While some eager graphic designers, like Baxter Orr, like to take subtle jabs at Shepard Fairey, others go right for the jugular.This parody of the artist’s famed ‘Andre the Giant has a posse’ sticker was spotted in Philly and takes a shot at the man himself, depicting a stencil-like image of the propagandist. Chances are that this take down ain’t making the bootlegs section of the Obey site. |IHateAlex|
Photo: |LunaPark|
A god seeking commenter noted that the ‘Christ Radio’ flyers are not exclusive to NYC. The street stuck, holy propaganda has spread across other cities like Chicago and Philadelphia for a minute now, with some dating back to December 2007. There’s even a flickr group titled “Crazy Talk,” that is devoted to documenting the proliferation of these preachy papers.
If you don’t listen to Christ Radio on 53 AM, some terrible shit will not only happen to you, but also your loved ones too: “The Devil will take you and your family and make bats out of all of yous.” But if you repent, things aren’t so bad: “Beautiful gorgeous Mary and Christ will hug and kiss you forever in heaven.” Spotted on Broadway below 23rd Street. More Christian angles below.
NYU student Kelly Goeller made quite a splash last month with her pixel puddle street art that she admitted was actually part of a outdoor sculpture assignment by one of her professors. It looks like another student may have have been inspired or instructed, taking their own crack at taping up some temporary art. A few days ago, these neon strands of cube-forming tape were spotted in front of the Barney Building, in and around the spot as the pixel puddle. Click below for more of the relatively benign, day glow, strips of vandalism. UPDATE: The artist is Aakash Nihalani.
The rumor is true. The elusive self-dubbed “art terrorist” Banksy Nick Walker rolled into NYC and decorated the Sullivan St. facing wall of restaurant Thunder Jackson located on Bleeker in the West Village last night. In addition to three characters of a man walking with an umbrella, he also added a nice drippy “Vandal” and finished it off with his signature “B”NW at the bottom. A waitress from Jackson’s confirmed that it was indeed Banksy, mentioning that he’s friends with one of the guys involved with the bar. She also noted that he was originally scheduled to paint the wall on Wednesday night but someone stole a bunch of his supplies. More photos and some physical evidence after the jump.
UPDATE: It’s a Nick Walker piece, but why is he going around telling people he’s Banksy? Something fishy is going on.
Hope Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Love him or hate him, Shepard Fairey gets up. Sure it’s mostly within the safety net of lower Manhattan and Williamsbug, but it still counts on the street art meter. He arrived in town last Thursday to not only DJ the Guggenheim on Friday night, but to also feed a vandalistic itch that he likens to drugs: “I’ve always looked it as a kind of positive addiction. I think that people using the streets to express themselves is a positive thing because most people are too afraid to ever empower themselves. So if it inspires people, even if they don’t do something themselves, even if it gets them talking about the content it gets the issues out on the table, I think that’s relevant too. Even if it’s you man, even if it’s negative. It’s all generating something.” In all, he hit about 16 spots—Gothamist compiled a gallery—working over two days with a lookout/assistant.
The conflict continues between graffiti and street continues, even as far away as Cape Town, South Africa.
Photo: |Warrenski| (Click image to enlarge)
It’s so hard to tell these days—but it’s definitely not homework. This “sculpture” was spotted near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Laugh now, but this could be the making of the next “artist” chosen for the Whitney Biennial. Click continue for another artsy angle.
The biggest proponent of street art so far has been the internet. In a matter of hours, an artist can do one piece and receive instant worldwide recognition as in the case of the “pixel puddle” street art that had the web gushing with delight last week. It was created for an Intro to Sculpture class at NYU by Long Island native Kelly Goeller. The professor asked students to create an outdoor installation using wood, and the 21-year-old junior who’s looking to break into field of animation, installed the piece in front of The Barney Building on Friday the 18th at around 9AM. She told us that she chose this spot because, “its the route I take to class.” It took her about 15 minutes to affix—she used heavy duty double-side tape, which could explain why it was so easily stolen or removed. Goeller was very surprised by the amount of attention the piece received, especially since she doesn’t really read blogs. When asked if she fancies herself a street artist, Goeller explains, “I’d like to keep doing now that it’s so popular and people liked it.” She was even invited to do an installation at the annual “I Am 8-Bit” exhibit in LA in August. And the inspiration for all her pixel-styled work on a whole? “I’m really into old school Mario games,” confesses Goeller.
Photo: |Nick Gray|
This pixel-styled street art has been making the rounds across mostly tumblr blogs as of late. The work—spotted on east 9th street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue—has since been removed, but not before a vandal tagged the piece (see the untouched version). This is undoubtedly a shot in the heart to some or as the Orlando Sentinel tries to describe it in this piss-poor article, as the “conflict among street artists and graffiti writers.” Which just happens to be a bullshit theory—it has less to do with gentrification, and more to do with respect/custom: people go over each other.
Photo: |Hungryghoast|
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