Here’s a sampling of some wonderfully vibrant Toronto walls that have been recently shared with me:
- DSNC, MOZIE, UNC
Photos by MKP
From the Streets of Toronto
Weekend link-o-rama
First week of school down. Just a boatload more to go. Here’s what I’ve been checking out to procrastinate doing homework:
- A nice time lapse video of Kid Zoom.
- Very Nearly Almost’s latest issue (with Invader on the cover) launches on September 8th in London.
- TrustoCorp have been putting up some clever new work recently. Arrested Motion has the images, and they’re running a TrustoCorp-related contest.
- The NYTimes has an article about the potential demise of 5Pointz.
- Euth, a street artist, sued Green Day for appropriating one of his images in background graphics for their live show. That lawsuit has been dismissed. Melrose&Fairfax seems to lean towards agreeing with Euth on this one, but while Green Day might have been in an ethical grey area by not compensating Euth, they were undoubtedly legally in the right, and on the whole, that’s a good thing. No idea is 100% original and appropriation is appropriate. As M&F point out in this post, a lot of street artists base their work on appropriation.
- Something new from Morley.
- A guy in the Hamptons is selling a bunch of Banksy pieces that were ripped out of walls from around the world. Gawker has some explanation of what happened. Of course the work is all unauthenticated and the morals of the whole situation are pretty sketchy.
Photo by unusualimage
5Pointz: Paradise “Not Quite” Lost
Long Island City’s renowned graffiti mecca 5Pointz is one-of-a-kind, as its devotees span cultural backgrounds, nationalities, social classes and ages with their love of expressive aerosol art. Visiting today, we would never know that the threat of closure looms. Writers from Australia, Poland, and Spain, as well as locals, were at work on new walls, and tourists and sightseers were everywhere. It is difficult to imagine this city without 5Pointz. Instead of becoming the site of an apartment complex as its developer is planning, it could ideally evolve into a museum that would provide an outlet and a showcase for the talent and creative energy that continues to find its way there. And as it has in the past, it should continue to serve as a valuable resource for educators and students. When we asked Meres, the tireless force behind 5Pointz’ success, what we can do to help preserve 5Pointz, he urged us to sign the petition http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/support5pointz/. A sampling of what we saw today follows:
A Manhattan Lower East Side Lot Transformed into an Outdoor Gallery
Down on Manhattan’s Lower East Side today for the first time this summer, we visited the lot at 145 Ludlow Street that had recently become the outdoor canvas for some of my favorite street artists. Among those whose work is now on the walls are: Bishop 203, Creepy, Gaia, General Howe, Laura Meyers, Nanook, Over Under, QRST, Quel Beast and Yok. The project was sponsored by Crest Hardware and organized by Joe Franquinha of Crest Arts and Keith Schweitzer of M.A.N.Y. Here are some images:
Photos by Lois Stavsky and Tara Murray
Even more from Living Walls
In what is likely the second-t0-last post of murals from Living Walls in Atlanta, here’s work by Ever, Freddy Sam, Never, Gawd, Labrona, OverUnder, LNY, Sharktoof, Feral Child, Entes and Pesimo.
Photos by Greg Mike, Feral Child and nickmickolas
Weekend link-o-rama
So I’m about to get on a flight to Philadelphia, which means that there could be power outages as soon as tomorrow night and I’ll be offline for a few days. So if Vandalog doesn’t update, that’s why. This week has been all about good walls for me, and so that’s what almost this entire link-o-rama is about as well:
- Some interesting new pieces by Mr. Bino on Ekosystem.
- More from Freedom Park in Berlin, which I mentioned last week.
- Roa in Copenhagen.
- MOMO has updated his site a few times this month, including a collaboration with El Tono.
- The DMV crew has a massive new mural in Denmark.
- And for the non wall related news, 12ozProphet has a studio visit/interview with Mare139.
Photo by Monotremu
Sam3 breaks a record for Living Walls
As far as I know, this mural by Sam3 is the tallest in America, if not the world. It was painted this month in Atlanta for the Living Walls Conference. Yes, there are murals and even illegal graffiti that cover more square-footage, but in terms of height, this 15-story-tall mural has everything I can think of beat. So is this really the tallest mural in America or possibly the world? Let me know in the comments if you know of a taller one.
Update: Thanks to a anonymous commenter, we’ve found out about this mural in Chicago, which is 200 feet tall, and the mural on the David Broderick Tower in Detroit. Looks like one of those murals holds the record of largest painted mural, for now.
Photo by nickmickolas
‘See No Evil’ in Bristol
I’ve just had an incredible week volunteering at ‘See No Evil’ in Bristol where over 40 artists have spent the last week painting the dull concrete of Nelson Street. The week finished with an amazing block party (the street was packed!) and it certainly no longer looks dull!
There are too many to mention but for me some of the highlights came from Mau Mau, Xenz, Nick Walker, Mr Jago, China Mike, Tats Crew, El Mac, What Collective, Mysterious Al, Cosmo, Paris, SPQR and Stickee.
The photos below are just a fraction of what is there:
Graffuturism has even more photos.
Photos by Ben
Clash of the Titans
This post is a bit of a continuation from my previous one… Whilst up north last weekend, Mr Penfold, Mr Gauky, Low Bros and DXTR made the short trip across to Manchester to paint. Inspired by Ray Harryhausen and the 1981 film – Clash of the Titans, they collaborated on another rather nice piece.
First three photos by the Common Bar. Final photo by Matt Saunders.
Decorating the Steel City
Last weekend Mr Penfold, Mr Gauky, Low Bros and DXTR headed up north to Sheffield to paint the wall of The Harley bar, just round the corner from the university. Enjoy.
Photo by DXTR