The Sad tale of Sawtell Mural

From Atlanta, GA:


http://clatl.com/atlanta/story-of-the-sawtell-mural/Slideshow?oid=6397896

Opening Night: Special Delivery Art Project

On September 8th, I had the privilege to wait just 15 minutes in line (the line would later stretch about 3 blocks) for the Special Delivery art show, where locally known graf artists were invited to go nuts in a three story, 36,000 square foot building. The show itself was one night only, though due to the huge turnout, Endless Canvas is attempting to "(work) out potential new gallery hours with the owner" of the building.

Now, the art show may be over, but the art project itself is just two thirds through!

According to their Kickstarter page for the project, the building will get refurbished over the course of one year and turned into an office building, after which, some of the artists will get invited back into the building to paint permanent murals. Wrapping up the project will be a photo-book documenting the project. I hope they release the book in two parts; One part documenting the September 8th show, and another documenting the entire project.

Be sure to check out the Endless Canvas blog for more photos and posts about the show.


 Here are just a few of the photos I took:

Did you ever notice

Did you ever notice that television shows always blur out Advertisements/billboards/street-flyers, but never graffiti?

Water Light Graffiti

Water Light Graffiti by Antonin Fourneau

Me & My Shark Fin

http://sfist.com/2012/07/23/tragic_shark_fin_mural_inspired_by.php
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/jul/17/shark-fin-rap
http://vimeo.com/45490562

Time lapse footage of underground graffiti "museum" 

Initial musings on the New Aesthetic

Over the last three days, I've been exploring "The New Aesthetic", an art movement exploring the technologically enabled novelty. My introduction to NA was Bruce Sterling's essay on NA, which I recommend you read immediately.

The New Aesthetic, coined by James Bridle, states that "One of the core themes of the New Aesthetic has been our collaboration with technology, whether that’s bots, digital cameras or satellites (and whether that collaboration is conscious or unconscious)". Is there a distinct line between technology as a tool vs. technology as a collaborator? Is the NA limited only to computer enabled tech? What makes the NA different than all those before us? Or is NA just a fad? The New Aesthetic Tumbler is proof that something unique is there, is happening right now, and offers insightful views into our culture.

I've already found NA useful within my own art work. I'm currently working on a project (photo-prints of buildings, public streets, overlaid with graffiti) exploring the tension between advertising and street-art.

What would the real-world look like if current online advertising technology was applied visually to the street? What would the ADmented reality look like beyond fugly “Star-trek glasses”?

Street stickers, and a baby

Custom bicycle from cyclecide art show, last week

Hot new research: Cheap beers equals more tagging

http://uptownalmanac.com/2012/03/dive-bars-increasingly-bummed-out-taggers

Wondering why your favorite dive-bar no longer serves daily cheapo
PBR? Can't find tecate in a can anymore? Mission bar owners are
reporting that they no longer serve hella cheap PBR or tecate since
that directly correlates with taggers tagging their bar.

Obligatory Post: Graf Artist in this week's Simpsons

Heh. Ever since Banksy did that much talked-about Simpon's couch-gag, it seems that the Simpsons producers found an 'in' with the Graf scene. Kenny Scharf, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, and Robbie Conal will appear in the 501st episode of the Simpsons. To the TiVo!

Barrio Calligraphy

Loving this link from L.A. Taco: Barrio Caligraphy, scans of an out of print book from the 1970's by a researcher studying Calligraphy of graffitti.