Tuesday afternoon, Artnet’s “Urban Scrawl: Graffiti and Street Art” week-long online auction ended, having attracted twice the traffic of its predecessors. Among the hot-ticket items and highlights: the staple bunch of Banksys and Harings, FUTURA’s Untitled for $17,250, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Cabeza for $19,550 and COPE2′s recently “appropriated” subway sign Church Av Station to Flatbush Av only (2010) sold for $2,530.
Renowned graffiti vandal and artiste COPE2 opens up an exhibit of new work on Thursday at the East Village’s TT Gallery. The art speak-laced press release says the paintings “arise from the obstruction of producing graffiti pieces in the streets paradigm to a permanent transfixed surface.” I have no idea what that means, but feel free to speculate below. “Transition,” COPE2, April 7th – April 18th, TT Gallery, NYC
Having graffiti writers draw on NYC subway maps isn’t all that original and has been done countless times, all of which we’ve dutifully covered, but there’s still something appealing about them. So, here’s some of the latest additions by storied bombers to Dirty Pilot’s ‘Map Quest’ exhibit. They’re almost guaranteed to turn a profit.
LUSH’s Piss-Take Exhibit
An Australian graffiti writer with a penchant for mischief and jackassery, just fired shots… at everyone for his “Street Art Sale” exhibit. From Catholics to fixed gear bikes and some of the world’s most acclaimed graffiti writers and street artists, LUSH’s solo show at the Backwoods Gallery just outside of Melbourne is wildly humorous and critical of just about every facet of hip urban culture. Read more »
Graffiti Writers Endorse Shepard Fairey’s Mural
Despite a brewing undercurrent of hate for Shepard Fairey’s Deitch mural amongst many of NYC’s graffiti writers, he can still count on a few vandals to have his back. COPE2 dropped by the street artist’s wall and having recently partnered with him in the Bronx, painted the outside edge along with EWOK and INDIE. Someone else left a not so supportive message for Shep, see it below. Read more »
When Worlds Collide
Shepard Fairey can rest assured that COPE2 won’t be one of the vandals conspiring against his Deitch mural. While in town, the street artist collaborated with the notorious graffiti bomber on this mixed media piece in the Bronx. Extra flicks and a bonus video can be seen below. Read more »
‘Generations’ Graffiti Exhibit Facing Final Days
Celebrated vandal and art theft victim COPE2 curated a graffiti-centric exhibit at Toy Toyko’s Showroom Gallery. “The Generations” show includes pieces by a long list of artists, more than three dozen ranging from old school subway bombers to street artists and photographers. Works on display include some “hot shit” by Andrea von Bujdoss, a cloud painting by CAP MPC, TAKI 183′s $5k tagged up paper, Okuda’s scantily-clad penguin still life, photos of old Krink bottles and plenty of hand drawn pieces. Read more »
World renowned graffiti writer and frequent subject of controversy, COPE2, had a show in Berlin recently—here he is preparing for it—and this past weekend, a crew of thieves broke into the Skalitzers gallery and stole most of the artwork. The gallery alerted the Berlin police, who are now on the hunt for the stolen pieces, but they’re also “offering a reward, no questions asked, for their return.” Stay tuned! |GraffKingdom|
True to form, graffiti writer COPE2 plastered a throw-up over the ALIFE logo for his part in a new series of t-shirt collaborations. The series, ALIFE x THE PEOPLE, is a self-proclaimed “tribute to originality” but you can buy the same shirt, minus the ALIFE logo and $10, from COPE’s own t-shirt line. |12oz|
While it’s true that no real sparks flew at last night’s Vandals vs. Vandal Squad discussion at the powerHouse arena, there were some interesting revelations about author Joe “Blow” Rivera’s mostly irrelevant book on graffiti. For one, several writers, including panelist KET, claimed that some of the photos published in “Vandal Squad: Inside the New York City Transit Police Department, 1984-2004″ were either stolen or obtained improperly and definitely in violation of copyright! Rivera denied the charge, insisting they were his or “donated” from various sources.
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