Colombian artists, Stinkfish and Bastardilla, have made their way to Valencia, Spain amidst their European tours. Kicking off the journey, new murals have appeared from the two for the Poliniza 2012 Urban Art Festival. They will continue to paint around Europe and Stinkfish will conclude his European travels in London. Here’s Stinkfish’s piece in Valencia. Street Art News has photos of Bastardilla’s wall.
Photos by Stinkfish
One of the most under-appreciated but active street art and graffiti scenes in the USA must be in Oakland, California. Luckily, the site Endless Canvas does great job of posting some of the highlights of what’s going on. Here are a few of my favorite pieces that were just photographed in the last two months…
More after the jump… Continue reading “Recently in Oakland, CA…”
The talent of Puerto Rican duo, La Pandilla, is undeniable. They’ve received a lot of attention this past year, after turning heads at a few mural festivals including Living Walls Concepts, G40 Art Summit, and Wynwood Walls.
As previously voiced by one sarcastic reader, “Animals are sooooo hot right now”. But perhaps, La Pandilla’s technical ability stands out because we’re not distracted by the subject matter or overwhelmed by color. Their work lives in this Goldilocks zone of being intricate in detail and being conceptually simple which allows viewers to focus on the most important aspect of their work: the talent.
Photos by Molinary and La Pandilla
This is the first post in a two-part series based on the visit to Baltimore that Caroline Caldwell and I made last week. We made the trip to see Open Walls Baltimore, but ended up getting a taste of the larger street art and graffiti scenes in Baltimore too. This post is about the work we saw at Open Walls Baltimore. Thanks so much to Gaia, Killian, Martha Cooper, Nanook and AVOID for showing us around the city.
As previously covered, Open Walls Baltimore is Gaia‘s stab a street art/mural art festival. Taking inspirations from festivals like Wynwood Walls and Living Walls, Open Walls Baltimore has been bringing some of the world’s most talented street artists to Baltimore to paint murals. With the help of friends like Martha Cooper and Nanook, Gaia has managed to pull of quite a festival. This video gives a pretty good idea of what’s been going on from Freddy Sam’s perspective:
Like so many mural festivals, Open Walls Baltimore manages to do a lot with a small budget (at least compared to budgets like the budget of the Mural Arts Program). Caroline and I slept in Gaia’s studio next to Ever, which was also being used as Jaz‘ studio so that he could finish the work for his show in Barcelona, the studio for many of Gaia’s friends and the meeting place for most of the Open Walls Baltimore artists. When we arrived in town, Ever was stuck a couple of stories up in the air because his lift had nearly run out of gas. Despite minor snags like that, Open Walls Baltimore’s outward appearance is as a great success. Most, but not all, of the walls look good and have had a positive reception from the community.
Unlike a lot of other mural festivals, Open Walls Baltimore have been pretty honest about the criticism they have received and the double-edged sword that is muralism. This interview with Gaia really highlights just how complicated a mural festival can be for those directly involved and the communities receiving murals.
There are still a few pieces left to be finished, but the festival is winding down. Check out some of what Caroline and I saw on our visit after the jump… Continue reading “A visit in Baltimore: Legal art”
Nug, the artist best-known for basically going crazy with a spray-can in hand, has a solo show on right now at Skalitzers Gallery in Berlin. I’m not sure what I think of the work (which is a sort of installation), but I have a feeling that looking at it online is a very different experience to seeing it in person. Seems to me that Nug is most interesting when doing performance art, but it’s difficult to say based on only seeing jpegs. If anyone has seen the show in the flesh, I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments. Human Behaviour is open now through June 2nd.
Photos courtesy of Skalitzers Gallery
It’s that time of the week again… Here’s what I’ve been reading across the rest of the web:
Photo by Lush
Thank you so much to Street Art News for introducing me to the work of Roja Roma, an extremely talented muralist from Buenos Aires. I’m loving this work. Like many of the best young muralists from South America, Roja Roma mixes a street art vibe with a style that fans of traditional murals can love too. Here’s some of his recent work…
Photos courtesy of Roja Roma
Via Street Art News
Last month, INSA was planning to go to LA to paint a mural, but he needed money for a flight and other costs of getting to and staying in LA. To raise the money, he sent out an appeal to his fans through his blog and offered a series of 12 paintings for sale (shown here). Anyone who bought a painting would also get their name painted on the mural, a photo of the mural, a thank you letter and an INSA goodie bag. By reaching out directly to his fans, offering the works at a discount and explaining exactly how the money would be used to fund more art, INSA was able to raise enough money to get to LA. Here are some photos of INSA’s latest wall with LA Freewalls. Check out more on INSA’s blog.
Photos by Todd Mazer
Via VNA
