Graffiti’s Story, From Vandalism to Art to Nostalgia

Original NYTims article appears here

Eric Felisbret stood by a chain-link fence, watching three men spraying graffiti on a backyard wall in Upper Manhattan. One man smiled and invited him over.

“You can go around the corner and when you see a sign for a seamstress, go in the alley,” the man said. “Or you can jump the fence, like we did.”

Mr. Felisbret, 46, chose the long way. Not that he is unused to fence-jumping. In the 1970s, that was one of his skills as a budding graffiti writer who stole into subway yards. Using the nom de graf DEAL, he was part of the Crazy Inside Artists, a legendary crew from East New York, Brooklyn. This time, though, instead of wielding a spray can, he pulled out a camera and took a quick snapshot of the artwork, done with the landlord’s permission.

CCA Chicago presents "Tools for Actions"

Toronto’s Urban Repair Squad grew tired of waiting for municipal authorities to create adequate bicycle lanes and began to install their own DIY infrastructure, encouraging others to take action against car culture. Since 2005, the group has painted over six kilometres of bicycle lanes on major and minor streets in Toronto while disguised as municipal workers – official City of Toronto workers attempt to remove the markings as fast as they are painted.

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What better month than February to highlight a ladies only urban contemporary art show. This is the Bherd Studios 2nd Annual show and they feel that perhaps they should just declare the month of February as a celebration of Fabulously Fresh Females Artists! The artists that they are presenting in February are each incredibly productive, talented and highly motivated women who have shown their work on a national and some, on an international level. If you attend any popular local art festival or craft show, you are sure to see myself (Soule) Soopajdelux, Michelle Smith-Lewis and Coco Howard among the mix of entrepreneurial talent.

The hearts of the matter: Brandon Hughes’ art puts him in court

As some of you may know, Stencil Nation has been hard to find online and in the book stores. As the economy collapsed and fluttered over the past year, I ended my touring and began focusing on other projects (Stencil Archive, puppetry, events production, etc.). As things faltered in the world, Stencil Nation's 2nd print run began to run out. There were moments in the year when I could barely fulfill the orers from www.stencilnation.org.

But I did, and Manic D Press continued to ride and survive the troubled waves in the publishing world (will the Kindle, etc. kill the book? Think not, but now something to think about.). Since Stencil Nation was released, dozens of stencil, street art, and graffiti books have been released, making a 3rd print of the book a hard decision for the always scrappy Manic D Press.

I just got word from Manic D that a 3rd print run will get distributed Feb. 24! This is good news to those of you who haven't found the few places left online (like the book's site) to find the book for a reasonable price. Amazon.com had copies of the book for sale well past $100 each. For those who don't dig online for the best deal, that's an unreachable amount to pay for the book.

Now that a 3rd print is about to be released, the price will once again be reasonable.

Thanks again for all your support over the past few years. I hope you all are enjoying the book.

I currently have 1st and 2nd print copies for sale via the links just below the masthead, or over at www.stencilnation.org

Russell ---

From Joe Iurato:
"As you all know, I released a "Spray For Haiti" limited edition stencil last week. The edition sold out in less than 3 minutes of its announcement. When I announced the second round of the prints an anonymous donor promptly asked if he could purchase them all. His pledge for the 20 paintings -- $3,000. I received a confirmation from UNICEF, and just like that my goal had been exceeded. I would love to credit this person and tell you all who he is, but he asked that I not do so. So I'll honor that. And there's one more catch:

While the release is officially sold out, he asked that I send him one painting - and re-sell the remaining the 19. That said, I'm going to sell "his paintings" for original asking price of $50 each to the first 19 people who reply. The money will go directly UNICEF once again, and I hope now to bring an approximate total of over $5,000 towards disaster relief in Haiti. For more info please email Joe at joe.iurato@gmail.com

Brooklyn Street Art is proud to be a part of Jef Aerosol's NYC Debut at AD HOC GALLERY

All Shook Up: Jef Aerosol
January 29 - February 21, 2010
Opening Reception - Friday, January 29, 2010, 6-10pm
Gallery Hours: Thurs & Fri: 4pm-8pm; Sat & Sun: noon-8pm

Ad Hoc Art
43 Bogart Street (@ Eastern District) Brooklyn, New York 11206 (via subway take the “L” Train to the Morgan Avenue Station)

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Ad Hoc Art presents international stencil master Jef Aerosol in New York City for “All Shook Up”, a stunning show of cultural icons by a Street Artist with 30 years in the game.