Urban Montage by Charlene Weisler

Time Out New York Reports on Top Ten Street Art Spots

Time Out New York reports on all the great places to see street art in NYC.

Here are the top five. Go to the link at the bottom of the post to see the rest:

1. Bowery Graffiti Wall - not necessarily my choice but....

Keith Haring first splashed this wall in 1982, and it’s been a destination ever since. In 2008, it went somewhat legit when late real-estate man Tony Goldman took over the location, invited Os Gêmeos, Shepard Fairey, Lady Aiko and more to rotate murals. Crash’s massive Popeye mural, which went up in March, succeeded the mixed-media collage of Tats Cru’s How and Nosm. While something of a serious artistic showcase, this wall is also steeped in street ethos. E Houston St at Bowery

2. Bronx Wall of Fame

This epic South Bronx block is only unofficially dubbed the Wall of Fame. That’s too bad since it could benefit from landmark status; plans are afoot to raze this community beacon in favor of affordable housing. The wall’s pedigree is indisputable: Late Queens legend Iz the Wiz, Long Island’s Phetus and L.A.’s MSK crew represent a tiny fraction of the artists who’ve painted remarkable wild styles, fills, murals and messages across its bricks. The clock is ticking for you to see history before those bricks come crashing down. E 173rd St at West Farms Rd, Bronx

3. The Bushwick Collective

In 2012, dealing with bereavement and seeking inspiration, Bushwick lifer Joseph Ficalora called on friends to begin covering the walls on local blocks (look for the massive, decrepit robot courtesy of Pixelpancho, among other beacons). Scene luminary Cost has contributed a mural, as have Dan Witz, Swoon and Nychos. Catch the collective’s all-day street party June 2. Troutman St at St. Nicholas Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn (facebook.com/thebushwickcollective)

4. Centre-fuge Public Art Project

Where thousands of pedestrians saw a construction trailer at 1st and First, Pebbles Russell and Jonathan Neville envisioned an experimental canvas, a way to transform the ugliness of the Houston restoration project. Since January 2012, the duo has curated seven bimonthly cycles of art (the eighth is installed Wed 1–May 4 and will be on view through mid-July). Danielle Mastrion’s mural of late Beastie Boy MCA put Centre-fuge on the map, and in a very short time, Russell and Neville have corralled pieces from high-profile bandits like Iranian stencil aficionados Icy and Sot. Art-school grads, at-home novices and grand masters may all submit work and written descriptions via the Centre-fuge website, while the rest of us can revel in this indirect gift from the MTA. 1st St at First Ave (centre-fuge.tumblr.com)

5. 5 Pointz

Whether by happenstance or canniness, Flushing-raised Jonathan Cohen (Meres One) picked quite the choice intersection for his outdoor graffiti paean, residing in a revived LIC, between starving-artist epicenters Astoria and Greenpoint. The five-story, block-long building with 200,000 square feet of surface is a breathing homage to hip-hop’s five elements and the closest one can get to aerosol nirvana. There have been rumors of demolition, but a full program of summer events is already slated and any given afternoon is a good time to admire the kaleidoscopic tag panels, towering facade murals and epic memorials. Tats Cru, Stay High 149, Sway and scores from across the planet have sprayed here, and it’s even more astounding up close than from a 7 train bird’s-eye view. 45-46 Davis St at Jackson Ave, Long Island City, Queens (646-258-0328-219-2685, 5ptz.com)

Here is the article.

AbandonedJourney.com

Check out this fascinating blog about abandoned properties worldwide. I was drawn to this abandoned Australian power station. Here is the beginning of the post. Finished reading it on the blog itself.

Abandoned Fremantle Power Station, Australia.

Construction of the spectacular building commenced in January 1946. By the 1980′s, after just 34 years of service, it was left rotting on the coast of the beautiful Indian Ocean. Much of the Power Station internals were designed and manufactured in England, with skilled contractors sent out from England to assemble the plant on site. These days, the only visitors are intrepid urban explorers, talented graffiti artists, and a few curiously brave locals. The seaside location of this abandoned building has lead to some seriously stunning patina. One of the reasons for choosing this buildings location was the ease with which seawater could be utilised for the cooling system. Now, the saltwater spray contained within the daily Indian Ocean winds are speeding up the incredible rate of beautiful decay.  On this abandoned journey adventure, it was myself, Dr Hank Snaffler Jr, accompanied by my trusty colleague, Nurse Jane. We had to be careful on this one, things could get nasty......

This Week in Brooklyn Street Art

Images of the Week 04.14.13 Here’s our weekly interview of the street, this week featuring Ai WeiWei, B.D. White, Billy Mode, Bishop 203, BR1, Chris Stain, Duke A. Barnstable, Free Humanity, Ice & Sot, Indigo, JM, Mataruda, Meres, Billy Mode, NARD, ND’A, Os Gemeos, Palladino, PTV, Ryan McGinley, Shai Dahan, Shin Shin, and Specter. Top image > French Street Artist BR1 [...]

Skewville Twins “Amusement” in San Francisco Skewville are amusing themselves in the gallery today. Amused, bemused. Bee-schmoozed. Even though we haven’t seen much cryptic sarcasm or wooden sneakers from these wiseguys on the streets lately, you can be sure that the wonder wheels have been turning inside their heads, and in the studio. Here’s proof. “Amusement” is their second solo show at White [...]

BSA Film Friday: 04.12.13 Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening: “Spray Masters” and “Tunnel Stories” Sunday in Brooklyn, Simon Silaidis Calligraphy-Graffiti “Skyfall”, Cern is becoming a Balloonatic, and Jim Vision and The Blue Walls of Buenos Aires. BSA Special Feature: “Spray Masters” and “Tunnel Stories” Above is a still from the “Spray [...]

“Latido Americano” Part II, la Segunda Parte From “Latido Americano” in Lima, Peru comes Part Two of our photo survey of a Street Art / Graffiti event that blasts vibrant color all over your keyboard and onto your desk. No amount of pollution and traffic congestion in this crowded city can get these Street Artists and their color palettes down, even as the [...]

BSA is Instagramtastic! Follow us @BKSTREETART DUDE! DUDETTE! We’re on Instagram! http://instagram.com/bkstreetart#. @BKStreetArt Os Gemeos fan climbing the walls in Boston at midnight. E’rbody Holla! Check us out as we travel through the streets and tell us what you think on Instagram @BKStreetArt (same as our Twitter handle) Hope to see you on Instagram and THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT. Peace to the whole BSA family.

Barry McGee Mid-Career at ICA in Boston The mid-career survey of artist Barry McGee opened last week at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and the whole is in fact greater than the sum of its parts. Looking at his productive timeline from the 80s as anti-establishment graffiti writer/tagger to art school student on residency to San Francisco “Mission School” originator to celebrated New [...]

Canemorto (Dead Dog) Across Italy Gutteral grunts of smeared color across lumpen or attenuated limbs akimbo, eye balls bulging and staring with body language and gestures happily inclusive, the Canemorto trio are grotesquely entertaining many a wall across Italy these days.  Neneboy, Zenop, and Azz the One are three Italian Street Artists “who paint together as a single person” using [...]

Follow the NARD STAR from Cape Town to Brooklyn Far from her hometown of Rondebosch in Cape Town, South Africa, Street Artist Nard Star (or simply Nard) just completed this fox in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.  With references that include cubism, graffiti, and street art, she often includes characters and animals along with text treatments, always in a defined and precise line style [...]

Images of the Week: 04.07.13 DUDE! We’re on Instagram! http://instagram.com/bkstreetart#.  @BKStreetArt E’rbody Holla! and Follow! Now we can stop this whole wack blog thing, right? Here’s our weekly interview of the street, this week featuring Billy Kid, Don John, Iced Coffee, ND’A, NYCe, Poster Boy (or some variant), RONE, Trek Matthews, and some slight alterations Al Pacino, Helen Mirren, and Tom [...]

Blog Spotting >> OX does Billboard Hijack on the Outskirts of Paris Blog Spotting from “Underground Paris” Periodically we like to highlight another blog post that has caught our eye and here is a story about a billboard re-purposer named OX who likes to claim in the name of art, and humor.   “French artist, OX’s, latest ad takeover at Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, is a site [...]

Friday Night it’s “The Brooklyn” A Photograpy Exhibition of the Street A new photography show that captures the street in the borough you love organized by Jim Kiernan and Aakash Nihalani. Opening tonight at 17 Frost Gallery in Williamsburg, “The Brooklyn” features photography by Barry Yanowitz, Chris Arnade, Jaime Rojo, Jake Dobkin, Jamel Shabazz, Jim Kiernan, Lucas McGowen, Luna Park, Mario Brotha, Matt Weber, Sam Horine, and Timothy Schenck.

BSA Film Friday: 04.05.13 Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening: ROA in Cambodia, MOMO and El Tono Snap Your Attention in France, Conor Harrington in Norway, and Shepard Fairey in London for “Sound and Vision” BSA Special Feature: ROA: A Trip to Cambodia Street Art and Skateboarding – What’s not to like? Presented [...]

Boa Mistura in Panama City say “Somos Luz” (We Are Light) It’s easy to look at the façade of a massive housing complex and forget that there are individual stories inside. Boa Mistura “Somos Luz” (We Are Light). 2013. El Chorrillo, Panama (photo © Boa Mustura) From the neighborhood of El Chorrilo in Panama City comes a new face for that kind of building via the work of [...]

Katsu Around Town “Tap on it with your teeth, that’s how you know if it’s real solid gold,” says Pernell on 47th street in the diamond district as he holds out a handful of necklaces. In the Chelsea art gallery district, it’s harder to tell what is the real solid thing and what’s just for show – especially [...]

Chris Stain and Billy Mode Set It Off in Albany, NY Just checked out this long wall by two graffiti/Street Art buddies from Baltimore who have made many a collaborative piece over the years. Seems like Chris Stain and Billy Mode team up 3 to 5 times a year on expansive installations that utilize Chris’s everyday folk before a city skyline and Billy’s reatment of text [...]

Alice Pasquini, Dragonflies, and a School Wall in Germany

“Go Ask Alice When She’s Ten Feet Tall” (on a ladder).
If you are wondering what cans to use on the side of a German elementary school, Alice Pasquini can tell you. Readying for a show at local 44309 Gallery in Dortmund last week, the Italian Street Artist took some time to paint a mural for [...]

Brooklyn Street Art - This Week's Edition

Images of the Week: 03.31.13 In this weeks news, COST is on the cover of the Village Voice  and Jay Shells is making street signs with geographically pin-pointed rap lyrics (see video below). Meanwhile here’s our weekly interview of the street, this week featuring Arturo Vega, Bast, Be Super, Billy Mode, Bologna, El Celso, El Sol 25, Faust, Gilf!, Mint & [...] Read More

Greg Craola Simkins Video by Medvin Sobio “Stop Haunting Me” Los Angeles based Street and Fine Artist Greg Craola Simkins is prepping for a solo show entitled “Stop Haunting Me”. He was “raised on cartoons, well written stories, animal planet, graffiti, tattoos and mind numbing trips to grandma’s house,” says he on his Facebook page, and you can verify his penchant for escapism in his [...] Read More

BSA Film Friday: 03.29.13 Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening: Vexta in Kochi, India, “Crimes of Minds” video for the new book, and Yok, Sheryo and Fecks in Mexico BSA Special Feature: Vexta in Kochi, India. Australian born Brooklyn-based Street Artist Vexta was in Kochi for the first Biennale on 12/12/12 and [...] Read More

Jazz On Manhattan Streets With Sir Shadow With much respect to the Jazz Age and the musical heritage of New York that still boasts a huge number of jazz musicians, events and venues, artist Sir Shadow plays alongside the aerosol tags with his one-liners in the East Village. Using a technique known to many a graffiti writer, the artist makes the piece [...] Read More

From The Streets of Lima, “Latido Americano”, A Latin Heart Beat From the 4th to the 15th of March in Lima “Latido Americano” took place courtesy of organizers and home-town artists Entes y Pesimo. Successfully putting it together for a second year, E&P are well respected among their peers as artists and social activists and they placed an international assortment of invited graff and Street Art [...] Read More

Dan Witz Creates Disturbing Street Art to Fight Political Imprisonment Street Art Campaign With Amnesty International “In many countries people are imprisoned simply because of their political views,” begins the video just released by Dan Witz and Amnesty international. Screenshot from “Wailing Walls”, a video about the Dan Witz “Prisoners” campaign that raises awareness and engages passersby to immediately take action for human rights. (screenshot from video [...] Read More

Jeice 2 “La Gran Inundada” In Istanbul It is always a surprise to find a one-off piece that evidently took hours of work to create, wheat pasted into the public sphere and ready to face the ravages of rain and sun and wind and time on the street. It can be compounded when you discover there is meaningful story behind the piece. “La [...] Read More

Images of the Week: 03.24.13 March 21 hit us this week and that means Spring and that means more birds, flowers, sidewalk sales, thigh-high shorts, and Street Art and graffiti are on their way! Great to find this new brick wall falling apart by Aakash Nahalini in the subway this week, and then to learn that it is a sketch [...] Read More

XAM Welcomes Spring with New Bird Housing Spring started on Thursday and The Rockin Robin is not singing yet in Brooklyn but when she does it might be due to getting herself a nice new house in DUMBO from XAM. We spotted these new pieces while on bike through the former industrial neighborhood and noticed they look a little different from the [...] Read More

BSA Film Friday: 03.22.13 Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening: The Yok & Sheryo in Australia, Sixe and Okuda in Peru, and Mammutt in Mexico City BSA Special Feature: The Yok and Sheryo in “Fish & Chips” The Yok and Sheryo have been working as a collaborative aerosol duo for a handful [...] Read More

Kenny Scharf “Squirtz” in the Plaza at the Standard Hotel Brooklyn based artist Kenny Scharf has fabricated one of his amorphous painted classic characters and put it on display at The Plaza of the Standard High Line Hotel in Manhattan’s Meat Packing District. A hot number from the 80s downtown scene, Mr. Scharf has continued to add dimension to his work over time, sometimes taking [...] Read More

Talking With Crash About Popeye and The Houston Wall He first wrote “Crash” on New York streets and trains in 1974 but he still finds ways to entertain and challenge himself artistically. Now managing a successful gallery career that has him globe trotting much of the year, John Matos considers himself a closet pop artist, and the similarities to Lichtenstein and Rosenquist are always [...] Read More

Gaia Painting in Milan with Basik and Never 2501 Here are a few moodily lit cellphone photos from inside a warehouse in Milan today courtesy of Street Artist Gaia, who has been working on collaborations with Baskik and Never 2501. He says the new pieces were done in conjunction with a demonstration in support of “Dax Vive” that just took place. We don’t know [...] Read More

Street Art Dispatch from Bangkok, Thailand

Street Artist Blanco grabbed his camera while visiting Bangkok, Thailand this month and discovered walls full of color, character, and even some graff names he’s familiar with in New York. “Utah and Ether are all over the city, crushing it,” he remarks.
His timing for visiting the city was good too because it coincided with the [...]

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Sneaker Street Art

I just love this.

 

Gimmie The Loot

I have to admit that I am always hesitant to embrace graffiti-linked mainstream movies because I am concerned about too much mainstreaming. But this movie looks like it has promise. It certainly has the research to back it. Titled "What's Not To Love About Graffiti" the movie Gimme the Loot was reviewed in the NYT. Indeed, what is not to love?

 

Over the past five years Adam Leon has gone from working for film festivals to being honored by them. After a stint on the payroll of the New York Film Festival he eventually took his love for film behind the camera, writing and directing a feature debut that got festival audiences buzzing and distributors calling. That movie is “Gimme the Loot,” about two young graffiti writers from the Bronx whose quest to tag the New York Mets home-run apple takes them on a lively adventure throughout New York City. It includes encounters with drug dealers, a little petty theft and walking shoeless through the city streets.

“We were in 50 locations,” Mr. Leon, 31, said of the production. “We kind of wanted it to be this low-budget epic.”

The film had its premiere at last year’s South by Southwest festival, where it won the narrative jury prize and was acquired by Sundance Selects. Then, like its neighborhood-hopping teenagers, the movie began popping up at festivals all over, including Cannes. It lands in theaters on Friday.

Mr. Leon spoke with Mekado Murphy in Austin, Tex., last year at South by Southwest, then again this month in New York, where Mr. Leon lives. These are excerpts from those conversations.

Q. What were some of your narrative goals for “Gimme the Loot”?

A. I wanted to do something about the joys of youth set in a grittier, urban environment. I was really interested in telling a story about kids who come from vivid lives and tough, working-class backgrounds but aren’t necessarily miserable people, though I never wanted to sell out their existence.

What inspired you to make your lead characters graffiti writers?

I grew up in the city. I had a lot friends who were graffiti writers, so I was aware of the culture to a degree. But then I co-wrote and co-directed a short film a few years ago, and we cast a couple of graffiti writers in it. And getting to know them, I found that they take it so seriously, and they are very passionate about it. I saw them as these real-life action heroes, where they’re climbing buildings, scaling walls and jumping rooftops. I thought that would be a great jumping-off point for a fun adventure.

How did you aim to portray the graffiti world accurately?

We brought on this guy called SP1, who’s kind of a legendary graffiti writer from the ’80s, and he was our adviser. We did graffiti class for months, where we would learn to write and learn about the culture, the history and the language, so we could turn our cast into writers. It was absolutely essential to us to be as authentic and real as possible, because movies have treated graffiti very poorly.

Many of the locations aren’t the ones we usually see in New York movies, like bodegas in the Bronx.

We wanted to do hits, B-sides and rarities, in terms of New York. We do have a scene in Washington Square Park and certain iconic shots. But we really wanted to show a New York that was a bit unexplored.

How did working at film festivals help you make your own movie?

I got to know a lot of people who really care about movies and work with movies, from filmmakers to programmers to sales agents to distributors. You get to see behind the scenes of how the machine operates if you ever have a product for that machine. I highly recommend it to people trying to make a small independent film.

What was it like taking your movie to Cannes?

It was sort of beyond our dreams to go there. Because the movie is basically a comedy, and it’s light in tone, we never expected that to happen. We went into that experience saying: “We’re really blessed to have this opportunity. Let’s make the best of it and have a fun time.”

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Watch Gimme the Loot Online

Duke of Landcaster - Graffiti Ship

Take an  abandoned ocean liner, add some amazing graffiti artists and what do you have? "It's got the potential to be the biggest open-air art project in the world" says Paul Williams, Duke of Lancaster manager.

Three monkeys dressed in suits crouch on bulging sacks of money, striking the symbolic pose of "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil."At more than 10-meters tall, the imposing chimps are the size of a three-storey building, dwarfing onlookers gazing up at their grim, spray-painted faces.

The menacing monkeys are joined on all sides by similarly fantastical and macabre creatures -- from skeleton divers to slobbering pigs -- and you get the feeling that out here, in the desolate British marshlands, no one would hear you scream were they to come alive.

The 'Council of Monkeys'

Welcome to the Duke of Lancaster. A hulking, rusting, abandoned ship on the Dee Estuary in north Wales, which has become a canvas for some of the most renowned graffiti artists from across Europe.

At a whopping 137-meters long, seven storeys tall, and weighing 4,500-tons, the former cruise liner is an awe-inspiring sight in the deserted countryside.

It was this remarkable setting which prompted graffiti collective DuDug -- a word play on the Welsh for "black duke" -- to approach the ship's owners with the innovative idea of turning the abandoned vessel into a thriving arts destination.

With the owners' approval, artists from across Europe began spray painting the decrepit ship, using cherry pickers -- a type of hydraulic aerial work platform -- to reach its towering walls.

They are now campaigning to have the site reopened to the public as the centerpiece of an arts festival.

"When the pieces first started appearing, we had some people say 'that's no way to treat the ship.'" Williams said.

"But there's no doubt that what they're doing is art -- the key definition between art and graffiti is graffiti is done illegally. This, however, is done with the owner's knowledge and accommodation.

"And if it's the catalyst for regeneration, it's got to be a good thing," added Williams.

Related articles

Wales: An Abandoned, Rusting Ship is Reborn Under Street Art

Forgotten cruise ship becomes sand Banksy with aid of street artists

Abandoned Ship Transformed into Graffiti Gallery

Brooklyn Street Art = This Week's Edition

New Lesuperdemon in Mexico City In the Mexico City neighborhood of Condesa a new mural from Lesuperdemon appears on a long wall of a historic house. The act of adding a mural to a wall is part of tradition in Mexican culture, so any new developments like this, even as they intersect with the relatively new graffiti or Street Art [...] Read More

Street Artist AIKO in “Edo Pop” at The Japan Society Tidal waves of fertility and good luck are stenciled across the walls inside the Japan Society right now by Street Artist Aiko as part of the Edo Pop show that is examining the impact of Japanese prints on the work of contemporary artists.  Using motifs like the rabbit and butterfly, two of Aiko’s favorites that [...] Read More

Knock Out Film Debut from MTO “FL: Unpremeditated Movie” French Painter and Street Artist MTO has made a great film and we want to share it with you today. It’s a knock-out. MTO “Go, Go, Denise Go” (photo © courtesy of MTO) Dude it’s Saturday, put down what you are doing and watch this for an hour. He painted it, filmed it, edited it, and now [...] Read More

Film Friday 3.15.13 Aiko. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo) Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening: Aiko “Edo Pop”, ART POLLUTION with: Overunder, Jilly Ballistic and The Yok & Sheryo   BSA Special Feature: Aiko: “Sunrise” for The Japan Society exhibition “Edo Pop” In this new video released by The Japan Society, Street Artist [...] Read More

Alice Pasquini in Ithaca, NY Ithaca, near the geographical center of New York State, is a socially progressive town that has experimented with its own currency (“Ithaca Hours”), was one of the first cities in the US to confer rights to same-sex partners (1986), and is the home of two universities (Cornell University and Ithaca College).  At the southern end [...] Read More

WK Interact in “360″, A Survey of Conflict in Degrees “If his work on the street is an indication, it has been a constant state of war. Look at these images and themes that reappear in WK’s work since he first came to New York; Ever-present fear, violence, anxiety, overheated sex-play, fishnets & firearms, contorted figures racing, martial arts kicks to the head, hand-to-hand combat, [...] Read More

STIK on London Streets and Walls London Street Artist Stik has breathed a relaxed at-ease quality into the familiar stick man of your childhood and expanded his reach across walls, boarded windows, doorways, and buildings. Working on the street (and sometimes living on it) for the last ten years, the former live art-school model has grown in stature on the scene [...] Read More

LNY Talks About “The Golden Hour” Street Artist LNY was in the Fountain Art fair this weekend and is on the street 24/7 right now in lower Manhattan as part of a Fourth Arts Block public arts project directed by Keith Schweitzer. The sweeping careening necks of the long billed birds are wrapped around a malfeasant from below, wrestling in a [...] Read More

Images of the Week 03.10.13: Happy 70th Birthday Martha Cooper “I can’t believe it. I never expected this, ever.” The Houston Street Wall was the site of a sidewalk surprise birthday party Saturday  for photographer Martha Cooper, who was planning to stop by for what she thought would be a new mural shoot. The world famous graffiti photographer had no idea that artists How and Nosm [...] Read More

Fountain 2013 Shots of Street Art Above and Below The Fountain fair raised the Street Art to the rafters this year with an installation curated by Mighty Tanaka Gallery and Robots Will Kill. The canvasses wave above the exhibit floor in this historic Armory space while below thousands of people milled through the booths of a varied collection of this years offerings. Here are [...] Read More

BSA Film Friday 03.08.13 ESSAM (photo © Jaime Rojo) Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening: Drones and Street Artist Essam.   BSA Special Feature: Drones, Rand Paul, and Street Artist Essam Street Artists use their medium of message on the street sometimes to entertain, engage, or educate the passerby. Whether it’s a personal, cultural, [...] Read More

BSA Guide to Street Art @ Armory Week Armory Week is back in New York for the 2o13 Edition. Millions will be traded, thousands sold, and probably more will go unsold. Works by artists who are identified as Street Artists are on target for more exposure in these more formalized settings than five years ago thanks to the globalization of the phenomenon, but [...] Read More

For Crochet Street Artist OLEK “The End is Far”

For those who follow this sort of thing Street Artist Olek has monopolized the category for pink and purple camouflage crochet sculpture on the street.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say she actually invented the category, owing as much to the D.I.Y. and hand-crafting movements as to public artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, whose work also [...]

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Behance

Behance is a beautiful blog that highlights street art predominatntly in Europe. Some of the photos here are stunning.
It is the site of artist Przemek Blejzyk

Paris Has A Street Art District - Go Figure

I always think of Paris as pristine. Beautiful but pristine. So I was surprised to find out that Paris has a street art area that is not far from tourist centers. If you find yourself on the French side of the Atlantic, check out the street art in Paris.But if galleries are touting street artist works now, will we begin to see less work on the streets themselves?

Paris: Joie de graffiti

By JANE BORDEN

Jane Borden

Works by Da Cruz and others can be found on the Quai de L’Oise, 19th arrondissement, Paris.

Paris has always been able to boast of an artistic supremacy, so it makes sense that when they even do something like street art, they put America to shame. With its vibrancy, sophistication and sheer volume of production, the Parisian street art scene -- graffiti, stenciling, paste-ups -- makes ours look like it's still in grade school. Sketches and tags pop up throughout the city, yes, but beyond the central circle of neighborhoods, or arrondissements, designated areas boast entire blocks coated end-to-end on both sides with imagery that's constantly changing.

Hami Delimi of L'Oeuf Creative -- an agency helping artists with branding and representation -- says that many communities agree not to prosecute, particularly their native sons and daughters.
"People are proud to have the artists there," Delimi says. "However, if someone not from the community writes over a piece, that person might get in trouble."

In the 19th arrondissement, which Delimi considers a first stronghold of the Parisian graffiti movement in the '80s, that local hero is Da Cruz. His big-featured faces and bold colors are calling cards on the area's buildings, municipal walls and mailboxes; no one paints over his creations. Other celebrated tags to locate across the city include Miss.tic, Nemo, Jerome Mesnager, Jeff Aerosol, Art of Popof and Atlas.

The Futura is now

Whether you think street art-ists working with luxury brands are receiving justified exposure and cash or are selling out, the practice is here to stay. And its most recent contributor is also one of the art form’s truest legends: Futura.
   
Lenny McGurr, originally known as Futura 2000, began his career tagging New York City subway cars in the late ’70s. He also toured with The Clash, painting onstage while they played; enjoyed a long history of success in art galleries, largely in Paris, which housed his first exhibit in 1982 (he’s currently represented by Galerie Jerome de Noirmont); went on to make album covers, T-shirts and toys; and, of course, owns a spot in the canon. Then he was quiet for a while. But on Aug. 13 he’ll add a Hennessy label to his collection. The limited-edition Cognac bottle is classic Futura: an abstract work of bold primary colors featuring his signature atomic swirls.
   
“The movement I graduated from, what I call the subway school of art, is, for all intents and purposes, over,” McGurr says. “But then the next generation of artists — Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Swoon — gave importance to this kind of work again. And that ultimately opened the door for me to return.”
 
Cheers to that. Or, rather, Sante.

Meet the artists

The scene has developed to the point where traditional galleries are also littered with street artists’ work, one of the more recent crossover successes being an artist named Nasty. It’s also now common for luxury brands to tap the graffiti scene. The artist named Kongo printed scarves for Hermès and another street artist who goes by Monsieur A created a label for Caviar Kaspia. But some artists seem to think it’s a faux pas to use their talents for commerce. Kidult has notoriously vandalized luxury-brand storefronts in revolt.