Kid Acne recently painted the above giant “art fag” in Sheffield, UK. Check out the tiny Kid Acne standing above it. Sven at Arrested Motion says that the mural can be seen for miles around. What I’m wondering is how long the mural will last. After all, most of the mural is a giant white wall, perfect for some fresh graffiti. I don’t want to encourage that to happen. I like the mural. I just think the site looks too tempting for certain writers to ignore. I just hope that Kid Acne is well respected in Sheffield.
Katsu seems to be continuing and innovating on the project that he started last year with AVONE to promote a show: He is taking over phone booth advertisements with graffiti which is very obviously an advertisement. It’s not a new insight that graffiti is advertising, and this certainly isn’t the first advertising takeover by graffiti writer (Kaws, Barry McGee/Twist, Retna, Augor, and so others…), but I think there is something cool about these advertisements that I haven’t seen very often before: most of these advertising takeovers make it look like Katsu and the brand are working together. Now, of course, Kaws was famous for doing just this same thing. The difference with Katsu is that Kaws took actually advertisements and modified them while Katsu is concocting the entire ads in his studio. He’s associating his identity with cultural icons like Kurt Cobain and brands like Nike, but those brands and icons weren’t even advertising in these places to start with (at least not with these particular ads). It’s a great technique for getting noticed. I’ve similar things before, but I don’t think they were by as high-profile writers at Katsu, and, for better or worse, his name adds some legitimacy to the idea, which is kind of ironic given the idea. Plus these are better executed than any similar things I can remember, and that definitely counts too. Also, a bit of a surprise to me, Jordan Seiler likes these things. Anyway, enough of my rambling, here are more examples of these ads:
Photo by Luna ParkPhoto by Luna ParkPhoto by Sabeth718
After a little hibernation, the streets of New York are thawing with the welcoming rays of Sol25. These peculiar figures bring a sense of humor and excitement to a scene that has truly waned over the past couple of years. So thank you mr Sol for keeping the dream alive, albeit while staying within the comfort of Williamsburg. More photos from BSA after the jump.
So much going on behind the scenes this week for a couple of upcoming events. Can’t wait to say more. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to write about one of them. Here’s what I didn’t have a chance to post about this week:
Despite the prevalence of handmade stickers here in NYC, few depict characters. While the sticker heads in Philly continue to create a range of personalities and creatures, most here seem to prefer to make their statements with assorted handstyles and messages. Red Nose aka Tazz, a Bronx native who began getting up in the lay-ups in the 80’s, is an exception. I’ve come upon variations of his iconic pit-bull a few times this past week. This huge one is in SoHo.
This billboard takeover in Hollywood is nearly perfect. Effective as a billboard takeover for the anti-consumerism, the use of a perfect “Big Brothter-y” image and for completely removing the original text on the billboard. Plus, and here’s the kicker, the artists call themselves Desire Obtain Cherish, so, if you’re in on it, it’s a bit of an ad for them too, but if you’re not (and I’m guess most people are not), it’s just a takeover.
Found a few walls worth mentioning today, from a variety of artists, so I’m throwing them all together here. Above is one of Eine‘s murals in San Fransisco, painted as part of his show at White Walls Gallery.
Skewville are getting busy on the streets of London. Here’s one of the shop roll gates they’ve painted:
Skewville. Photo by High Roller Society
This is the first thing I’ve seen from Canvaz, but I’m liking it:
Canvaz. Photo by Canvaz
And finally this is by Weah on a vacant building in Houston, Texas (see more from Weah here):
