Stencil Archive

Late last year, a person who had taken both of my San Francisco tours, started asking me about taking him on an Oakland tour. He remembered that I had mentioned wanting to figure out an East Bay walk and politely called me out on the idea. While working my nonprofit day job on Broadway at 19th Street for a few years, I spent many lunch hours walking around Chinatown, Uptown, and Downtown, snapping stencil photos, annoying Jet Martinez while he painted his huge mural, stopping by galleries, and enjoying the tagging and graffiti. I would talk about the walks with my coworkers, who started asking me when I'd figure out an Oakland tour. Now, Isaac wanted me to do a rough first run in the streets of Oakand.

I said yes, and promised to take Isaac and his son and son's friend on my first-ever intentionally shared Oakland street art walk. I did research, made a route, did more research, and in late December, we wandered over to Chinatown, through "Mural Lane", and up to Uptown. We packed the three hour walk with murals, graffiti, sunshine, and a beer at the end. Thanks, Isaac!

Once Hugh D'Andrade heard that I was finally giving an Oakland walk (right past his apartment), he helped me organize a second one in January. About 15 people showed up for that one. I made more notes, altered things a bit, researched more, and then we took the walk for a second run. My friend Eleni couldn't make this tour, so she organized a third one a few weeks later with about 10 people. So, more research and notes for me, with the final issue to work out being restrooms and an open cafe to meet up at the beginning (Peet's on Broadway failed in both of those accounts. Hello, Awaken Cafe).

After all the research, note taking, feedback processing, and tour tweaks, the tour is now open to the public. I know that Jack London Square just got a lot of freshly painted walls, but I haven't been able to check it out. Having walked that part of Oakland for several years, it may be too much walking to add Jack London to the current route. But, things change! Who knows what will happen?!

Speaking of change... RIP to an entertaining BiP wall on Broadway, now covered by construction (photo by Jonathan Evans)

ONE TRICK
A SOLO EXHIBITION BY
MANDO MARIE (Her Stencil Archive)

Opening Reception - Saturday, June 2nd at 12pm
Showing Through - Friday, June 22nd

First Amendment Gallery is pleased to announce “One Trick” a solo exhibition by Mando Marie.  Amanda Marie also known by her artist moniker 'Mando Marie' born 1981, is an American painter formerly based in Colorado, and currently based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Mando  exhibits in both the United States and Europe. She trained at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and is best known for her work as a stencilist, including large scale street art designs.

Amanda Marie uses graphic stencils and images redolent of 'Golden Age' storybook imagery. She frequently features the signature characters of a young boy and girl. In 2012, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art held a solo exhibition of her work and noted that these stylised figures: "seem to have been lifted from the pages of a mid-twentieth century children’s book and have traded the protective home of childhood nostalgia for a slightly more adventurous and unsettling world, somewhere between dream and reality”. Alongside recurring graphic themes of children and animals, she favors twin, repeated or mirrored imagery, developed with multiple uses of the same stencil on the artwork.

Street Artist Chase Explores Light and Space as His Pattern Park Debuts
LILY MOAYERI | MARCH 30, 2018 | LA WEEKLY

The horror show that is parking in Los Angeles is legendary. And parking in West Hollywood takes the nightmare to a whole other level. But Pattern Park, the fourth and most recent of West Hollywood’s micro-parks, is a bright and colorful spot in this dismal landscape.

The park was designed and painted by renowned street artist Chase. His striking patterns, applied using spray paint, exterior latex paint and stencils, decorate the sidewalk surrounding the parking lot on the north side of Sunset Boulevard between Sherbourne Drive and Horn Avenue. Also benefiting from Chase’s instantly recognizable style is the parking booth inside the lot and the fence surrounding it, which is decorated with cutouts of Chase’s signature eye.

From Venice Beach to DTLA, from Ventura to Long Beach, many walls in the Southland feature Chase’s murals. Born and bred in Antwerp, Belgium, the 40-year-old Chase has lived in Los Angeles since the mid-’90s and he doesn’t take his adopted hometown’s acceptance of his art for granted. Over eggs Benedict at brunch al fresco in one of the Sunset Plaza restaurants just across the boulevard from Pattern Park, Chase — who sports an “LA” tattoo under his right ear — recalls his early days of trying to differentiate street art from graffiti for Los Angeles business owners.

“You didn’t used to see walls like you see now,” he says. “You saw some alley work behind Melrose or downtown back alleys. You saw some stuff from freeways. Venice had the tattoo shop and the graffiti walls, but I always thought the art was good enough to be on the main street.

SMiLE, it’s good for you
Boulder’s incognito street artist on a life of rebellion

By Emma Murray -  April 19, 2018

Emma Murray | Boulder Weekly

Ten minutes before I turn onto Pearl Street, my phone vibrates. A message: “I forgot to ask… Will you keep my identity a secret?”

I’m en route to a cafe, meeting the person responsible for the impressionist cats, portraits and landscapes sprinkled around Boulder’s downtown electrical boxes, alleyways and forgotten doors — like the tri-color tabby’s face that stares at me from a brick wall on 17th Street.

“Of course,” I reply. Inside, I order a coffee and scan the crowd. What does an incognito graffiti artist look like? Painted or dirty nails? Long hair, makeup? Grunge or hipster? Another vibration. “Look for a pair of sunglasses resting on the table,” he (which he may or may not be) tells me.

I walk toward the back of the room and spot them: The glossy lenses staring up from a two-top, flanked by an elbow on each side. One hand loosely cups a mug, the other rests flat on the table. The person is leaning forward, shoulders slightly rounded, gazing down as though examining the creamy chai’s layered design.

As I approach, he looks up. “You must be Emma,” he says.

So this is what a graffiti artist looks like. Not what I expected.More babysitter, less hoodlum. “You must be SMiLE,” I whisper as I sit down.

He glances around the room with fugitive eyes, nods, and we begin.

Anti-Trump Mural Sparks ACLU Lawsuit and Public Art Dispute in New Orleans
Shortly after putting up a mural on his private property last year, Neal Morris received a letter from the city demanding its immediate removal and threatening jail time.
Benjamin Sutton for Hyperallergic

<< Cashy-D's anti-Trump mural in New Orleans (photo courtesy and © Neal Morris

Late last year, New Orleans developer Neal Morris commissioned the local artist Cashy-D to paint a mural on his private property. On November 4, the artist completed the piece, which features text from the 2005 Access Hollywood recording, in which President Trump boasts of sexually assaulting women. In the mural, select nouns have been replaced by images, like emojis in a text message.

Ten days later, Morris received a letter from the city’s Department of Safety and Permits faulting him for not following the proper permit process, demanding the mural’s removal, and threatening a “maximum fine or jail time for each and every day the violation continues plus court costs as prescribed by law.” Now, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Louisiana has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Morris against the City of New Orleans, alleging that it has violated his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

“The ideal outcome is for the City to scrap its burdensome, confusing (and unconstitutional) permitting process for murals,” Bruce Hamilton, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Louisiana who is representing Morris, told Hyperallergic. “We don’t believe the government should get to decide what is art, which art is deserving of expression, and which art the public is allowed to see.”

Thanks for your submissions: Josiah, Esmeralda, Ann, and the SFMOMA
<<< Calen Blake in NoPa/Western Addition

East Bay, CA

Los Angeles (just one)

Nevada City area (just one)

Washington, DC

Wisconsin (just one, thanks Ann)

>NEW< Robert Indiana (thanks SFMOMA)

::: the Latest from San Francisco :::

fnnch

Kate DiCiccio (just one)

Michael Roman (RIP)

Sol (thanks Esmeralda)

the Financial District

Clarion Alley (just one)

The Mission (thanks Josiah)

The Tenderloin

The Western Addition

Valencia St. (thanks Josiah)

Lower Haight (just one)

North Beach (just one)

Thanks to: Amanda, BSA, and HAO (RIP)

<<< Banksy in Brooklyn, NY.

South Africa (just one)
China, by 0907 (just one, thanks BSA)
Mexico (thanks BSA)
Argentina (just one, thanks Amanda)
>NEW< Omid Asadi (UK)
>NEW< yarps (FR)
Hao (RIP)
Banksy (in NYC!)
Portugal (just one, thanks BSA)
Spain (just one, by ancient neanderthals)

H&M Lawsuit Against Street Artist Could Have Changed Copyright Law [UPDATED]
The clothing company claims it has dropped its lawsuit against the artist Revok after widespread outcry and calls for a boycott, though the artist’s lawyer claims that is not true.
Claire VoonMarch 15, 2018
Hyperallergic

Update, 3/15/2018, 4:30pm: According to the Daily Beast, H&M has withdrawn its lawsuit. It shared the following statement:

H&M respects the creativity and uniqueness of artists, no matter the medium. We should have acted differently in our approach to this matter. It was never our intention to set a precedent concerning public art or to influence the debate on the legality of street art.  As a result, we are withdrawing the complaint filed in court. We are currently reaching out directly to the artist in question to come up with a solution.

Update, 3/15/2018, 6:45pm: When reached by email, Revok’s lawyer said he was unaware of H&M’s decision to withdraw the lawsuit. “I don’t know what they are talking about and have not seen them make any public statement,” Gluck told Hyperallergic. “The lawsuit is not dismissed, and the artwork is even still being used on their website.”

We have reached out to H&M’s lawyers for clarification and will update when we hear back.

Update, 3/15/2018, 10:00pm: Revok’s attorney Jeff Gluck told Hyperallergic via email that he has spoken to the counsel for H&M, who told him that “that they are not in fact dismissing the lawsuit.” Hyperallergic has reached out to H&M’s attorneys and to the company’s PR department to confirm this but has received no response. Its statement noting that it is withdrawing the complaint has been shared as a story on its Instagram account.

Update, 3/16/2018, 11:20am: Court records indicate that the case was withdrawn this morning by “Voluntary Dismissal.”

Street artists are calling for a boycott of H&M after the Swedish clothing company took legal action against a graffiti artist to refute his rights over his own work. Across social media, artists including INSA, KAWS, and Lady Aiko are denouncing H&M for what they describe as an “assault on artists’ rights,” and calling for a boycott of the company.