Category: Books / Magazines

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Laser 3.14 – Are You Reading Me?

There are a lot of art books in my house. From time to time, I like to spend an afternoon just flipping through book after book. But there is one that I keep returning to time and time again: Laser 3.14’s Are You Reading Me. It’s been sitting on my desk for the last few months. Okay, so part of the reason it’s been there is that I keep meaning to write about the book here, but it’s also because I can flip through a few pages of Are You Reading Me? whenever I am looking for inspiration.

Usually, I like to read art books from cover to cover in the order they were intended, but Laser 3.14’s work defies that sort of logic. It’s more fun to just flip to a random page and see what he has to say. Laser 3.14 is a master of re-using found text and coming up with quick little thoughts that stick with you. His are some of the most interesting tags to come across in the real world, and having so many of them all together book in a book is a treat.

One more interesting thing about the photos in Are You Reading Me? is that they aren’t all taken 30 seconds after Laser 3.14 has finished his piece. A number of the images are of pieces that have been half-buffed or tagged over or even turned upside down when a piece of wood is re-used on a new hoarding. Street art is an ephemeral medium, and even though Laser 3.14’s artwork probably should be seen right-side-up and untagged, the reality is that the work does get messed with, and that’s acknowledged perfected in this book.

While not the easiest book to find outside of the Netherlands (where it was published), UPDATE: The book is now available for sale online and ships internationally. Are You Reading Me? is definitely something worth searching for if you are looking for a slightly different street art book.

Photo by andrevanb

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Street/Studio book comes to UK

Looks like Everfresh aren’t the only Australians getting their street art into print. Street/Studio is a new book from some of Australia’s top street artists and street art experts. Alison Young works at the University of Melbourne and occasionally posts here on Vandalog, Miso and Ghostpatrol are Australian street artists and Timba publishes Wooden Toy Quarterly. Street/Studio has its UK launch next Thursday (July 8th) at Black Rat Projects.

Their flyer has all the rest of the info you should need:

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The Everfresh book

Everfresh (the Melbourne graffiti/street art crew with Sync, Phibs, Reka, Rone, Wonderlust, Prizm, Meggs, Makatron and The Tooth) have put together a book. EVERFRESH: BLACKBOOK is meant to give readers a look inside the Everfresh studio.

To be honest, I don’t know much about that artists in Everfresh. I’ve seen work from Meggs from time to time, but that’s about it (except of course, the work I’ve now seen while researching this post). But that’s not because they aren’t a talented group of artists. It’s because, even with the internet, Australian street art still feels, at least to me, cut off from the rest of the world. Anthony Lister found success when he moved to New York. Charlie Isoe had to move to Berlin. It’s weird. You would think that Flickr and ekosystem and everything else would change things, but the internet hasn’t done as much as you would expect for street art in Australia. That said, the people I know who know Australian street art say that the artists in Everfresh are a big part of what makes Melbourne one of the world capitals of street art. The chance to discover of a whole new group of talented artists is a big part of why I’m excited about this book.

EVERFRESH: BLACKBOOK isn’t going to be in stores until September, but you can pre-order the special edition hardcover book starting today. The hardcover edition is limited to 500 copies and available for $80.00 on Everfresh’s website. That edition also comes with a hand-finished cover, a print and a photographic print.

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While I was cut off from the world…

BETTEN in NYC. Photo by a friend of the artist.

Since the end of May until a few days ago, I’d been more or less cut off from the street art world. I was driving around Europe with my friends. That’s not particularly important, though I would like to thank Logan Hicks, Ripo, Paulo, C215, Nunca and (especially) Angelo for spending time with us.

Here’s some of the things that I missed while I was away…

  • Penny’s latest piece kicks ass
  • Os Gêmeos have been crazy busy, so here’s one of the things they did: A few paintings at FAME Festival.
  • And Blu has been to FAME recently too.
  • I’m loving a lot of the pieces Skewville’s show Shift Work Disorder at Factory Fresh.
  • Some local residents completely misinterpreted the meaning behind some Shepard Fairey murals and painted them over. Actually a really interesting story. I suppose that when it is a reality of everyday life, people don’t like to be reminded that the police will “kick your ass and get away with it.”
  • Lazarides’ latest show in LA is Eurotrash with Vhils, Micallef and JR. Hi-Fructose has pictures.
  • Alison Young’s book Street Studio had a launch party in Melbourne.
  • High Roller Society has a massive group print show on right now. I stopped by on Saturday. If you like affordable prints and drawings, check this one out.
  • Daily Mail reports that Banksy has painted some pub in Primrose Hill. Reality: It’s a PR stunt by the pub’s owner, but at least now they have some artwork on their walls.
  • The New Grand Tour, a group show including Jose Parla, Rey Parla and Rostarr, is open now at Bryce Wolkowitz in New York City.
  • Kathy Grayson and Meghan Coleman, former gallery directors at Deitch Projects, have started up their own gallery in NYC called Hole. I’m not exactly sure how much street art or graffiti you’ll be able to find at the Hole when it opens later this month, but they sent me a press release, so presumably they haven’t ditched street art entirely. The Wall Street Journal has more.
  • Hrag Vartanian has started an interesting discussion on Hyperallergic about a new piece by Mark Jenkins which could easily be mistaken for trash. And by the way, if you don’t already read Hyperallergic, you should start. It’s perhaps my favorite art blog at the moment.
  • Armsrock has a solo show on right now at Signal Gallery. I’m going to check it out tomorrow, but based on the photos on Arrested Motion, I couldn’t be more excited. Armsrock is massively talented and just keeps getting better.

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Dan Witz: In Plain View

Ginkopress has released a 30 year retrospective of Dan Witz’s street work and fine art. From the site: ” A benefit of having one of the most sustained careers in street art, if such a thing exists, is the degree of growth, freedom and experimentation that such an extended period allows. Another advantage would be the influence of the aesthetic environs within the changing cultural landscape, especially if you happen to work in New York City.”

You can check out The Street Spot’s studio visit with the master himself over at The Street Spot.

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Booked – Group Exhibition and Book Day at Carmichael Gallery

It’s been a long time since Seth and I have had a group show this big at Carmichael Gallery – there will be over 35 artists represented on the walls when we open “Booked” on Saturday, June 5th! Some of the artists we’ve worked with for several years and others we’ll be showing for the first time. We’re also going to have lots of great art books and magazines from publishers like Drago, Gingko, Studiocromie (I really enjoyed opening up the box of Blu and Sam3 books!) and VNA. Books and art are two of the best things in the world, in my opinion, so it should be a fun event! We will be open from 12-8pm on Saturday for Culver City Art Walk (make sure to visit all the other galleries on the block if you come by; there will be lots of cool things to see) and the reception itself is from 6-8pm.

Here are some of the pieces in the show.

Martha Cooper

Escif

SpY

Anthony Lister

Lucas Price (aka Cyclops)

Bumblebee

Brad Downey

Here’s the full line up of artists and publishers:

Aiko, Banksy, Beejoir, Blek le Rat, Boxi, Bumblebee, C215, Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, D*Face, Brad Downey, Eine, Ericailcane, Escif, Faile, Shepard Fairey, Stelios Faitakis, Gaia, Hush, Mark Jenkins, Dave Kinsey, Know Hope, Labrona, Anthony Lister, Lucy McLauchlan, Aakash Nihalani, Walter Nomura (a.k.a. Tinho), Other, Steve Powers (a.k.a. ESPO), Lucas Price (a.k.a. Cyclops), Retna, Saber, Sam3, Sixeart, Slinkachu, SpY, Judith Supine, Titi Freak, Nick Walker, Dan Witz and WK Interact

Drago, Gingko Press, Murphy Design, Prestel, Rojo, SCB Distributors, Studiocromie, Very Nearly Almost, Zupi

The show runs from June 5 – July 3. Drop in to say hi if you’re in LA!

– Elisa

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New Martha Cooper book: Name Tagging

Name Tagging, Martha Cooper’s latest book, launches on Saturday at the OBEY pop-up store in New York. This book is the result of nearly a decade of Cooper photographing tags on stickers around the world. I’ll definitely be getting a copy of Name Tagging. And the OBEY store closes for good on Sunday, so that’s another reason to stop by.