San and Escif have each just release two prints through Upperplayground to coincide with their show at Fifty24SF. I know it’s not the most complex artwork every made, but I can’t help but laugh my ass off when I look at Escif’s Macarena print. Well done. You can view/buy the two San prints here and here, and the Escif prints here and here. They are all screenprints, editions of 50, 18 x 24 inches and priced at $175.
Image courtesy of Fifty24SF
Often I find myself asking why certain artists have not been included in a book, but when it comes to Abstract Graffiti by Cedar Lewisohn, the spotlight is not on who should have been showcased but who has been and what they offer.
This insightful, thought provoking, and perhaps most importantly, interesting book, focuses on the increasing abstract nature of both graffiti and street art. Covering topics as diverse as knit graffiti and street training, alongside more conventional sprayology and pop influenced chapters, Abstract Graffiti immerses the reader in a world of vibrant colours, political statements and folk inspired characters.
Beginning with a fantastic introduction and conversation with Patricia Ellis, the book’s main basis is a series of interviews with both established graffiti artists and new practitioners of art based avant-garde practises. Each interview covers a different topic, my personal favourites being with Barbara Kruger, Futura, and the interviews on law with the Honourable Judge Hardy, Sweet Toof and Tek33. Juxtaposed alongside some great photos, the book not only provides an extensive review of graffiti and street art, but raises questions about how you yourself view the highly controversial art forms and their impacts on public space.
For me, the only negative is that despite Cedar stating that he does not aim to outline a new form of art, at times I feel it does portray it as exactly that. However, I do say that with reservation, it’s more of a slight downside rather than any issue or problem. And this negative is completely forgotten when you start reading the final chapter – a conversation with Les Back, a professor of sociology at Goldsmiths in London. Not defined directly as a conclusion, the conversation provides a perfect ending to the book and rightly so. Les’s clear passion for graffiti and street art comes to the fore whilst you read questions and answers on society, race, and London’s over jealous planning authorities. Often these topics are not usually raised, or in fact covered, in the usual run of the mill street art book, but this book is not run of the mill, it’s a fantastically written and completely absorbing.
In short, I think everyone interested in art should pick up a copy and get reading. It’s thoroughly enjoyable and I highly recommend it.
More information can be found here on the Merrell Publishers website.
Photos courtesy of Merrell Publishers. By KR, Cedar Lewisohn, and Escif.
Escif and San are traveling around the West coast in before for their upcoming show at Fifty24SF. The show, See You In Croatan, opens on June 30th. The Citrus Report has all the info. Until the opening, the two Spanish artists are driving around the West coast checking out the USA and doing some painting. Here is some of what they’ve been up to…
Photos courtesy of Fifty24SF
If you’ll notice that there were a good number of posts on Vandalog this week, you’ll notice the opposite thing next week. With family in town visiting and moving in with some friends and starting the couch-hopping segment of my summer in just a few days, things are rather busy. And so is the art world. Here’s what I have been reading this week:
Photo by Get.off.My.Spaceship!
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
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:
Photo by Escif
Two things about Escif today:
Photo by Escif
Escif painted that mural outside of Graffiti Gone Global’s Fresh Produce show in Miami last week. While Basel Miami and the associated events aren’t all about money, it’s certainly on everyone’s minds. That doesn’t mean that the shows were bad though. There was actually a lot of great art on display for those who took the time to look. Here are some of the indoor highlights (unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera with me besides my cameraphone, so I have to link to other peoples’ coverage of everything):
Lastly, I want to mention New Image Art‘s pop-up show. There was some new artwork by Judith Supine, Os Gêmeos, Bast and others, as well as a bunch of photos by Neckface and his friends, which are 100x more interesting than I had expected them to be. Here are a few photos from that show:
This is probably most, if not all, if the coverage I’ll be giving to indoor things at Basel Miami, but I’ll be posting a lot more about the murals and other outdoor events in the coming days.
Photos by Escif and courtesy of New Image Art
With so much of the art world migrating to Miami this week in a frenzy, there seem to be too many events and parties (and I promise not to blog about the parties in detail. This isn’t a gossip site) and exhibits and festivals and everything else to keep track of. Here’s a roundup of some of the things that I’m most interested in seeing (or not seeing).
Things that have already been mentioned on Vandalog:
And things that I haven’t already blogged about:
Photo by Hargo
Graffiti Gone Global and Primary Flight have teamed up for Fresh Produce, a group show in Miami next month. I missed GGG’s exhibit last year, but I hear it was a highlight of Miami Basel week for those who saw it. Some of the artists I’m most looking forward to seeing at Fresh Produce include Skewville, Depoe, Escif, Stormie Mills and Revok, but with the long list of artists in this show, I doubt those 5 will be the only highlights. The SushiSamba sponsorship seems kind of random, but whatever. I’ll definitely be checking this show out.
