First of all, his crazy new print. It’s a lenticular silkscreen. I have no idea how this works, but it sounds cool. The image is his Abraham Obama design that he made for the election.
Abraham Obama
Edition: 7 Unique Colors, 10 Red White and Blue, 30 Silver Text, 157 Gold Text
This has got to be ABOVE’s best print release in a while (or maybe I’m just starting to love British culture after 4 years here). “Union Jack Arrows” combines Above’s classic arrows with his tendency to embrace other cultures where he paints. As Art of The State points out, this print is based on an image ABOVE painted in the UK back in 2005. I’m seriously tempted to pick this print up, but I’m saving most of my money right now for summer travels.
Here’s the press release (and you can buy it here):
While I was away on vacation, Gaia released a new print at Paperworks Laboratories called “Predator.” Unfortunately, the print has already sold out, but it looks pretty as a print and on the street, so it’s worth a look:
I’ve been away from my computer for a few days, and though I’m still on vacation, I’m trying to get caught up on the news of the street art world. Here are a few of the things I’ve been looking at:
The Carmichael Gallery has some cool exhibitions on right now and the work is now online:
– Boxi, one of stencil art’s greatest talents, has a solo show titled “Grey Area”
– Zeus and the Neo-Cons (PosterBoy, Aakash Nihilani, and Ellis G.) in their surprise show “Hollowood.” Yes, PosterBoy is selling prints here, but they are unsigned. I’m really liking Aakash’s prints, Zeus’ installation, the PosterBoy prints if you’re not in it for investment (good for you), and the Ellis G. work on linen.
“Justice” is in Bristol with C215, Bruno Leyval, Dan23, Least Wanted, and MC1984. Great use of an old police station. Arrested Motion has images.
Street Art Dealer is a new concept meant to avoid the gallery system. Participating artists (such as Dotmasters and Graffiti Research Labs) tag their street work with a QR code, and by photographing the code, people can buy a piece they see on the street. So is this an innovation that will take galleries out of the art selling equation, or the logical conclusion of street art becoming nothing more than advertising for print releases?
The Chinese contemporary art market bubble seems to have burst. Luckily it wasn’t this bad in the world of street art. Maybe it is time for street art to move in to fill the hole in the market that may be left by the Chinese market (though hopefully we won’t create the same bubble). Phillips de Pury is selling a good number of street art works in their April Saturday sale in New York City by artists such as Keith Haring, Barry McGee, KAWS, and Date Farmers.
My French is pretty terrible (just got back from France, realized I couldn’t say much more than ‘merci’ after 9 months not taking the language at school), but what this video is still pretty cool, and I Love Graffiti was able to help sort out with the details about Le Tag.
Le Tag is an exhibit in Paris of graffti by 150 writers. It is currated by French architect Alain-Dominique Gallizia.
Artists in the exhibit include (and I can’t believe this first one) Taki 183, Seen, Doze Green, Phase2, and L’Atlas.
I know that in some ways Taki 183 is just one guy that the New York Times picked up on as an early tagger, but the article featuring him inspired so many people to start tagging, and he was one of the first to really get their name throughout New York City. I didn’t even realize he was still writing his name. The last I’d seen of Taki 183 was in Bomb It the movie, and he didn’t seem too interested in graffiti. Even though it’s “just a tag” and I really like Seen and some of the other artists in this show, Taki 183’s stuff is my personal highlight of Le Tag.
Faile‘s website was relaunched today and now it makes much more sense.
In addition to the relaunch of the website, Faile is releasing three new prints in the Faile store. All three are from their new set of Native American themed images first seen on the Tate Modern and then at their London solo show in 2008. They are all editions of 20 and priced at $2800. And don’t worry if you’re afraid these have already sold out. Faile are once again using the FairQ ticketing system which gives anybody an equal chance at buying their prints.
My favorite has to be the Man Finds Faile image.
For those who want something more unique, there are also “originals” for sale (aka, these same prints, but with unique touches that make them 1/1) at $8000.
Fans of Static will appreciate their latest print release, “Mexican Stand-off.” Besides the main edition of 75 for £75 each, there are a number of one-off hand finished versions of this print for £125 each. You can buy them here.
Yesterday, ABOVE (of those arrows stuck to walls everywhere) released a new print called “Trying 2 Put 2 and 2 2gether” for only 44 euros (and an edition of just 40!). You can buy them on his website. I would have thought this would be a print to jump on, but IMHO it just doesn’t live up to the version of this image that ABOVE painted on the street. See for yourself though, since if you like this print (or the AP you can get for just 99 euros), it’s practically stealing at these prices.
Mike Marcus has recently put a number of prints up for sale on Auction Saboteur. These include his Isolitude image, Lucy, and a number of images from his Exogamy series. Check them out here.
