This is an attempt to expose others to the misunderstood allure of the street art world. Call it graffiti, call it vandalism...not all of it is pointless fluorescent names on a street corner mini-mart. Here is the art in street art. Here is the common citizen's risky output of ideas and imagination.
This graffiti phenomenon is spreading across the globe. "Invader" is the sole artist behind these works. Others have unofficially taken up his hobby, sending him pictures of invaders in cities that he has never visited. He models his street art off of the arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado. The artist invades various cities with his retro graffiti. The invaders are made of tiles, so to "cement them to walls and keep the ultra-pixelated appearance".
Invader's popularity originated as a graffiti movement, but he has moved on up to exhibitions, and interior design as well.
I found these pictures in my travels through the interweb's collection of street art photos.
This one's great, I love Jack Nicholson. This was taken in Berlin. I don't know who the artist is or how long it lasted, but hey...that doesn't mean it can't be appreciated. That's one of my favorite things about graffiti.
From Italy. Guess the Italians still got it.
Who you gonna call?
Norwegians: making crappy homes into masterpieces
Global warming outcry in London
Also, here's a really helpful tool. I took some trips around the world with this map. The only problem, is that I do not know how to set it to English...It was created by Street Art Utopia (a homepage collection of street art around the world).
A lot has been going on but I've had time to make plenty of discoveries.
Here's one of the best: Matt W. Moore
(Twitter)
This guy is a modern art genius. His style is a distinct psychedelic structural explosion of colors. He is not strictly a street artist but his roots in unique graffiti are evident in all of his work.
If he's working with these guys, he must be doing pretty well.
This is a video of him creating a Ray-ban advertisement. Awesome.
Okay, so I am inserting these photos thinking,
"Huh, this blog has really not been keeping up with it's name"
If you're thinking the same thing, think again,
That...is what I'm talking about.
His work is chaotically organized.
It's all simple shapes and flat colors, but they go crazy and POW!
I've never seen stuff like his. There are no messages or political outcries or iconic figures. Just pure wall excitement.
His studio is based in Portland Maine. He says that he models his work off his coined style "Vectorfunk" mmm Funky. A book, Vectorfunk,was published, and is filled with his collection of "abstract vector graphics".
The more I read about this guy, the more I like him.
I find Rorschach inkblot tests beautiful. And he has sections of the book devoted to his own interpretation of these designs. Beautifully funky.
All this funkiness reminds me...MWM (Matt W. Moore) looks like MMW (Medeski Martin and Wood). They're a very funky trio, and you should check them out if you haven't already.
So it turns out that this Candy Chang chick seems to be a pretty respectable upcoming artist. There isn't much info out there about her; but the stuff I found seems to be circulating, which means she's getting somewhere quickly. One of the things that stands out for me is the fact that she is a 2011 TED Senior Fellow. If you don't know what TED.com is, you should. Click that link right now and have fun spending a few hours watching some of the most interesting lectures you have ever seen. Anyway, I'm going to continue under the assumption that you know all about TED.com. The TED Fellows Program groups together some of the worlds most creative, innovative, and accomplished people. Anyone over 18 can apply. Some of these people are extraordinary. Sending in my application would look like a joke, in comparison. This page probably will give you a better description than I can. Anyway, the fact that Candy Chang is a TED Fellow kept me interested. Check out her Bio on TED.com. The blartical "Move over, Banksy: Candy Chang's art might actually save the world" is a biiiiit of a stretch...but it still caught my eye. She likes letting others participate in her work. Here's some of her work that I found most interesting...
Check out this article. It's about a new street art project of Candy Chang (an installation artist, designer, and urban planner). I think it is a great example of some really neat conceptual graffiti. Although, I'm not sure if it can be considered "graffiti" because I think the artist had permission from residents in the surrounding area to partake in this street installation. Maybe it's a little corny. Though, I love that the community is able to participate in and see good in this type of work. I'm going to search up on this artist a bit. Though she is more of an "installation artist" than a "street artist" ::snootyvoice::, I see no harm in straying a bit off course.
The art of stenciling is taking over the graffiti community. It is a quick, easy way to mass-produce your works quickly. A stencil is some type of thin material from which an image or lettering has been cut. With stencil graffiti, the stencil is placed on or taped to (depending on the size) the surface on which the artist wishes to display his/her work. Then, spray paint/rolled paint is put on the stencil, leaving only the cut out areas colored. Multiple layers of stencils can be created in order to add different colors/shading. If a stencil is not very big (smaller than 3 feet), one can create their work in under 3 minutes. This is very convenient if you are tagging in a heavily populated area.
John Fekner's "Wheels over Indian Trails" (1968) was one of the first major public stencil displays.
Now, Banksy is one of the most well known stencil artists. It is his medium of choice.
Here's a quick how to on stenciling
What You Need:
Cardboard (or some other kind of thin, easily cut material)
Scissors
Exacto Knife
Drawing Tools
Pain & Roller OR Spray Paint
1. Choose a design - You can design an image or font on your own, or you can copy/recreate one that you have found (this is a little frowned upon unless you make it totally original)
-You can hand draw or photo-shop and image
- Using a photo-editing program, or taking the time to do this on your own, adjust the contrast and saturation of the image so that it is simple and not too multi-tonal
2. Place the image on your stenciling material and trace. Use a cutting tool to cut out the areas of your image that you want to me colored.
3. Tape stencil onto desired surface. Spray or roll paint on top. Voilà!
I found this site with a few really neat pictures of graffiti. Some are installations (the Leggos, the little people, the "Sewer Man", and the tree). I don't know if they are my favorites, but they are really interesting and clever. I love the extremely realistic hole-in-the-ground piece. I find these works spectacular and I'll try to find a few more examples.
