The Honey Bear Hunt map is again live at fnnch.com/honeybearhunt. Only Kits shipped in 2021 are on the map, so you should have a good chance of seeing one if you track it down! If you put up a Kit in 2020 and would like it to remain on the map, please fill out this form.

Thank you everyone for your patience awaiting this map. This year we have shipped Hunt Kits to 47 states, 18 countries and 5 continents.

Kits are now always available on store.fnnch.com and ship out twice a week!

Theorist Daniel Feral rewrites art history, using the language of MoMA’s first director.

BY KELSEY CAMPBELL-DOLLAGHAN2 for Fast Company

In the annals of “Fine Art History,” graffiti is usually placed squarely outside of the mainstream dialogue. Usually, it’s relegated to a foggy category sometimes called Urban Art–or worse, Urban Contemporary. “Those are not terms that came from the graffiti or street communities,” says writer and theorist Daniel Feral. “They may be a result of categories created by the auction houses. I usually hear the terms used when discussing sales of art.”

Feral is the creator of the eponymous Feral Diagram, a map that revises the role of graffiti and street art in the canon of modern art. From Feral’s perspective, graffiti and street art have been critical drivers of the art world for well nigh 40 years now. Framing them as “outsider art” is not only lazy, but incorrect. As an alternative, Feral has literally redrawn art history, showing how 1960s graffiti and street art emerged from major mainstream movements, from Pop Art and the Situationists to 1940s Art Brut. By way of looping arrows and signs, he also demonstrates how street art evolved, conceptually, alongside the likes of Gordon Matta-Clark and Jenny Holzer. And thankfully, Feral also parses out the boilerplate-in-their-own-right terms, “graffiti and street art,” into specific groups and movements, like Wildstyle and Otaku-tinged Childstyle.

What’s clever about the Feral Diagram is that it utilizes the visual language of another very famous diagram, created by the first director of MoMA, Alfred H. Barr, in 1935. In his visualization, Barr used looping black arrows and Futura type to explain how Cubism and Abstract Art evolved from a mixture of high art and pop culture influences, ranging from Japanese prints to the Neo-Impressionists. “I wanted to honor Barr’s intellectual brilliance,” Feral writes. “By utilizing his visual language to tell a story other than that sanctioned by the Fine Art establishment, it made me feel like I was subverting the system too. It made me feel like I was doing what my friends were doing: reclaiming public space.”

What Qualifies as Street Art?
Justin Kamp, for artsy.net
Jan 11, 2021 12:43pm
photo: An early 2000s Swoon paste-up on a San Francisco public wall

The ascent of so-called street artists into the moneyed realms of the blue chip is not exactly a new phenomenon—it’s been nearly two years since KAWS skyrocketed to a new auction record of HK$116 million (US$14.8 million) with the sale of The Kaws Album (2005) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, which was followed six months later by the record-breaking sale of Banksy’s Devolved Parliament (2009) for £9.8 million ($12.1 million). These two mononym artists could be seen as the loosely defined category’s twin princes, despite their stylistic differences—KAWS’s vibrant cartoon riffs and Banksy’s wry stencils are two of the most easily recognizable, not to mention consistently lucrative, styles in contemporary art. But as collectors the world over continue to be fascinated with “Companion” figures and Girl With Balloon prints, the exact parameters of what constitutes “street art” remain nebulous.

According to Charlotte Raybaud, head of 20th-century evening sales at Phillips in Hong Kong, the category comes with a certain amount of ambiguity baked in. “Street art is inherently hard to define,” Raybaud said. “It is difficult to categorize as sometimes it can feature graffiti, or other times more image-based work. The former oftentimes features alongside the latter, but I would say some uniting elements include the use of stencils and/or elements of reproduction, allusions to and questioning of everyday visuals or slogans, and of course its ‘street’ setting—or indeed proximity to its roots.” When highlighting street art works for potential bidders, Raybaud said she emphasizes both the above aesthetic elements as well as a piece’s conceptual underpinnings, which she said often center on themes of democratization.

Today I am relaunching the Honey Bear Hunt. The bears are better quality, and I am asking everyone to keep them up for at least 3 months and appear on the map. Hunt Kits are now available on store.fnnch.com, and more will be released every Wednesday.

What Is the Honey Bear Hunt?
The idea is for people to put Mask Bears in their windows so neighbors can walk around and spot them. This is a fun, safe activity for individuals, couples, and families.

I launched it last May, and it exceeded my wildest expectations — we have now shipped over 12,000 Hunt Kits to all 50 states and 5 continents!

As COVID rates have soared, much of the country has locked down again, restricting movement and closing galleries and museums. The Honey Bear Hunt brings art to you.

Better Bears
The original bears were printed on relatively cheap paper with relatively cheap ink. The new ones are made by a professional print shop and are much better quality. They should wrinkle and fade less in the sun.

Expectations
If you buy a Hunt Kit, I am asking you to put it in your window for at least 3 months. It would be swell if you kept it up for the duration of the pandemic, but I want to make a reasonable ask. After 3 months I will reach out with a survey to see if you'd like to keep your bear up longer.

via Gfycat

Thanks to: the annual TXMX haul, only_stencil_archive (insta)
Spinning: Mingus, Monk
Photo: Meow's meditating cat

>NEW< meow (DE)

>NEW< Props (DE)

>NEW< TaZe (DE)

mittenimwald (just one)

ørk (just one)

pirho ASA

rumo (just one)

seileise

tona (just one)

Thanks to: TXMX, the King of Hamburg Stencil Nation ;)
Spinning: Soul Coughing > Ruby Vroom
Photo: Art by Liz Art; Photo by TXMX

Hamburg

Lembo

Leni

Liebsein (just one)

Liz Art

marie