Tag: henry chalfant

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Melbourne Monthly Madness – April 2013

Another massive month in Melbourne in April with some great events, shows and work on the streets. This month I’ve also decided to include a bit more on graff and also some work off the streets in some of Melbourne’s awesome abandos.

Melbourne Train Graff - Photo by lukey006 on instagram
Melbourne Train Graff. Photo by Luke McManus.

There’s been an explosion of panels running in Melbourne recently, including a couple of whole cars. Whilst some of the pieces are not the best in quality it’s still rad to see so much graff on trains again lately. Are the authorities asleep? Or is it our lack of trains to meet demand to blame so they HAVE to run them? The best of Melbourne graffiti Facebook page is a good place to keep up with what’s running, they cover anything running each day on the Melbourne rail network (good and bad). Here’s my favourite flick from the page for April. Continue reading “Melbourne Monthly Madness – April 2013”

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Steel Canvases: NYC Legends Gather in the Bronx

While most of us in New York were sitting in our homes fearing the snowstorm, the Bronx Documentary Center gathered some of the city’s legendary writers and documentarians for a panel. One of a series of events, Steel Canvases brought together Bio and Nicer of Tats Cru, Henry Chalfant, Eric Deal, and Crash to discuss trains. Of particular interest is the groups discussion on the proliferation of imagery and styles pre-internet. Thanks to Ricky Flores, those of us who couldn’t make it for fear of snow or not can see an edited video of the panel’s highlights.

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Finals are approaching link-o-rama

OX in Paris
OX in Paris

This weekend I’ve been without solid internet access, and Caroline and I have both been knee-deep in exams and final essays for the last week, so here’s a belated link-o-rama…

Photo by OX

 

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Kickstart some films: Style Wars and the story of OBEY

There are two new Kickstarter projects that look very worthwhile for the graffiti and street art worlds. Kickstarter is the website where people can crowdsource funding for their ideas. Both of these projects are looking for about $30,000.

On the set of Style Wars. Photo by Martha Cooper

The first project is the restoration of the 30 hours of unseen outsides from Style Wars, the ultimate classic graffiti and hip-hop culture film for inclusion on a blu-ray rerelease of the film. Here’s what Henry Chalfant, a co-producer of the film, has to say about the project:

Shepard Fairey's first billboard takeover, done in 1990. Photo by el-pablo

The second film is a new one, but it also tells a true story from before I was born: Julian Marshall is a filmmaker currently attending RISD, the college that Shepard Fairey attended. He would like to tell the story of Shepard Fairey’s early career. Julian’s film will focus on Shepard’s first billboard takeover, pictured above, the idea for which came from a class assignment at RISD. It’s kinda like The Social Network for Shepard Fairey (so less coding and more bombing). Here’s what Julian has to say about his film:

Each of these films only have about 3 more weeks to reach their funding goals on Kickstarter. Any contributions or help spreading the word could make the difference that these ideas need to see the light of day. To support the Style Wars outtakes project, go here. To support the authorized OBEY origin story film, go here.

Photos by Martha Cooper and El-Pablo

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No bid: artnet’s latest graffiti/street art auction

Keith Haring. Estimated $200,000 to $250,000. Opening at $145,000. No bids so far.

There are 148 lots in artnet’s latest graffiti and street art themed auction. The sale began on Tuesday and ends on the 28th. So far, over 100 of those lots have no bid.

The work isn’t bad. There’s a nice Richard Hambleton, iconic pieces by Haze, a classic photo by Henry Chalfant and a lot more. With a range of artists from Taki183 and Futura to Shepard Fairey and Zevs, there’s a little bit of everything in this auction. While there are some stinkers for sure, most people who read Vandalog will probably find something they like.

So what’s going on here? Why no bids? Do people not want to buy expensive art online? Do people not want to sell good art through an online auction? And what about things like that Richard Hambleton piece going for super cheap, compared to what galleries are trying to sell his work for? I guess that’s that bubble burst, yet again (his auction results are usually much lower than his gallery prices). Maybe one big plus about auctions like this is that they cut through all that hype. Unlike an auction at Christie’s or Sotheby’s, artnet auctions don’t have auctioneers and specialists goading buyers to spend big. And at a quick glance, some of the opening bids look high. Anyway, I’m not going to look through every single listing, but I suspect there might be a few deals hidden in this flop of an auction, if you can wade through everything else.

Better luck next time artnet.

Photo courtesy of artnet

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Booked – Group Exhibition and Book Day at Carmichael Gallery

It’s been a long time since Seth and I have had a group show this big at Carmichael Gallery – there will be over 35 artists represented on the walls when we open “Booked” on Saturday, June 5th! Some of the artists we’ve worked with for several years and others we’ll be showing for the first time. We’re also going to have lots of great art books and magazines from publishers like Drago, Gingko, Studiocromie (I really enjoyed opening up the box of Blu and Sam3 books!) and VNA. Books and art are two of the best things in the world, in my opinion, so it should be a fun event! We will be open from 12-8pm on Saturday for Culver City Art Walk (make sure to visit all the other galleries on the block if you come by; there will be lots of cool things to see) and the reception itself is from 6-8pm.

Here are some of the pieces in the show.

Martha Cooper

Escif

SpY

Anthony Lister

Lucas Price (aka Cyclops)

Bumblebee

Brad Downey

Here’s the full line up of artists and publishers:

Aiko, Banksy, Beejoir, Blek le Rat, Boxi, Bumblebee, C215, Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, D*Face, Brad Downey, Eine, Ericailcane, Escif, Faile, Shepard Fairey, Stelios Faitakis, Gaia, Hush, Mark Jenkins, Dave Kinsey, Know Hope, Labrona, Anthony Lister, Lucy McLauchlan, Aakash Nihalani, Walter Nomura (a.k.a. Tinho), Other, Steve Powers (a.k.a. ESPO), Lucas Price (a.k.a. Cyclops), Retna, Saber, Sam3, Sixeart, Slinkachu, SpY, Judith Supine, Titi Freak, Nick Walker, Dan Witz and WK Interact

Drago, Gingko Press, Murphy Design, Prestel, Rojo, SCB Distributors, Studiocromie, Very Nearly Almost, Zupi

The show runs from June 5 – July 3. Drop in to say hi if you’re in LA!

– Elisa

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Blade, Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant video

Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper took the photos for the legendary graffiti book Subway Art, and Blade is one of the writers featured in the book. I think these interviews with them were filmed at a show that the three of them were involved with earlier this year in Paris. It’s a cool video if you love classic graffiti (and Wu-Tang Clan’s music).

Via Senses Lost