A few months ago, I was lucky enough to be able to visit Baltimore during their Open Walls Baltimore mural program. In addition to being fortunate enough to meet some of the most amazing artists from around the world, I was also able to explore the many hidden graffiti spots that the area had to offer. With a local writer as my guide, I was able to document over two dozen spots and see a wide range of work. Due to the prolific nature of Baltimore’s graffiti scene, the posts have been divided into three parts: pieces and freights, rollers, and street pieces. Continue reading “Illegal Baltimore part one: Pieces and freights”
Whenever I pass bleak-looking school buildings, I imagine their exteriors transformed into playful wonderlands. NEVERCREW, a first-rate Swiss-based artists duo with roots in graffiti, did just that to an elementary school in Lugano. Here are some close-ups:
Makatron has recently returned to Melbourne after a bit of traveling and painting. Here are some of the highlights in Mike’s own words:
Brazil – Essencia Event – Over a week we painted murals in all 4 zones of Sao Paulo Favelas, (north, south, east and west and then an exhibition in the centre).
Brazil – Graffiti Vale -An event in a tiny village situated in a valley in Sao Paulo State. This village had no graffiti at all when we arrived. About 40 graffiti artists from all over South America took over for 4 days, the locals loved it, feeding us, finding more walls, beers, ladders etc.. Everyone was really talented at whatever they did, either writers doing pieces or weirdo artists like me.
Uruguay – I was there for a week and painted a few walls in Montevideo and up the coast with a litre of black and white.
South Africa – I was invited to do an art residency for about a month with a group in Cape Town called A Word of Art. This meant living in a shared house with other artists from Nigeria, France, and Canada. The residency helped out by finding walls and providing paint and also gave me an insight into the art and culture of South Africa.
Also keep an eye out for Mike’s upcoming solo show in late November at House of Bricks Gallery in Collingwood, Melbourne.
Cape Town, South AfricaFloripa, BrazilPunto del Diablo, UruguaySao Paulo, BrazilMontevideo, UruguayCape Town, South Africa
Yote is celebrating National Welcoming Week (which is this week) by putting up signs these that have the word “Bienvenidos” (Spanish for “Welcome”) superimposed over the Arizona state flag. According to the event’s website, National Welcoming Week is an effort to “promote meaningful connections and a spirit of unity between U.S. and foreign-born Americans.” This week is also the week that the last parts of SB1070, Arizona’s controversial immigration law, go into effect.
Beau Stanton was recently in Germany where he painted a section of the Berlin Wall. Of course, Beau is Ron English’s assistant and has been mentored by Ron for a couple of years now, and Ron painted the wall back before it came down and when painting it meant risking arrest. Still, Beau’s work for this project was pretty spectacular. Somebody give this man some wallspace to paint murals in NYC!
It is time for me to get a reasonable number of hours of sleep. Until I have to get up in the morning. Here’s what we didn’t get to write about on Vandalog this week:
These two prints from Tristan Eaton and Everlast come from 1xRun and benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, so you’ve got great artists, a great print studio and a great cause all in one package, but less than one week left to buy.
Buff Monster, David Meade and friends of Vandalog Hrag Vartanian and Adam COST will be speaking on a panel at Doyle New York next week in anticipation of their upcoming street art auction.
Endless Canvas’ Special Delivery warehouse show looks like it’s got some cool work from Swampy, GATS, Feral Child and others, but really it’s clear that photos do not do the show justice and that you had to be there.
2501‘s two latest works are an interesting abstract break from the figurative work of his that’s been so popular over the past year or so. This first one is inside an abandoned church in Craco, Italy. But it’s the piece below which is really interesting. For one of the most intellectually-interesting works I’ve ever seen from 2501, he has channeled MOMO and Gordon Matta-Clark with an ever-changing abstract piece that plays with shadow. Throughout the day and the year, shadows hit the wall differently all the time, changing the overall piece with every changing shadow. Luckily, Matteo Bandiello, got some photos of the ever-shifting work.
Os Gemeos and Aryz are the latest artist to complete a mural in Lodz, Poland for the Galeria Urban Forms. Hopefully this piece doesn’t cause as much controversy as other recent works featuring nudity or Os Gemeos’ characters, because it would be a real shame if this piece had to be buffed.
“Graffiti: where community and creativity connect,” said no government ever.
Roach and Retro in Sydney. Photo by Ironlak.Digs in California. Photo by thesaltr.Steel Trav and Reyes in San Francisco. Photo by Heavy Artillery.Ghey in Detroit. Photo by ExcuseMySarcasm.Pose in Hong Kong. Photo by Ironlak.L’atlas in Paris. Photo by Lepublicnme.Borf in NYC. Photo by Billy Craven.Web’s in Nantes. Photo by Startape Photographe.Vans the Omega in Australia. Photo by Ironlak.Musk and Phaze in East Bay. Photo by FunkandJazz.
