Well you can’t say Slinkachu isn’t creative. I really think he’s one of the most interesting street artists out there these days. This piece is one of five he has worked on in the past two days since arriving at FAME Fest.
Bunnies and Monkeys and Bears
Ericailcane has been working really hard on the streets of Grottaglie this month (see another great wall here). He has also been making lots of great art for the FAME Fest show, such as hand-touched prints, little ceramic monkeys and a big bear sculpture. See more in-progress shots of the latter two below as he finishes things up and heads out of town.
The next Swimming Cities project
Can’t believe I was lucky enough to randomly check out the Swimming Cities website tonight. On Sunday they announced that there is a new Swimming Cities project planned for March of 2010. The Swimming Cities of the Ocean of Blood will be a trip down the Ganges river. Here’s what is known so far:
The SWIMMING CITIES collective is planing a new project for mid march 2010 on the Ganges river in India to coincide with the Kumbh Mela festival, the largest human gathering on the planet. We plan to construct a large fleet of small sculptural rafts and travel from the Himalayan foothills city of Haridwar to the holy city of Varanasi. our journey will culminate with a performance on a floating island theater comprised of the interlocking rafts.
These rafts will be designed and built by a number of the members of the Serenissima crew as well as members from past and future projects; this is not a ‘Swoon’ project, though she may be involved in some small way, or at least in spirit.
For more information, you can go to weareswimmingcities.org.
Kind of interesting that Swoon isn’t involved so much in this iteration of the Swimming Cities. As much as I love her art and the Swimming Cities project, I think that even in Venice this summer the Swimming Cities were much more of a team effort with Swoon’s artwork included than a Swoon project. This new direction might allow the idea to grow in new ways that weren’t possible when it was more focused on one person.
Steve Powers sends his love (again)
More photos are popping up of Steve Powers’ recent project A Love Letter For You (as previously mentioned). Found these photos on Hurt You Bad (I love it how the graffiti blog that coined the term “art fags” is promoting people like Steve Powers just because they have a graffiti background. Imagine what they would say if Powers had a street art background and painted these same things…).
And if you want to learn more about Powers and this project, his recent interview at Art Observed is a great read.
Elate
Elate is one of my favorite writers in London. In fact, he’s probably my favorite London writer who doesn’t paint characters or have some sort of logo. He showed up with the Chrome and Black shop/crew, and new there something new from him on Sclater Street or Brick Lane every other week.
This is a new collaboration between Elate and Tizer (also very talented).
And this is my all time favorite piece of graffiti or street art on Brick Lane:
New Imminent Disaster… Over and Over Again
Imminent Diaster just put up this new piece out in Williamsburg. This spot has had quite a history with this wonderful and consistent artist. Throughout the months, Imminent Disaster’s piece, which was recently featured in the Street/Studio exhibition, has ben dissed, repainted, and redissed by the writer Omar. After this exhausting back and forth it seems as if Disaster has finally made an entirely new addition to the wall. I do love how the old narrative peaks through the new design. Here is a little overview of this spot.Photos by Jake Dobkin and Over Under
Follow this link to partake in the discussion about street art’s photo documentation following.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluejake/3857938320/
How’s this blog post for voyuerism ?
Repainted but dissed again. A little challenge on the side that retorts, “Start Piecin and stop Hatin”
Hear No Evil, See No Evil
These are very cool. They are the ceramic sculptures Ericailcane has made specially for FAME Fest. (Check out his cool prints here.)
And this is very uncool. The people who control the wall above had given Ericailcane permission to paint a mural on it. Soon after he began, they changed their minds. As Angelo so eloquently puts it, “We were pissed as never before.” Me too.
New from Banksy: Zorro
Looks like this could be the latest Banksy piece, captured by Romanywg in Westbourne Park, London. It hasn’t been confirmed as a Banksy yet by his own website or anything, but street art authorities are calling a Banksy, the style fits and there is a similar sketch in his show at The Bristol Museum, so I think it’s a safe bet.
Zorro is an interesting subject for Banksy to paint, as NoLionsInEngland has noted on WallKandy: “Zorro defended peasants from the tyrannical authority of officials and aristocrats, as ‘does’ Banksy; Zorro was the alter-ego of a knight or some kind of aristocrat, and certain newspapers seem convinced that Banksy is/was a mild-mannered public school poshie.”
Photos by Romanywg
Stay away from taggers
I just came across this hilarious graphic from the City of Santa Ana’s anti-graffiti website.
It is meant to help parents decided if their child might be a tagger. Further down on that same page is this comment:
GRAFFITI REWARD PROGRAM
The City of Santa Ana also offers a Graffiti Reward Program in the amount of $500 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism.
I wonder if any parents have ever called in for the reward…
On a related note, Los Angeles is trying to stop people from even associating with known taggers and writers.
From Street Level:
To many, tagging is more of an art form than a crime, but if the Los Angeles city attorney has his way, even being seen with taggers will be enough to get you arrested. According to the Los Angeles Times, L.A. city attorney Carmen Trutanich is proposing a series of injunctions that would give the police the authority to arrest taggers and graffiti artists simply for hanging out together — they do not have to be caught in the act.
Judith Supine on the Williamsburg Bridge
Judith Supine has just pulled another crazy stunt, this time climbing up the Williamsburg Bridge to install his newest figure. This awesome piece is called “Above The City In A Summer Night Dream”.
Images via Wooster Collective. Photos by Steve Duncan.