Thank you Very Nearly Almost

Roa in London, taken around the time I was interviewing him for Very Nearly Almost.

Sad news to report: Very Nearly Almost, the UK’s premier magazine covering street art/graffiti/muralism…, is shutting down after 10 years.

VNA was an early inspiration for me when Vandalog was just starting out. I would devour their interviews. VNA privileged the voice of the artist, publishing in-depth interviews with street art superstars like Shepard Fairey, as well as people who probably don’t get quite the same chances to take deep dives exploring their work. A few times, I’ve been fortunate to contribute to VNA as an interviewer. Actually, an interview with Case for VNA might have been the first time that someone else published my work.

The community around VNA, a community of contributing writers, photographers, and even artists who collaborated on limited edition covers, is a testament to the importance of the magazine and the genuine love and excitement with which the VNA team approached their work.

To give the magazine a proper send off before they close up shop, dozens artists have contributed work to a charity auction that VNA has organized to benefit Macmillan Cancer Support. Bidding starts today.

Photo by RJ Rushmore

Unplugged link-o-rama

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It’s been a while since I did a link-o-rama, but I’m really behind right now and it seems the only way to catch up. I’ve been living in my wifi-less apartment, and I’m headed to London, so these few minutes I’m spending in a cafe may be my only chance for a while to write about a few things…

Photo by mermaid99

WALL\THERAPY 2012 – Rochester’s mural festival

Thievin’ Stephen

WALL\THERAPY is a mural event in Rochester, NY being put together by, Dr. Ian Wilson and The Synthesis Collaborative, the same people who organized last year’s Visual Intervention. This year, artists from Rochester and around the world will be painting as part of WALL\THERAPY: Faith47, DALeast, Ben Eine, Liqen, Case, ROA, Cern, St. Monci, Mr. Prvrt, Thievin’ Stephen, How & Nosm and Siloette.

The murals will be painted July 20th-27th, so that might be a fun time to visit Rochester.

For more information about WALL\THERAPY and events surrounding the festival, check their facebook event page.

Photo by Rich Paprocki

Wild Style Wednesday!

Can2, Akut, Case, Tasso and Atom. Photo by Startape Photographe.

Out-America the neighbors.

Stinkfish, Zas, Saks and Yurika. Photo by MDC Grupograffiti.
Hare in Brazil. Photo by Ed_Mun.
Swampy and Swornes in East Bay. Photo by FunkandJazz.
Outline for a piece by Bio. Photo by Tatscruinc.
“Blast” by Zeh Palito in Zambia
Desr in San Francisco. Photo by FunkandJazz.
Soker and Mr. Jago in Bristol. Photo by Sok’em One.
Preys in Montreal.
Nuse in England. Photo by HowAboutNo!

Photos by BadDogWhiskas, FunkandJazz, HowAboutNo!MDC GrupograffitiPreysStartape PhotographeTatscruinc, and Zéh Palito

German photorealistic graffiti artist CASE pays tribute to Egyptian activist Khaled Said

This tribute to the Egyptian activist and rapper Khaled Said — brutally beaten to death in June 2010 and posthumously awarded the Human Rights Award 2011 this week — was just painted on two original pieces of the Berlin Wall by Andreas von Chrzanowski aka CASE, a founding member of  the renowned graffiti crew Ma’Claim.  It will soon be placed at Berlin’s Freedom Park on the banks of the river Spree. Next month, CASE will again paint the portrait in Khaled Said’s home town Alexandria, as part of a project with the Goethe Institute.

Written below portrait:: "We are all Khaled Said," calligraphy by Mohamed Gaber
Photo by Joel Sames, courtesy of From Here to Fame Publishing

Moniker presents “Gossip Well Told”

On July 21, Moniker will be opening a show at Blackhall Studios in Shoreditch entitled Gossip Well Told. Featuring the likes of artists Swoon, Eine, Dabs and Myla, Case and Herakut. There will also be some great street art photos from Cheryl Dunn that I am really looking forward to seeing as well. Below is one of her photos from the Twist/Barry McGee mural on Houston Street in New York City.

Photo by Cheryl Dunn and courtesy of Moniker

More from Street aka Museum in Portsmouth, NH

Case aka Andreas von Chrzanowski

On now around Portsmouth, New Hampshire and at the Portsmouth Museum of Art is Street aka Museum, a show of indoor and outdoor work by street artists curated by Beau Basse from LeBasse Projects. The line up is Bumblebee, Herakut, Shark Toof, Alexandros Vasmoulakis and Case aka Andreas von Chrzanowski. The show is open now through September 11th. I recently posted a link to some of the murals that are part of this show, but here’s some work the indoor and outdoor work that wasn’t included in that last post…

Akut
Bumblebee
Herakut
Shark Toof. I'm not normally Shark Toof fan, but I do like this

Photos courtesy of the Portsmouth Museum of Art

Weekend link-o-rama

Labrona and Troy Lovegates aka Other in Chile

Freshman year is almost over and soon I’ll be leaving Philadelphia for NYC and London (just for the summer though). And yet, I still have finals to study for, so I didn’t get time to write about these things…

Photo by Labrona