Of course, it’s an AUDIO description about a VISUAL medium, so there’s that problem, but I’ve just listened to part one, and it’s quite good (given you can’t see anything that they’re talking about). The program heavily features Elbow-toe, but also also includes interviews with random members of the public, and even people the people who buff graffiti in New York.

More info on the two-part series here, and you can download part one here (part two goes online tomorrow I believe).

November 20, 2008

Pictures on Walls Party

Today Pictures on Walls announced two things.

1. The new Bansky print

And something that doesn’t require hitting F5 every two seconds…

2. The (first annual) Pictures on Walls party!

Looks like a fun time. Hope to see you all there (if we can get in).

November 16, 2008

Street Art in ARTnews

Great article on street art in the fine art magazine ARTnews. Thanks to Andrew from Ad Hoc Art for the tip.

It’s a well written and informative article that is definitely work a read. Here’s a short excerpt:

Fairey is part of a wave of street artists gaining acceptance in mainstream museums. Last summer London’s Tate Modern presented six towering murals on an exterior wall, created by a global lineup of street artists. Among those featured was Faile—the New York City duo known for graphic mash-ups of pulp fiction imagery—as well as Blu, an Italian artist whose monumental black-and-white doodles have long been materializing on abandoned buildings all over Europe, and the Brazilian brothers known as Os Gemeos. The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh has included a sprawling, kaleidoscopic hallway piece by installation artist and celebrated graffitist Barry McGee in its 55th Carnegie International, on view through January 11. McGee has done other museum projects, including covering the facade of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit—at the museum’s request—with a bubbly, 110-foot graffiti tag that reads “Amaze.” Last year the New York–based Espo (a.k.a. Steve Powers) was the subject of a solo show at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. And figurative prints by Swoon, another New York artist, are part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Museum. It’s a surprising turn for an urban art form that until now has received minimal attention from the fine art world—and one that can land its practititioners in jail for anything from vandalism to breaking and entering.

November 14, 2008

I’m Not Searching For A Neate

This is killing me, and I’m sure it’s killing Harry at Artbleat too. We can’t go searching for Adam Neate pieces tonight. Why not? Well I dunno about Harry, but I’m stuck in St. Louis at a conference on high school journalism. Well, stuck here is a bit harsh, I’m glad to be here, I’d just also like my own Adam Neate. Ha.

I can’t be more excited and surprised with how this project is working out for Neate. Sure his dropping 1000 pieces in one night is a big deal, but he’s had coverage in the Independent, and even on CNN and the BBC. Maybe I’ll hire his publicist for Vandalog.

The question is though, will the “average-Joe” be out looking for paintings. Sure they’ve heard about the event, but do they have the time and the interest to actually leave their homes or change their plans to go hunting around London for something they probably won’t find? Continue reading “I’m Not Searching For A Neate”

November 13, 2008

Maclaim Crew in Juxtapoz

Vandalog favorite, the Maclaim crew, has a short feature on the Juxtapoz website. Lots of great photos though. I’m extremely jealous of whoever bought “Porky Bible” by Case (photo below) just 10 minutes after it went on sale. A really spectacular piece. So far as I know, the two pieces that Case has at the Carmichael Gallery right now are still for sale, so have a look. The entire Maclaim crew is fantastic, but I’m particularly confident that Case is destined for great things in the future, so now’s the time to get his work if you can.

Porky Bible by Case. Photo from campbarbossa.com