One of my all time favorite pieces of subway graffiti is Children of The Grave Part 2 by Dondi:
Martha Cooper has just posted on this photo, along with photos of Children of The Grave parts 1 and 3, on her blog. These pieces are legendary.
On Thursday night, Lazarides‘ Greek Street and Rathbone Place galleries were both packed for the private view of The Faile/Bast Deluxx Fluxx Arcade at Greek Street and a Faile retrospective at Rathbone Place. The arcade is something you really just have to experience in person, but basically, Faile and Bast have transformed the gallery into a 1980’s style video game arcade, but an arcade in a Faile/Bast world. All the games (officially, “interactive artworks”) are based on art by Bast and/or Faile. It’s crazy.
And if you’re a fan of Faile, their retrospective at Rathbone Place is a great place to see all of your favorite pieces from as far back as 1999:
Photos by S.butterfly
And now for the giveaway… Thanks to The Lazarides Galleries, I’ve got a Faile/Bast tshirt and some stickers to give to one lucky winner.
All you have to do to enter is either comment on this post, or go on twitter and link to this post and put the hashtag “#deluxxfluxx” in your tweet. Do one of these things before noon (GMT) on Monday the 15th, and you’ll be entered in the random draw.
Claudio Ethos has sent me some pics of his latest works in São Paulo, Brazil. The detail and technique on these are pretty damn impressive.
And this one is a collaboration with Alex Hornest aka Onesto:
It’s so nice to read things like this story and realize that I shouldn’t be so worried about being starved for culture when I move to Philadelphia this fall. Philagrafika 2010 is an art exhibition about printmaking and the first incarnation of what may become a tri-annual event in Philadelpiha. Artnet has a great article about the whole event which is well worth reading. In short, if you like printmaking, Philagrafika seems to be the place to be.
One of my favorite artists (street or otherwise) is Swoon, and of course, she is all about printmaking, so it’s great to see that she has gotten involved in Philagrafika with some new work on the streets of Philadelphia. Becki Fuller was in Philadelphia to take some photos of Swoon’s pieces. Here’s a few of those:
This piece has something a bit new in it, the architectural component is something reminiscent of her raft projects:
And I’ve never seen this print before, so it’s either really new or really old:
And there are plenty more photos on The Street Spot.
All photos by Becki Fuller
Thursday evening was the opening of Roa‘s very first solo show. It took place at Gallerie Itinerrance in Paris and was, by all accounts, a massive success. In fact, after seeing these photos, I emailed the gallery for a price list only to find out that everything except Roa’s sketches and photographs had already sold! Pretty good for his first show. I’m a big fan of Roa’s artwork indoors and outdoors, so it’s great to finally see him getting the attention he deserves. Not only did Roa produce some great pieces on found wood and metal for this show, but he sprayed a number of his trademark animals onto the gallery’s walls. The man just does not stop painting, no doubt he’s out making something beautiful for Paris right now.
It might not be the most innovative thing in the world to paint on found metal and whatnot, but I still love it. And the painting below is pretty much what everybody who likes Roa wants in their house: a life sized Roa figure exactly like you might find on the street. Hopefully it actually ends up on somebody’s wall instead of their storage facility.
Continuing in the same vein as his piece in The Thousands, most of Roa’s work in Paris transforms somehow.
With this particular painting, you can flip the whole thing around, or just sections of it. It really adds a layer of interactivity to the piece, something not often seen in a painting.
And this last piece might just be my favorite in the whole show:
The element of death that you can find in a lot of Roa’s work might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but this piece looks to me more like a living bird going through an MRI or something than a dead one getting cut up, and like his sketches, shows that Roa doesn’t need a spray-can to paint something that looks nice.
So yeah, Roa is awesome, and I can’t wait for his next visit to London. What do you think?
Photos by Vitostreet (more on his blog) and Guillotine
The next issue of The Art Street Journal, Elisa Carmichael’s free art newspaper, is on it’s way to thousands of people around the world. You can sign up to get your own copy mailed to your home on TASJ’s website. Issue 7 features everything you see on the cover plus much more including Roa and Stormie Mills.
Those who already read TASJ know what a great project it is, but just because the journal is free to subscribers doesn’t mean it’s free to write, print and post… That’s why TASJ is asking for your help in winning a $50,000 grant from Pepsi. All you have to do is vote.
Here’s some more info:
The Art Street Journal (tasj) is a monthly art publication focused on talented, young, emerging artists who are gaining momentum in galleries, participating in public events and completing personal projects of note. Our goal is to support and publicize their endeavors to as many people as possible. We do this by attending and covering shows, events, art fairs, auctions, interviewing artists and collectives, and reviewing publications and films for those who want to gain further knowledge. tasj is different from other art publications because it is free. People can sign up for a free annual subscription. We mail copies to anyone anywhere in the world. We also do not compromise our content by accepting money from galleries or artists to place them in the paper. The art people read about is the art we believe is important and makes a difference. Deliverables: 20,000 copies of a 20 page full color art journal every month delivered around the world for the next six months.
How will the 50K be Used?
$18,000 – Printing 20,000 copies of 20 page full-color tabloid-style newspaper
$30,000 – Monthly distribution and postage for 20,000 copies
$2000 – Miscellaneous office expenses and production costs
So if you think that sound like a good project (I do), just vote for it online. It only takes a few seconds.
I hate to do this, but every once in a while, I have to be a bit negative on Vandalog. The above painting is by graffiti legend Taki 183. It is an original painting and measures 140x140cm. How much do you think that is worth? And keep in mind that on Taki’s own website, you can buy screenprints that include a large spraypainted “Taki 183” tag for $250.
That painting is in an upcoming graffiti art auction at Pierre Bergé & Associés. The estimate is €35-50,000. That is absurd, laughable even. I’ll admit that unlike Taki 183’s screenprints (one of which I own and love by the way), this painting is actually aesthetically pleasing, but that doesn’t excuse this outrageous estimate. Even though that’s just an estimated price, it’s also a suggestion and gives potential buyers a general idea of what somebody else thinks the piece is worth. The estimate is especially relevant since Taki 183’s original works have never been sold publicly before. If this painting ends up selling, well, kudos to Taki 183 and the auction house, and if they buyer would like to contact me, well I’ve got a few Mr. Brainwash pieces to sell (okay if Mr. Brainwash turns out to be Banksy or something, boy I am going to have egg on my face)… But I can’t see it selling for anywhere near that estimate.
Now, to end this post on a positive note, let me say that if you don’t have a Taki 183 screenprint, it’s definitely something worth checking out. That prints are pretty affordable, and they are undoubtedly pieces of graffiti history.
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
On February 11th-13th, Sotheby’s Christie’s and Phillips de Pury will all have auctions in London which include a fair amount of street art. Here’s a selection of most of that work.
Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Auction. February 11th, from 2pm.
Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction. February 12th.
Phillips de Pury Evening Sale: Contemporary Art. February 13th.
Phillips de Pury Day Sale: Contemporary Art. February 13th.
RJ’s final thoughts – Overall, wow. Maybe not all of these pieces are amazing, but the artists are all top-tier. There are no unproven street artists in these sales.
I really love these pieces by Cash4/Cahbasmn. I could probably write an essay about them, but maybe it’s just simpler if I like the work speak for itself:
