Vandalog – A Street Art Blog

December 27, 2013December 27, 2013

Icy and Sot respond to tragedy with a new mural

Last month, the Brooklyn music scene was shaken by the murder of three Iranian musicians in an East Williamsburg apartment by a gunman who then committed suicide. The gunman, who used an assault rifle, was also an Iranian musician who had immigrated to NYC. The New York Times’ article on the whole tragedy is worth reading for the full story.

Iranian street artists and brothers Icy and Sot lived in the apartment where the murders took place. While they both survived, Sot was shot. Now, just a few weeks later, it appears Icy and Sot have taken to the streets to respond to the tragedy with the above mural, located on Allen Street near the corner of Allen and Stanton in NYC. While the artists have not made any explicit reference to the shooting in their posts online about the mural, the connection is clear.

Photo from Icy and Sot’s Facebook page

December 26, 2013

Turning newspaper bins into parties

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Josh Gordon and Danny Gonzalez have a mission. They say, “We take gross newspaper boxes and turn them into parties.” Check out the video below to see what they mean:

I don’t think anyone has ever truly been excited to open up a newspaper bin to grab their daily paper, but party boxes make that activity fun. I would love to randomly open up a Party Box. So much street art today is just decoration, but Gordon and Gonzalez are bringing back that element of surprise that is essential to the best street art. Sure, the party boxes are labeled so they might not be a complete surprise to everyone, but I doubt most people opening up the boxes will recognize the purple lightening bolt and think, “This is a Party Box.”

Finally, yes, I’ll acknowledge that party boxes are a bit silly, but they’re also kind of awesome, and the idea makes me smile.

Photo courtesy of Party Box

December 24, 2013

Alleged slumlord Stanley Rochkind fights back against Wall Hunters

LNY install at 539 N. Longwood Street. Photo courtesy of Wall Hunters. — LNY install at 539 N. Longwood Street.

Earlier this year, a group of artists (led by Nether) working under the Wall Hunters banner teamed up Carol Ott of Baltimore Slumlord Watch for the Slumlord Project, an effort to draw attention to “dilapidated vacant houses” in Baltimore that the project organizers determined were owned by peopled they considered “negligent property owners.” One of those property owners, Stanley Rochkind, is now suing Ott through two of the shell companies through which Rochkind owns property. The lawsuits demand that Ott remove two murals from buildings that were painted by the Wall Hunters artists. The lawsuits are particularly ironic because Rochkind initially claimed not to own these buildings and the Wall Hunters artists painted these buildings specifically because Rochkind has not bothered to maintain them.

So… Rochkind is suing for “repairs,” on dilapidated buildings that he has not bothered to actually repair in any way and which, in an effort to discredit the Wall Hunters, he initially claimed not to own. Sounds like a stand-up guy.

Check out the full story over at Balitmore’s City Paper.

Photo courtesy of Wall Hunters

December 23, 2013

MOMO at May

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MOMO‘s latest show, Butt Joints, opened earlier this month at May in New Orleans. I really love what MOMO has done with this show. It’s almost like there are two shows trying to coexist simultaneously in the same space: An installation and a series of paintings and drawings. Okay, I realize that sounds terrible, but from the photos I’ve seen, I think it actually works. The different components of Butt Joints complement each other since it’s clear how the paintings and the drawings are connected to the installation. Still, as you can see in the above photo, the sculptural pieces of the installation are placed seemingly without concern for the drawings or paintings, forcing visitors to make decisions as they walk through the space. This doesn’t seem like the kind of show you can just view with your brain turned off.

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One skill that the best street artists really hone by working outdoors is an understanding of how to utilize spaces in interesting ways. They learn to highlight nooks and crannies that the rest of us might ignore and reactivate long-forgotten spaces. Butt Joints looks to be a prime example of how that knowledge can be taken into a gallery setting.

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But hey, these are just some thoughts I had from looking at photos of Butt Joints, and it really seems like the sort of show that should be experienced in person. Still, for those of us who won’t be in New Orleans anytime soon, here are a couple more photos, and you can find even more on Graffuturism.

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Photos courtesy of MOMO

December 16, 2013May 31, 2015

Viral Art is now available at ViralArt.net

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Two weeks ago, I announced that Viral Art: How the internet has shaped street art and graffiti, my new ebook, was set to launch on December 16th. Excerpts have appeared on Hyperallergic, Complex.com and Brooklyn Street Art, I was interviewed over at Graffuturism and the book even got a shout-out from Shepard Fairey. Well, today’s the day. Viral Art is live and you can read it now at ViralArt.net and download it as a PDF or find it in the iBooks Store now.

I want to thank everyone who has been sharing the news about Viral Art these last two weeks, especially everyone who supported the Thunderclap campaign. Just this afternoon, there have been over 200 posts about Viral Art across Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. So, a big thank you to everyone who participated in that. Promoting this book is an entirely grassroots effort, and I’ll be forever grateful for your help.

In case you didn’t catch that last post or you’ve forgotten, here’s a reminder of what Viral Art is all about…

What is Viral Art?

It’s an ebook that you can read online or download to your computer or ereader. It’s full of text, hyperlinks, photos, animated GIFs and embedded videos.

What is Viral Art about?

Viral Art traces how the histories of street art and graffiti have been shaped by communication technologies, from trading photos by hand to publishing books to sharing videos online. It’s the most comprehensive look to date at how the internet has affected street art and graffiti. Conceptualizing the internet as a public space, I conclude the book by arguing that the future of street art and graffiti may lie in digital interventions rather than physical ones.

Why does Viral Art matter?

If you want to understand street art and graffiti, you have to understand how books, movies, magazines, photographs and the internet have affected artists and fans. Viral Art gets into all of that.

Today we live on our laptops and smartphones, so I argue that the best way for street art and graffiti to stay relevant is for artists to take over the public space of the internet. It’s a claim sure to cause controversy in the street art, graffiti and internet art communities.

Viral Art isn’t just another street art book cheer-leading the movement on. It’s history and theory with a critical stance, and my plea to keep the core values of street art and graffiti alive in a digital world.

What else is inside?

In researching for this project, I interviewed over 50 members of the street art and graffiti communities. In Viral Art, you’ll find brand new interviews, quotes and anecdotes from Banksy, Shepard Fairey, KATSU, Poster Boy, Ron English, Martha Cooper and many more.

Another cool touch is the cover, which you can see at the top of this post. It’s an animated GIF designed by General Howe, featuring artwork by Diego Bergia, General Howe and Jay Edlin, as well as photographs by Martha Cooper and myself.

What does this “book” cost?

Nothing. You can read Viral Art for free at ViralArt.net. There are also PDF and EPUB versions available for download.

How can fans support the book?

This book is the result of two and a half years of mostly-unpaid labor. It’s being self-published. My marketing budget consists of a few bucks for ads on Facebook. Major publishers spend thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars marketing everything they produce, but this project has no book tour or publicist or anything like that. There’s only your support. If Viral Art sounds interesting, or you read it and you think it is interesting, please tell your friends.

Where can people read Viral Art?

Just go here to read it online, or you can also download it to your computer or ereader.

December 16, 2013December 16, 2013

Street art in Jerusalem: Tant, Broken Fingaz, Jack tml, Signer and more

When I first started documenting West Jerusalem’s street art scene a number of years back, it consisted – for the most part – of rather simple stencils, often religiously or politically fraught. These days it is visually richer, presenting an intriguing array of characters and more. Here’s a sampling:

Photos by Dani Reyes Mozeson and Lois Stavsky

December 14, 2013December 13, 2013

Florence, welcome to Clet Abraham’s world

Actually, before I left for a short trip to Florence, Italy, I didn’t expect to find street art in a city better known for being the birthplace of the Italian Rennaissance. I was looking for Della Robbia, Michelangelo, Lippi, Massolino, and all the other great masters that made this city a real beauty, not urban or contemporary artists. So I was surprised to see all the famous stickers of Clet Abraham at every street corner. Then i found out that the French artist lives in Florence … well, I can understand why!

But that was not the only discovery I made in Florence. My curiosity pushed me to an old abandoned convent in the heart of the city. The whole façade is covered of fake US dollars. it’s an installation that was done by the artist Vaclav Pisvejc the last summer in order to draw attention to the hood of Sant’Orsola convent, and to denounce what he considers to be the negative consequences of capitalism. Great action, that remind us that is necessary to follow artists who use the streets not for their own interests but for the “community”.

DSC_2026_01 — Sant’Orsola, installation by Vaclav Pisvejc

All the Clet Abraham’s stickers… (except the last ? not sure it’s a Clet one…)

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Continue reading “Florence, welcome to Clet Abraham’s world”

December 12, 2013December 9, 2013

You’ll never guess what Peter Drew did when the local government began supporting his street art

This new film by Peter Drew is a great example of how street artists can continue to mess with authority even as they are embraced by it. Rather than saying, “Awesome, thank you! Guess it’s time for me to go legit,” when the Adelaide city council began to support his street art, Peter very publicly asked, “Why me?” and looked at larger questions of how and why institutions and governments respond to street art and graffiti.

The questions that Peter brings up in this video are close to my heart. I used to give tours of London street art and graffiti, and I tried to start each tour by pointing at a tag and saying, “Everything else I’m going to show you today, all the stuff that you want in your neighborhood or maybe even on your own house, began with and is forever linked to tags like this.”

December 11, 2013December 11, 2013

Stik’s first NYC solo exhibit at Dorian Grey Gallery

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Earlier this fall, a 50-foot-high mural — depicting a stick figure posed with a triumphant salute — surfaced on the corner of Avenue A and 9^th Street, directly across from Tompkins Square Park. The work of UK-based international street artist Stik, it is a fitting tribute to the neighborhood and the free-spirited folks who have inhabited it for so long. Stik is now back in town for his first NYC solo exhibit at the Dorian Grey Gallery with canvas work, drawings, sculptural works, and a range of printed materials, including his print release ‘Liberty’ and the political journal ‘The Bottled Wasp Pocket Diary 2014’ which features STIK’s art.

The cover of The Bottled Wasp Pocket Diary — The cover of “The Bottled Wasp Pocket Diary, 2014”

The exhibit opens tomorrow, Thursday, December 12, at 5pm at 437 East 9th Street @ Ave A. with live painting by the artist. It continues through December 31.

Photos courtesy of the artist

December 11, 2013December 9, 2013

Ladies Run Basel with Women on the Walls

This year Wywood Walls turned five and to mark the special occasion curator Jeffrey Deitch called on on the finest ladies in the field for Women on the Walls. International artists Aiko, Miss Van, Fafi, Maya Hayuk, Lady Pink, Faith47, Lakwena, Kashink, Sheryo, Olek, Toofly, Claw Money, Jessie & Katey, Myla, and Shamsia Hassani all created murals or showed in the adjacent exhibition space. The participating artists have come from cities such as Cape Town, Paris, New York, and London. Part gallery part mural exhibition, the project acts as a history guide to the great presence of women muralists.

Women on the Walls is a dream come true and also a proverbial screw you to people who say that the reason women artists are often overshadowed in the media is due to a dearth in street art. That, to be blunt, is bullshit. Older artists and the younger generation they inspired came together in the Wynwood district of Miami this Art Basel to prove their stronghold in the public art community. The scope of media alone proves their mastery of the craft as spray paint, yarn, text, stencils, and free handed characters all co-mingle to form a variety that has something to please most tastes.

Not only is the perfect storm of artists curated in this year’s Wynwood Walls enough to be in awe of, additionally Martha Cooper has shared some breathtaking progress photos. As artfully as the walls are decorated, each image thoughtfully reveals the personas behind the iconography. Each picture displays the strength of these women, whether unveiling the sheer amount of effort behind a production to those who stand boldly in front of completed pieces. Cooper shows that these women are heroes, or warriors as Toofly depicts, taking on whatever challenges lay in their wake and simply killing it.

All photos by Martha Cooper