Check out this classic video of Brazilian street artist Zezao creating a very intricate piece inside what appears to be an abandoned building. Zezao is best known for hitting up his symbolic like tags in some of the most unusual of places – infamously this includes the sewer systems in Brazil. It’s a shame that Zezao opts to smash down the wall right after having finished the piece, but I’m guessing that all part of it?!
It’s been nearly two years since the first Cans Festival, and Leake Street is now a London graffiti Mecca. It may not be the spot that all the hard-core guys want to hit, but so many amateurs paint there that it’s just interesting. And it’s in an a tourist-y location, so it’s easy to check out if you’re only in town for a few days. If you’ve never seen Leake Street in person, you’ve got to check out this video:
This should be interesting. White Walls is doing two shows simultaneously next month. One is Faces In The Mirror with Blek le Rat. The other is Transitions with ABOVE. Blek is the grandfather of outdoor stencil art, and ABOVE is a”post-Banksy” stencil artist. I think this will be Blek le Rat’s first major show since the art market went kablewy, and it’s ABOVE’s first solo show.
I’m very curious to see what these artists are going to do here. You can’t ignore Blek le Rat’s historical importance for street art, but ignoring that, he’s just a guy who cuts stencils. Introducing new iconic imagery won’t be easy, but people will complain just as much if he just makes the same old rats and Caravaggio stencils. And ABOVE works hard to consider placement in his artwork. Will his stencils lose all their power indoors, or will he rethink everything and skillfully consider the placement of his artwork in a gallery space?
Well here’s what White Walls has to say about everything:
White Walls is proud to present a joint show: Faces in the Mirror by Blek le Rat and Transitions by ABOVE. This exhibition brings together the original pioneer stencil artist and his younger counterpart utilizing stencils to create public art in over 40 countries around the world. Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, May 1st 2010, from 7-11 pm.
This homage to stencil art marks Blek le Rat’s first show in San Francisco as well as the debut indoor exhibition of ABOVE. The meeting of these two artists is a passing of the torch from the original stencil artist to a younger generation of urban artists following in his legacy. Blek let Rat first pioneered stencils in the early 80s as a bold, attention grabbing form of street art that was never before seen. ABOVE is the prominent stencil artist of the new generation, drawing on Blek’s methods to project a social message into the urban environment.
Blek le Rat resides outside of Paris, the very city he claimed 30 years ago as a platform for social commentary. He was the first of his time to employ stencils and spray paint for fast, high contrast images on city walls. Faces in the Mirror is a collection of Blek’s iconic imagery of beggars, sheep, rats, and Michelangelo’s David with an AK-47, combined with never before seen images such as Mona Lisa. These forms open conversation about consciousness, social relation, mass media, and commodity fetishism. Known as the godfather of stencil graffiti art, Blek le Rat has been the great inspiration for artists worldwide including Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Space Invader, WK Interact, and ABOVE.
ABOVE has devoted the past 8 years to creating street art in 45 countries around the world, refusing to take his focus off the streets even for gallery exhibitions. It is only because of Blek le Rat’s strong desire to show alongside him that ABOVE finally conceded to his premier indoor exhibition. Transitions is based on three themes from his outdoor works: sign language arrow mobiles, wordplay murals, and colorful figurative stencils. The overarching sentiment is one of optimism, honor, overcoming struggle, and a desire to rise above.
Please join us for the opening reception of Faces in the Mirror by Blek le Rat and Transitions by ABOVE on Saturday, May 1st, 2010, from 7-11pm. The exhibit will be on view through June 5th, 2010, and is open to the public.
More news in the ongoing Shepard Fairey / AP lawsuit over the use of a photograph to create Fairey’s iconic HOPE poster. Back in October, Fairey admitted to submitting false images into evidence and deleting images off of his computer that clearly showed which photograph he used to create his poster. A judge has ordered Fairey to say exactly which files were deleted and when, as well as name anybody who may have helped him tamper with evidence (originally, Shepard claimed that he alone was involved in the cover-up. At this point, it’s unclear if his statement was accurate or not.)
Via Artinfo
The Very Nearly Almost blog posted this (slightly NSFW) videos of Insa painting. Looks like it has something to do with the soon-to-be-released VNA issue 11.
INSA and VNA from Make Some Tea on Vimeo.
One weird thing about graffiti is how pervasive it has become in the graphic design community. It seems like all these original writers ended up in graphic design after more or less giving up spray cans. Ever since the Beautiful Losers came along though, there’s been a new generation of writers who are able to strike a balance between a graphic design career and a graffiti life. AKACORLEONE is one of the artists who can strike that balance. Graffiti doesn’t just influence his design. Design influences his graffiti. I love when that happens.
Here’s some info on his latest solo show in Lisbon:
This is NOT Graffiti is the latest up coming exhibition from 24 years old graphic designer and illustrator AKACORLEONE
“Graffiti is not meant to be in a gallery, exposed as another art form, it should be on the streets, fighting the system!” says the Portuguese native. With this idea in mind the 24 years old illustrator with a graffiti background based in Lisbon, decided to create an exhibition about this strange world where kids run from cops, go underground, always looking for the perfect mission, the coolest style, the fame and glory that comes with becoming the king!
This is not a Graffiti exhibition, it’s a 6 step program to become a writer and blow it all up by entering the art world!
This is NOT Graffiti opens Thursday 29th April until May 29th 2010.
Montana Shop & Gallery Lisboa
Rua da Rosa Nº14G Bairro Alto
1200-387 Lisboa, Portugal
I am definitely behind on writing about Banksy news. So here’s a bit of what’s been going on in the Banksy world:
Okay, pretty much everybody who knows graffiti knows that Futura is an important dude and that he knows how to paint. Well this video from his LA solo show in 2008 really shows me just how influential Futura has been and continues to be. Everyone from Pete Wentz to Revok to Slick love what this guy does and cite him as an important figure in their creative lives.
Futura Feature from TheCreativeLives on Vimeo.
Via Hookedblog
Sticker Phiends III opened last week in Arizona. Looks like one of those crazy group show that can really get people excited about art. Today I walked into a gallery and literally started jumping up and down because I saw an awesome painting. I bet that’s what happened to some of the Phoenix, AZ teenagers that walked into Sticker Phiends to see artwork by guys like Shepard Fairey and Chris RWK, artists whose work probably isn’t visible in Phoenix nearly often enough.
Photos from madone025’s flickr
A new documentary film focusing on the life and times of graffiti artist David Choe will be presented in Los Angeles and San Francisco over the coming months by Upper Playground. The film entitled Dirty Hands – The Art and Crimes of David Choe follows the Award winning artist and uncovers the artistic trials and tribulations he has endured.
Dirty Hands is set to start screening at the Sunset 5 in LA on April 30 – May 6, and then move on to SF for showings from May 21 – May 27.
