News Articles
Arab Art Breaks Spell of Oppression
How Arab revolutionary art helped break the spell of political oppression
Graffiti, murals and other dissident art have transformed public spaces and mobilised public opinion in the Middle East
Julia Rampen and Laurie Tuffrey
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 5 May 2012 08.00 EDT
Article found here
In January 2011 the Tunisian dictator Ben Ali fled Tunisia. Ten months later, his giant smiling face appeared on the side of a building in the busy port city of La Goulette. At first people just gathered beneath it and stared. Then they started to get angry. Urged on by the crowd, a group of men pulled the dictator's image down. The poster crumpled – and revealed a second poster: "Beware, dictatorship can return. On Oct 23rd, VOTE."
Half-ad, half-performance, this was one of the…
Read moreAt 23, the Spray Man Becomes Syrian Liberation Graffiti Matyr
A Syrian Graffiti Artist, Defiant Until Death
Original Article appears here
They called him "the spray man" for his graffiti that appeared all over the Syrian capital of Damascus. But in truth, 23-year-old Nour Hatem Zahra was an activist like any other activist.
He started protesting in Syria last spring. Back then, the opposition thought it would only take a few months to get rid of President Bashar Assad, as it had in Tunisia and Egypt.
Then Syrian forces started killing protesters, detaining them, torturing them. And the people started fighting back.
But still, there was Nour Hatem Zahra and his friends — organizing protests, hiding activists from the dreaded security forces, ferrying medical supplies to those who were injured but terrified…
Read moreRed Goat Stencils Cause a Stir in NY
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.
It’s not entirely clear what the red goats mean. It’s not entirely clear they mean anything. But as an object lesson of how fast images can spread in the…
Read moreShameless Marketing Blog Post About Movie Stencil Ad
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…
Read moreMad Graffiti Week in Egypt and Beyond
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…
Read moreNew Yorker: Tahir Square (EG) Year in Graffiti
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/01/tahrir-square-a-…
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…
Read moreHanksy: Weirdest Interview Ever
EXCLUSIVE! AN INTERVIEW WITH HANKSY
by Reverend Jen
original article: http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/jen/reverend-jen-hanksy-art-s…
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?"
"…
Read moreRojo and Harrington Interview Shepard Fairey
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…
Read moreHow do you graffiti-proof public art?
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.
Keeping outdoor artworks like sculptures and murals unsullied by vandalism…
Read moreJeremy Novy - Queer Street Art
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,…
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