Tag: shepard fairey

Posted on

Arrested Motion curates… East West Connect

Vandalog’s friends at Arrested Motion have curated their first show, due to open this week in Hong Kong. East West Connect consists  of an impressive group of13 artists who are either of Asian heritage or whose art has been influenced by the Far East: Luke Chueh, Faile, Shepard Fairey, Evah Fan, Stella Im Hultberg, Tat Ito, Akino Kondoh, Travis Louie, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Brendon Monroe, Edwin Ushiro, Nick Walker and Yoskay Yamamoto.

East West Connect will be at Above Second from November 25th through January 12th, with an opening on November 25th.

Posted on

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

Posted on

The Wall: London’s most public art gallery

Steve Powers, Malarky, Word to Mother, Dabs and Myla, and Best Ever exhibit on The Wall.

Little over a week ago I was watching Word to Mother painting his outdoor piece for Moniker Art Fair. Allocated one of the 3 by 4 metre recesses he took to the piece with gusto. Layer after layer of tag and dub was laid down and a day later, a final coat of white was rollered onto the wall.

Appropriately dubbed, “The Wall”, the expanse of brick along Great Eastern Street has played host to a variety of artists, both local and international. Dabs & Myla, Best Ever and Malarky followed Word to Mother, but I could also name drop Steve Powers, Herakut, Nychos, SheOne, Shep Fairey and Know Hope among others. However soon after an artist completes a piece it is buffed or covered by another artist, pretty much like any wall I suppose.

But Village Underground hope this will all change following a Kickstarter fundraising project. Their aim is to raise enough funds to design, build and install bullet proof metal and glass frames over the recesses to protect the art work from theft and vandalism. In essence this will allow for artists to produce work in a variety of methods and on a mix of mediums. And with the addition of a digital wall and 10 million passing cars a year, “The Wall” will become London’s most public art gallery.

In a way I feel its a bit of a shame that the wall will be covered, but I’m sure you will agree that the project will certainly be interesting. Plus Village Underground, despite indicating that the artists will now obviously be able to sell their work, maintain they are working on a not-for-profit basis. It’s good to see that this project isn’t just about making money for them then!

For more info, including a nice little video, and to donate head here.

Photo by AdversMedia

Posted on

Weekend link-o-rama

Portrait of Steve Jobs in France

This weekend I’ll be in Boston. If you have any ideas for what I should get up to, leave a comment. I’ll definitely be checking out Swoon’s installation at the ICA Boston. Here’s what’s been going on in street art while I’ve been locked in my room studying all week:

Photo by Abode of Chaos

Posted on

Michael de Feo curating a show in Connecticut

Dan Witz

On Every Street is a show opening this Thursday at Samuel Owen Gallery in Greenwich, CT. Curated by Michael de Feo, it features the work of dozens of street artists. On Every Street includes a diverse of street artists both in style and (from Hargo to Tony Curanaj) and when they were active outdoors (from Richard Hambleton to Gaia).

Here’s the full line up: Above, Aiko, Michael Anderson, Banksy, Jean-Michel Basquiat, C215, Tony Curanaj, Michael De Feo, D*Face, Ellis Gallagher, Keith Haring, Ron English, Blek le rat, Faile, Shepard Fairey, John Fekner, JMR, Gaia, Richard Hambleton, Hargo, Maya Hayuk, Don Leicht, Tom Otterness, Lady Pink, Lister, Ripo, Mike Sajnoski, Jeff Soto, Chris Stain, Swoon, Thundercut, Dan Witz.

Images courtesy of Michael de Feo

Posted on

Dreweatt’s latest auction disguised as a hotel exhibition

Charming Baker "Panda Boy remix" (2007) (£6,000 - £8,000)

This week sees the opening of Autumn’s most high profile street art “exhibit” at The Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch. I say exhibit loosely since Urban Contemporary is a ten day show culminating in the 150 works being auctioned off by Dreweatt’s on October 10. As usual, there is a mix of crap and some rare works that haven’t been seen in a while. The two that stood out for me is JR’s Adama, Montfermeil, Portrait d’une generation (2006) and the Charming Baker Panda Boy Remix (2007). Not only is the piece an early Baker, but this is also the first time (I cannot find evidence to say otherwise) one of his works has cropped up in the secondary market. Other artists in the show include D*Face, Barry McGee, Shepard Fairey, Banksy, Blek le Rat and Eine.

The show opens September 30th at The Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch.

D*Face "Pop Tart" (2007) (£4,000 - £6,000)
Shepard Fairey "Johnny Ramone" (2008) (£6,000-£8,000)

All Images courtesy of Dreweatt’s Bloomsbury

Posted on

Ron English gives a glimpse behind the scenes of Exit

Ron English

An interview with Ron English has revealed a number of new twists in the stories of Banksy/Shepard Fairey/Mr. Brainwash/Exit Through the Gift Shop, as well as confirmed some major long-time rumors. Read Ron’s words in full over here, but here’s a summary:

  • Thierry Guetta/Mr. Brainwash is a real guy and he’s really like how Exit portrays him. He’s not some actor hired by Banksy or whatever else people have claimed.
  • Even before becoming Mr. Brainwash, Thierry was pretty wealthy and he owned a bunch of property in LA. That was his big “in” to connect with street artists: He could offer them the best walls to paint legally.
  • Exit Through the Gift Shop came out of Banksy’s intervention in a lawsuit between Shepard and Thierry over Thierry essentially holding hostage all these tapes that Shepard and Banksy wanted access to.
  • Banksy is a smart dude, and also cynical.

But make sure to check out the full story on herald-review.com.

Photo by Brandon Shigeta

Via Inside The Rock Poster Frame

Posted on

Weekend link-o-rama

Neckface

With my mind still on Living Walls, I’ve got some catching up to do with what’s been going on outside of Atlanta. So here’s some of that catching up…

  • King Robbo is currently having serious health issues, and there’s a fundraising art auction at Cargo for him next month.
  • Brooklyn Street Art’s LA show, Street Art Saved My Life, opened and BSA has photo of the entire thing.
  • The Zoo Project are a major street art force in Paris, and this wall is one of my favorites from them in a while.
  • Tristan Manco contributed a list of his 10 favorite pieces of street art to The Guardian.
  • Shepard Fairey had quite an ordeal in Copenhagen. On the whole, I’ve got to agree with Shepard on this one. He made a mistake and tried to make it right, but people still beat him up and newspapers still sensationalized their stories in inaccurate ways. Uncool. That said, it’s worth pointing out that right in the midst of Shepard complaining about newspapers getting their facts straight and being ethical, he writes “I adhere to my ethical beliefs in all areas of my artistic and business practice.” I hate to kick a guy while he’s down, but it needs to be mentioned that Shepard did attempt to falsify evidence during his lawsuit with the AP, so those ethics aren’t always adhered to. Anyway, sucks that Shepard and Obey Clothing’s Romeo Trinidad were beat up.
  • Futura and Stash getting up in NYC.
  • James Marshal aka Dalek is trying something very different with his new work.
  • Nunca, Miss Van and others are at work on a mural project in Berlin.
  • Sao Paulo’s Museum of Art just opened a huge show of street artists including JR, Swoon, Invader and Remed.

Photos by Sabeth718

Posted on

Weekend link-o-rama

"A Study In Fecundity" by Elbowtoe

I’m baking alive here in Atlanta for Living Walls, but damn things are coming along nicely. Nanook and Gaia have finished a couple of walls, including this one. But Living Walls is a busy event, so I’ve been missing out on a lot this week, including some big news from Banksy. Check all that out here…

Photo by Elbowtoe