Poster Boy – Vandalog – A Street Art Blog

December 16, 2013May 31, 2015

Viral Art is now available at ViralArt.net

viralartcover-640

Two weeks ago, I announced that Viral Art: How the internet has shaped street art and graffiti, my new ebook, was set to launch on December 16th. Excerpts have appeared on Hyperallergic, Complex.com and Brooklyn Street Art, I was interviewed over at Graffuturism and the book even got a shout-out from Shepard Fairey. Well, today’s the day. Viral Art is live and you can read it now at ViralArt.net and download it as a PDF or find it in the iBooks Store now.

I want to thank everyone who has been sharing the news about Viral Art these last two weeks, especially everyone who supported the Thunderclap campaign. Just this afternoon, there have been over 200 posts about Viral Art across Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. So, a big thank you to everyone who participated in that. Promoting this book is an entirely grassroots effort, and I’ll be forever grateful for your help.

In case you didn’t catch that last post or you’ve forgotten, here’s a reminder of what Viral Art is all about…

What is Viral Art?

It’s an ebook that you can read online or download to your computer or ereader. It’s full of text, hyperlinks, photos, animated GIFs and embedded videos.

What is Viral Art about?

Viral Art traces how the histories of street art and graffiti have been shaped by communication technologies, from trading photos by hand to publishing books to sharing videos online. It’s the most comprehensive look to date at how the internet has affected street art and graffiti. Conceptualizing the internet as a public space, I conclude the book by arguing that the future of street art and graffiti may lie in digital interventions rather than physical ones.

Why does Viral Art matter?

If you want to understand street art and graffiti, you have to understand how books, movies, magazines, photographs and the internet have affected artists and fans. Viral Art gets into all of that.

Today we live on our laptops and smartphones, so I argue that the best way for street art and graffiti to stay relevant is for artists to take over the public space of the internet. It’s a claim sure to cause controversy in the street art, graffiti and internet art communities.

Viral Art isn’t just another street art book cheer-leading the movement on. It’s history and theory with a critical stance, and my plea to keep the core values of street art and graffiti alive in a digital world.

What else is inside?

In researching for this project, I interviewed over 50 members of the street art and graffiti communities. In Viral Art, you’ll find brand new interviews, quotes and anecdotes from Banksy, Shepard Fairey, KATSU, Poster Boy, Ron English, Martha Cooper and many more.

Another cool touch is the cover, which you can see at the top of this post. It’s an animated GIF designed by General Howe, featuring artwork by Diego Bergia, General Howe and Jay Edlin, as well as photographs by Martha Cooper and myself.

What does this “book” cost?

Nothing. You can read Viral Art for free at ViralArt.net. There are also PDF and EPUB versions available for download.

How can fans support the book?

This book is the result of two and a half years of mostly-unpaid labor. It’s being self-published. My marketing budget consists of a few bucks for ads on Facebook. Major publishers spend thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars marketing everything they produce, but this project has no book tour or publicist or anything like that. There’s only your support. If Viral Art sounds interesting, or you read it and you think it is interesting, please tell your friends.

Where can people read Viral Art?

Just go here to read it online, or you can also download it to your computer or ereader.

October 31, 2013November 1, 2013

Banksy + 5: October 31st

Banksy finished Better Out Than In today with the above piece in Queens. The balloons didn’t last long when people tried to steal them and then the NYPD came to take the balloons and arrest the would-be thieves (more on that on Hyperallergic). And Jerry Saltz be damned, this is one of my favorite pieces of the show. Jerry Saltz may say he has no problem with graffiti, but I’m not sure he quite understands it either.

The location of this piece is perfect, with a NEKST tag (and remember what Banksy did on his website when NEKST died), an ADEK tag, two ADEK throwups and two LEWY throwups all visible in the above photo, which is the lead image for the piece on the Better Out Than In website. And of course, Banksy went higher up on the wall than all of those writers, but in a cheeky manner. I’m not saying that Banksy is still a hardcore train bomber, although he did pull of quite a few stunts this month, but he certainly has respect for traditional graffiti. Banksy could have installed those balloons anywhere, but he chose that particular spot and was able to highlight serious graffiti by some of the best writers in the city.

The audio description for this piece includes a serious note:

Banksy asserts that outside is where art should live, amongst us. And rather than street art being a fad, maybe it’s the last thousand years of art history is a blip, when art came inside in service of the church and institutions. But art’s rightful place is on the cave walls of our communities where it can act as a public service, provoke debate, voice concerns, forge identities. The world we live in today is run – visually at least – by traffic signs, billboards and planning committees. Is that it? Don’t we want to live in a world made of art, not just decorated by it?

I can’t think of a better way to close out the show.

But I’m not done. We still have our final + 5 featuring Poster Boy, COST, ENX, Invader (who has reportedly been arrested in NYC!), Ludvig, Swoon, GANE and TEXAS…

COST, ENX and Invader. Photo by Luna Park. — COST, ENX and Invader in NYC. Photo by Luna Park.

GANE and TEXAS in Philadelphia. Photo by RJ Rushmore.

Photos from banksyny.com and by Poster Boy, Luna Park, Ludvig and RJ Rushmore

October 19, 2013October 19, 2013

Banksy + 5: October 18th

Banksy underneath the High Line. Photo by Hrag Vartanian.

Today’s Banksy, which runs through midnight Sunday, is Better Out Than In at its most literal yet: Two collaborative works by Banksy and Os Gêmeos that could easily hang inside a gallery (and practically any gallery in the city would probably be happy to have them), but instead they are on display in Chelsea underneath the High Line park. As usual, the audio guide is a great addition to the work. Seems like Banksy is almost taunting all of the nearby galleries in Chelsea, while they are desperate for a few people to come inside, Banksy has a massive crowd trying to catch a glimpse of these two pieces outside (which are of course well-guarded lest anyone try to steal or harm them). Or perhaps art galleries are just terribly uncomfortable places to view art and they don’t actually want visitors anyway. More info on the whole situation at this site over at Hyperallergic.

The crowd at Banksy's "gallery." Photo by Hrag Vartanian. — The crowd at Banksy’s “gallery.” Photo by Hrag Vartanian.

Today’s +5 includes work by Yotes, SINUS, stikman, Poster Boy and two unknown artists:

Yotes and SINUS outside of DC. The piece was painted at the start of the federal government shutdown. Photo by Yotes.

stikman in Philadelphia. Photo by RJ Rushmore.

Poster Boy in Cuba. Photo by Poster Boy.

Unknown artist in Vizela, Portugal. Photo by CláudioM.

Photos by Hrag Vartanian, Yotes, RJ Rushmore, liborius, Poster Boy and CláudioM

October 15, 2013October 20, 2013

Banksy + 5: October 15th

Banksy in Tribeca. Photo from banksyny.com.

Update: As the New York Post notes (even though they reference the unverified and likely-fake Banksy twitter account), one interesting thing about this piece is the question of how long it will last before being vandalized.

For today’s Better Out Than In piece, Banksy has made a sort of 9/11 tribute or memorial. I suppose it’s interesting that Banksy is using a flower both as a memorial and to show an explosion, but I’m still not sure about this piece. Sidenote: Banksy has previously made at least two pieces referencing 9/11. And Gothamist reports that Banksy may have made two of this piece. There’s another similar stencil but sans-flower in Brooklyn Heights.

And for today’s + 5, there’s work by TrustoCorp (which is Banksy-themed, thanks to ANIMAL for the tip and the video), Kid Hazo (thanks to Streets Dept for the tip), Pablo Delgado, Poster Boy in collaboration with Bamn (referencing Rene Mederos) and ~~one unknown artist~~ edit: .frA*:

Kid Hazo. Photo by Kid Hazo. — Kid Hazo in Philadelphia. Photo by Kid Hazo.

Pablo Delgado. Photo by Boring Lovechild.

Poster Boy and Bamn in Cuba. Photo by Poster Boy.

Unknown artist in Berlin. Photo by duncan c. — .frA* in Berlin. Photo by duncan c.

Photos by Kid Hazo, Boring Lovechild, Poster Boy and duncan c and from banksyny.com

October 3, 2013

Banksy + 5: October 3rd

Banksy at 24th Street and 6th Avenue. Photo by Luna Park.

Once again, I’m much more a fan of the audio description of this latest Banksy piece than the work itself, which may be the point or maybe I’m just taking Banksy too seriously (as the audio description for this piece suggests). Luna Park came across this piece on Wednesday before it was announced on the Better Out Than In site this morning. It was confirmed last night when a description of it became available on the Better Out Than In audio guide 800-number (1-800-656-4271-2#). Hat tip to Ryan Oakes for alerting me to the audio description. Now, you can listen to it over the phone or on Banksy’s website.

And now for our +5, five other photos of street art by artists other than Banksy that were uploaded to Flickr yesterday. Today there’s work by Poster Boy, DabsMyla, Troy Lovegates, Tomo and one unknown artist:

Unknown artist in Benicàssim, Spain. Photo by mejuan.

Troy Lovegates in Berlin. Photo by Bernard Oh.

Poster Boy. Photo by Poster Boy. — Poster Boy in NYC. Photo by Poster Boy.

Tomo in Liverpool. Photo by Beverley Goodwin.

DabsMyla in Norway. Photo by Marie Guillaumet.

Photos by Luna Park, mejuan, Bernard Oh, Poster Boy, Beverley Goodwin and Marie Guillaumet

September 13, 2011

Poster Boy Show Cancelled / Censored

Hi Vandalog readers, it’s Elisa here (yup, it’s been a while). Just wanted to update you all, in case you hadn’t heard yet, that Poster Boy‘s upcoming show at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, which was set to open on September 15, has been cancelled/censored due to the illegal nature of his street work. I hung out with PB recently and know that he was not only looking forward to this opportunity, but was working very hard for it. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have much respect for censorship in the art world, no matter what the reason is. Not only has there been too much of it recently, it only seems to be getting worse and to put it crudely, makes this whole business, world or whatever you want to call it, look ridiculous.

Galleries, museums, institutions, general public: don’t say you want art if you’re just going to turn around and try to pretend it doesn’t exist, simply because you have an issue with it. Nobody can possibly like or approve of the work of every artist in the world – I certainly don’t – but that’s no reason to invite one to present what they do and believe in, then whitewash their wall, cancel their show, or attempt to stifle their voice. On the upside, of course, with people like Blu, Poster Boy, Ai Weiwei and the countless other artists who have suffered from this treatment recently or in the past, all it does is strengthen and help to spread their message.

Poster Boy is an interesting case when it comes to institutional censorship as he doesn’t often exhibit his work indoors and when he does, the focus is on spreading his views on the advertising industry, rather than profit off the artwork itself. Here are his thoughts on the situation, via the Hartford Courant:

“The main point of the show was to reach people and to bring awareness to the sort of visual pollution we see advertising to be and the whole hypocrisy behind being able to put advertising up yet street art and graffiti is illegal,” he said. “When the media gets a hold of it the fact that this was censored and cancelled, more people will hear about it, more people will be forced to think about what the work stands for and what Poster Boy stands for. Whether they agree with it or not it will definitely reach a lot more people.”

He said he had been looking forward to the show because “it’s a controlled setting, without someone looking over me or having to look over my shoulder for police officers. … That gives the artist involved a little more time to showcase maybe some flair or go in a little more depth than is usually gone into with subway pieces, which are completely improv with only a razor.”

Anyway, like everything else in life, this is open to interpretation and I’m sure everyone here at Vandalog would be interested in your opinion. Personally, I find it a bit hard to understand why an artist’s show would be cancelled due to the illegal nature of some of their work. Last time I checked, a lot of graffiti and street artists have had gallery shows. Conservatism like this makes me sick.

– Elisa

Image via Poster Boy’s Flickr

September 5, 2010September 5, 2010

Poster Boy Does London

After the international book launch of Poster Boy’s The War of Art in NYC, LA, and London last weekend, one of the members of the collective got up in London and put up a few pieces that veer away from the NY based artist’s usual work. The Mary Poppins, and Nick Walker tribute, is right below the Banksy car on Brick Lane which a found the day after it was posted, and the second is on the corner of Whiston and Kingswood roads. in the Leake Street Tunnel. More photos can be seen at No Lions in England.

Photos by Steph Keller and No Lions in England