JR seems to be going non-stop with putting put murals in LA right now. The LA Weekly are covering that pretty well, but the above wall deserves a special mention. It’s part of the Geffen Contemporary at the MOCA, the same building where Blu‘s mural wasbuffedlastyear. This isn’t the same wall, but it’s the same building and JR did this mural for the same even, MOCA’s upcoming street art show. This is interesting because of the outcry over the buffing of Blu’s mural. There was definitely speculation that artists would pull out of the show over issues of censorship and to stand in solidarity with Blu. JR is the first artist since Blu to put up a wall as part of the MOCA show, which opens in April. Not to gloss over the events with Blu, hopefully this is a sign that the show will continue on without any more glitches and be a success. I suppose the other side of this is that someone could say that JR is turning his back on his principles or something, but I think that the TED folk generally are pretty smart about who they give large grants to.
So with the Oscars less than a week away and an Oscar nomination under his belt, of course Banksy has hit up LA with some new work. Some of it’s good, some of it is barely worth a mention and all of it is getting lots of attention.
My personal favorite from this series of hits is the above billboard, the aftermath of which can be seen in this video. Expect it to show up on eBay any day now.
The other piece I really like is this Charlie Brown on a burnt out building:
Photo by Lord Jim
Hieronymus spotted the Charlie Brown piece getting covered by the property management company. His thoughts on the subject as well as on the general way that Banksy’s outdoor work has such a strange life these days are worth checking out. I would pretty much echo his sentiments. There’s also this video of the piece getting covered, but not much is clear except that the building owners want the work covered for now.
I think with either of those two pieces, they’d be worth mentioning even if they weren’t by Banksy, and that should be the measure by which his work is judged. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and massive amounts of attention have also been paid to every new Banksy in LA, even the two mediocre ones. First, there’s Dog Wizz, which is kinda funny I guess but definitely not top-notch Banksy work:
Photo by Hieronymus
And then there’s this piece which looks to me like something Mr. Brainwash would dream up after looking at Banksy and Dran’s stuff for a bit too long:
Photo by Lord Jim
Besides being a really weak concept compared to the rest of Banksy’s work with kids drawing, there are a few crazy things about this crayon-gun stencil: It was first “discovered” by Lauren Conrad from The Hills and she posted a photo on her twitter. As Hrag speculates, this was pretty clearly staged for maximum publicity for both Lauren and Banksy. Additionally, there’s this painting by Nils Westergard from about a year ago that is pretty similar, so if you like this Banksy but can’t afford to hire somebody to chop a wall out for you, you can always buy the Westergard version on canvas for $500. I’m not saying that Banksy ripped off Westergard, just trying to point out how simple the concept of a crayon-gun is (then again, you could argue that the simple concepts are what makes some of Banksy’s art so good). Finally, I think it’s pretty hilarious to see Banksy fans loving this piece when the first thing it made me think of is that infamous Mr. Brainwash image of Elvis holding a toy gun instead of a guitar. Honestly, the concept of this piece seems so MBW-esque to me, even though the style is obviously Banksy’s. Oh, and it looks like somebody trashed this wall already.
So that’s Banksy’s most recent LA advertising campaign. Some good art and lots of hype. Hopefully it all works in his favor, because I’d still love to see him win that Oscar on Sunday. I just re-watched Exit Through The Gift Shop last week for the first time since the premiere, and I liked it more the second time around. It’s not a bad film.
Tika is currently an artist in residence with A Word of Art at Woostock Industrial Centre in Cape Town. She has a show at A Word of Art and will paint murals around the city. I really like this mural that she’s already painted as part of the residency:
Tika’s show, Kaptika, opens on February 26th. Here’s a flyer:
Vancouver artist Indigo has put together a show, Unintended Calculations, of artists who started in traditional graffiti and have moved towards abstract paintings. The show takes place next month in Vancouver with a gallery show as well as some murals at the Moda Hotel. While the show includes well-known artists Remi/Rough and Kofie, I’m most interested to see what Scott Sueme does. I don’t know much about Sueme, but I’ve heard that he is really pushing things forward in Vancouver with his graffiti, and I liked his recent wall at Primary Flight.
Unintended Calculations opens the first week of March. Check the show’s website for more info.
For Titifreak’s upcoming show in Newcastle at One Thirty 3, he’s got two prints coming out (well, one image in two colorways). I think they look pretty great. For me, Titifreak tends to do things either very right or the work misses the mark completely. In this case, I think he’s gotten it very right once again. Each of these prints is an edition of 33 plus two APs and costs £250 each. Most of these will be released at the gallery on February 24th when the show opens, but 11 from each edition will be available for sale before then through an online lottery system. To enter, just email info@onethirty3.com.
Since the fall of 2009, Shafiur Rahman has been filming a documentary about London’s Brick Lane, and a big part of Brick Lane is the recent connection to street art. Many regulars in the London street art community have probably seen Shafiur around filming and I’ve even been interviewed a bit for the film myself. It looks like a really interesting project and he’s been getting footage of some talented artists and staples of the Brick Lane street art community. The trailer for the film is finally ready, so check it out below. Even my haters reading should enjoy this, as the trailer gives you a brief look how abnormally long my neck is, haha! Seriously though, I am looking forward to seeing the finished film.
Escif, whose interview in a recent issue of Juxtapoz is really good
It was sunny and 65 today in Philly. It’s going to be back to snow by next week, but in the mean time, it looks like those of us on the East coast are having a great end to our week are hopefully spending some time outdoors. If you do happen to be inside this weekend though, here are some things worth checking out:
While most of NYC’s first-rate stencils, wheatpastes and pieces have left Manhattan for Brooklyn and parts of Queens, my borough still boasts an incredible range of stickers. Faust, Sure (RIP), Ader and Baser are among those whose handstyles delight me daily. Yesterday while walking along Hudson Street in SoHo to 14th Street in the West Village, I came upon dozens of Baser stickers. He’s beginning to rule certain neighborhoods! Here is a recent sticker by NYC’s self-proclaimed “Incredible Style Animal.”
This latest piece by Luzinterruptus looks fantastic, even if it probably only lasted for a few hours. For One sees the sea between the cars, a bunch of paper boats were put on a blue tarp over a dumpster, and each of the boats had a little LED on it. They made three of these. Three simple gifts for those who were lucky enough to stumble across them.
