Although I’ve been living outside of Philadelphia for about 6 months, it’s only recently that I’ve begun to get a handle on the street art in Philadelphia. The overwhelming trend here is stickering, particularly by artists who draw logos instead of names. Given that my favorite art book of last year was probably a book about stickers
3. Bad Dog
4. El Toro
5. Ticky
Photos by damonabnormal and RJ Rushmore
Next week, Know Hope will be launching his latest book in Tel Aviv. Bound By The Ties is a 160-page full-color book from one of my favorite young street artists. Know Hope’s work really tugs at the heart strings, and I think that the impact of his art is strongest when seen en-masse, so a book like this seems like a perfect way to view his art.
Know Hope describes the book as “a collection of drawings, writings, photographs and other side-seen moments, some from the recent past, and some from very close to the present” and “a folk tale of some sort, collective memories compiled like a time-capsule, or fireworks in a jar.”
For those in Tel Aviv next Thursday, there will be a launch event where you can be among the first to see the book. You can find more info on Know Hope’s flickr. That launch will include a display of all of the original drawings and texts used in the book.
Bound By The Ties is printed in an edition of 1000. There is also a special edition of 75 which each have unique handmade covers.
On Friday March 11th, the day after the book launch event, Bound By The Ties will be available online.
Photo courtesy of Know Hope
The latest exhibit at Show & Tell Gallery is Good Folk, a group show celebrating the gallery’s 2nd anniversary. Here’s the line up: Swoon, Monica Canilao, Jeremiah Maddock, Derek Mehaffey aka Troy Lovegates aka Other, Labrona and Troy Dugas. It’s an impressive line up of folk-art influenced art. Good Folks opened this week and runs through March 27th. Here’s a sample of what is in the show:
Photos courtesy of Show & Tell Gallery
I’m still not sure how I feel about JR‘s new project, Inside Out, which was launched this week at the TED conference. Here’s a summary of the project and here’s his speech from the conference (which will not show up if you’re reading this post in certain RSS readers):
The basic premise is that JR’s studio will print out black and white photos that you take and send you the posters if you’ll post them outside. There was even a photo booth in Long Beach, California where people could get posters printed instantly, but that has closed. Perhaps I’m being a pessimist, but I am not sure that Inside Out will change the world. I just imagine a bunch of self-important wanna-be Lindsay Lohan’s printing out pictures of themselves because they think it will make them famous. That said, I can certainly see the benefits of this project in the sort of communities that JR traditionally works. The question is, will those communities have enough access to cameras and awareness of the project? And compared to previous TED Prize projects, the potential impact of Inside Out is very different. The impact of Inside Out is just so individual. Not that that’s a bad thing, it just seems odd for TED. But hey, so many more people are being exposed to JR’s projects, and that’s a good thing.
So we’ll see how Inside Out goes. While I’m not confident that it is going to be a success, I’m hopeful.
Photo by raudog
I don’t remember exactly how I came across Blackmath‘s art, but I came across his flickr the other day and have been enjoying his block print posters.
Okay this last one is too Swoon-y, but I still like it:
Photos by Blackmath
Titifreak‘s one-night-only solo show at the new One Thirty 3 gallery in Newcastle, UK opened last week. Here are a few photos from the installation, and Wooster Collective has a video.
Photos by Dan Graham and David Bilbrough
When filmmaker Keith Haskel emailed me about his latest video, Spending Time With Felix Morelo, I thought “Oh this is going to be boring.” Keith has made some interesting videos in the past, but he described Felix as “the dude who makes a shit-ton of chalk faces all over Union Square, Williamsburg, etc.” Maybe it’s just a silly bias that I have, but the word “chalk” made me very wary. Seems so corny. But then I actually watched the damn video and it turns out that Felix Morelo is probably pretty awesome. So that’s my story of a bias against chalk art, and here’s the video that’s making me reexamine that bias:
Just found this even though it was uploaded about a month ago. My favorite street art couple, Supakitch and Koralie, have a mini documentary about their new project with POSCA (some marker brand). I hardly hear about these two, so it is nice to see them resurface. Although, their cuteness overload as a couple makes me want to hurl.
SUPAKITCH x KORALIE x POSCA from elr°y on Vimeo.
I discovered Ian Francis‘s work in 2008 at the Outsiders NY group exhibit that Steve Lazarides had brought to the Bowery. This afternoon I checked out his first NYC solo exhibit, Fireland, at the Joshua Liner Gallery in Chelsea. Infused with both abstract and figurative elements, the mesmerizing works exude a sense of fragile alienation in an uncertain world teeming with contradictions. Fireland continues through April 2 at at 548 W. 28th Street in NYC.
Photos by Lois Stavsky
Good to see Paul Insect getting up in London on his recent trip to London in February. And with Sweet Toof, even better. Here’s a video of the work that RJ posted a link to a picture in February. If anyone knows where this is, let me know. I cannot figure it out, but that’s because I am still shit with figuring my way around London.
Video via Paul Insect
