March 2, 2012
How Graffiti Goats Became a Symbol of ... Something
By PETER APPLEBOME

Original is here.

KINGSTON, N.Y. — The red goats of Kingston came from nowhere. One day there were new, clunky white planters in the stockade district and then, mysteriously, in October they became canvases for about 37 stenciled goats, red on white, like ghost goats from another world.

And then the red goats went everywhere. Thanks in part to a Facebook page, the goats have become a favored form of graffiti art far from this Hudson Valley town — at the Marcy Avenue subway stop and the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, in Missouri, Michigan and Canada, at the Art Basel show in Miami Beach.

NOTE: To see too many photographs of a legal, trademarked stencil, go here (for original posting)

We've left our mark in the name of Spider-Man. Permanently this time! Last night I was called on the phone I picked up in the Mark of the Spider-Man viral to meet up in downtown Los Angeles to participate in an incognito event around the city involving tagging the Mark of the Spidey on walls around Hollywood. It was awesome. And you can still see our work. This isn't the only city either, as groups have hit Atlanta, Seattle, Denver, and also coming up tonight, New York and Phoenix, too. Our group of 10 and the Mark crew took stencils and rode in a van around the city last night spreading the word of Spidey. Here's what went down.

Note: Before anyone says anything, this was a completely legal, virally-coordinated event involving Sony / Columbia Pictures in the background. All of the locations were marked and chosen and this was designed to be an "in-fiction" event for Spidey fans like us to experience. It is not meant to encourage illegal activity or vandalism and we did not just ride around choosing random walls to tag. That said, it was an awesome idea and if you know the locations, you can now find these Spider-Man symbols hidden all around the country.

Graffiti week returns with calls to resume revolution
Author: Jano Charbel

Original Article Found Here: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/618131

In the run-up to the anniversary of the 25 January revolution, a street art campaign dubbed “Mad Graffiti Week” spread like wildfire across Egypt. The call for the event was announced on Facebook, Twitter and the blogs of Egyptian street artists and activists.

A growing number of Egyptian and foreign artists and activists, male and female alike, have responded to the call. They have painted their art and their messages on walls, not only in Egypt, but also in Germany, UK, Austria, Poland and Canada.

Most of the themes center around calls for completing the revolution, deposing the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), and transferring power to civilian authorities.

Over the course of “Mad Graffiti Week,” three youths are reported to have been arrested — one in Banha City and two in Mahalla City — for acts of “vandalism.” These youths were reportedly detained, questioned and then released on the same day.

Graffiti and street art “are very powerful and effective tools of public expression,” said artist-activist Omar X-ist Mostafa. “This is evident in the fact that the police and army arrest people for painting graffiti with a political message, while the municipal authorities are constantly erasing and painting over it.”

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/01/tahrir-square-a-y...

Tahrir Square: A Year in Graffiti
Posted by Wendell Steavenson
 

In the year since the landmark January 25, 2011, gathering on Tahrir Square, there has been a great exuberance of expression: theatre, documentaries, pop songs, political cartoons, and paintings. (I write about the past year in a post on the Nile View blog.) The Tahrir metro station was turned into a revolutionary picture gallery for some weeks; whenever there is a big demonstration, the revolutionary art syndicate posts satirical drawings all over the Tahrir branch of KFC. But amid all of the welter, the graffiti has plotted the year—tying nooses around Mubarak’s neck, lampooning Tantawi (the head of SCAF), commemorating martyrs, and riffing off of Egyptian cultural icons. I have become quite obsessed with documenting them all. (I think I have four or five hundred graffiti pictures now). Here, for the birthday of the revolution, are a few.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/01/tahrir-square-a-y...

EXCLUSIVE! AN INTERVIEW WITH HANKSY
by Reverend Jen
original article: http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/jen/reverend-jen-hanksy-art-sh...

Last Friday evening, I was slumming in my pajamas when my elusive roommate, J.P., emerged from his room.

"Have you ever heard of the artist, Hanksy?" he asked.

"Banksy?" I said, thinking he was speaking of the painfully hip street artist.

"No. Hanksy. He makes Banksy-like images with Tom Hanks' face on them."

Maybe it's a result of the years I spent watching reruns of Batman, but I love secret identities. Plus, I am a big fan of early Tom Hanks, specifically Bosom Buddies. My ears perked up.

"I actually know Hanksy," he added. "He has an art opening up the street at Krause Gallery. If you wanna go, I could introduce you to him."

"Do you think I could get a world-exclusive interview?"

"Probably."

Being one of the least successful writers in history, I have never had a world-exclusive interview with anyone. Thrilled with the prospect, I agreed to meet J.P. there in 20 minutes. In the meantime, I texted my boyfriend, Courtney, and his friend, Gray, who were out on a beer run and told them to meet me at 149 Orchard.

Courtney called moments later.

"I don't think you wanna bother. There's like 10 people sitting in a circle talking and one of them is a naked dude. In fact, I think it's your friend, Tommy D. Naked Man."

Shepard Fairey : Too "Street" For Corporate, Too Corporate For The Street (PHOTOS)
Posted: 07/ 4/11 12:20 AM ET

Shepard Fairey has grown up before the eyes of fans, peers and would be competitors. Undaunted by criticism he gets from both sides of his chosen vocation as a globally-known street artist, the man still has a great deal to say. His art has made its way into homes, museums, wardrobes and book collections in addition to all the walls--legal and illegal--and he pays the price and gains the benefit of all of it. A living conundrum, he embodies the sharp tongued anti-establishment, anti-corporate, anti-police state ethos of his formative years, while gradually beginning to resemble the middle-aged dad who so much of the punk generation rebelled against.

He raises money for individuals and organizations advocating for the disempowered or victimized, yet street art and graffiti kids who feel marginalized in their lives call him a sellout for making commercial work. Without the credibility of major shows, arts institutions, and collectors he could never afford to employ people who help him. Yet keeping it clean and doing legal walls costs him "street cred." How exactly does one become an authority on questioning authority? You try this balancing act, and see how far you get without a scrape or two.

4 July 2011 Last updated at 10:55 ET
From the BBC

Who, What, Why: How do you graffiti-proof public art?

Spray can Graffiti may be art to some, but it is seen as a nuisance by others
Continue reading the main story

A landmark sculpture project is at risk because of spiralling costs - including the budget for keeping it graffiti-free. How do you protect public artworks from vandals?

It was meant to be a towering monument - a 50m (164ft) white horse in the fields of Kent greeting Eurostar passengers to England. But now sculptor Mark Wallinger's so-called "Angel of the South" project is at risk because of rising costs.

The price tag for the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project (ELP) has gone up from £2m to £12m, according to reports, with the budget for removing graffiti over 80 years part of the revised bill.

A Movement Defaced: Queer Street Art Fights for Legitimacy
By Jonathan Curiel
published: June 15, 2011
Jonathan Curiel on A Movement Defaced: Queer Street Art Fights for Legitmacy

Cover photo by Michael Cuffe/Warholian.

Inside his art studio in San Francisco's Bayview District, Jeremy Novy surrounds himself with the stencilwork that has burnished his reputation as a street artist of note. Of course, the koi are there. Even people who don't know his name know his aquatic vertebrates — colorful creatures that can be found on sidewalks across San Francisco, most prominently at Market and Laguna streets, where scores of the fish swirl outside the Orbit Room. In Novy's studio, though, the animals are crowded out by representations of people. Men, mostly. Queer men like the drag queen with the yellow beehive and bright red panties, and the young wrestlers grabbing each other's flesh. Then there's the stencil of a big pink erect phallus.

"That's my cock," Novy says matter-of-factly.

Mural artist Joel Richardson was paid $2,000 by the city to do a mural on a city-owned wall on Dupont just west of Lansdowne. On Tuesday, somebody -- apparently the city -- painted over it, likely as part of Rob Ford's graffiti eradication campaign.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Artist Joel Richardson says the city has painted over a popular Dupont St. mural that it paid him $2,000 to create, an apparent misfire in Mayor Rob Ford’s war on graffiti.

Hong Kong Graffiti Challenges Chinese Artist's Arrest

by Louisa Lim

May 4, 2011 (from NPR)

Tangerine

Hong Kong police are investigating criminal damage charges against artist Tangerine for graffiti of detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, which could carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail.

This graffiti, appearing all over Hong Kong, has become a political statement, more than a month after the world-famous artist was detained by the authorities at Beijing airport. The campaign could yet lead to a jail term for the young graffiti artist responsible. And that fact has led to fears about the erosion of Hong Kong's distinct freedoms, which are a legacy of its colonial past under the British.