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Graffiti shifts from urban blight to urban chic

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Graffiti shifts from urban blight to urban chic

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Blagojevich stencil appears in Chicago

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Blagojevich art: Graffiti stencil of disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich appears around city

Capturing the image

Evan McGinley makes a cell phone photo of a stenciled image of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in an alley just south of Washington Street between State Street and Wabash Avenue, across from Macy's in downtown Chicago. (Tribune photo by Phil Velasquez / April 30, 2009)


A mysterious mural has turned up on a half-dozen concrete… Read more

SF Chron: Graffiti judged low priority in S.F.

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Graffiti judged low priority in S.F.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Five years ago, Gideon Kramer was thrilled to be appointed to San Francisco's graffiti advisory board.

"I really thought I could make a difference," the graphic designer and 30-year city resident said Friday.

Three years into it, he resigned in disgust. He said he'd rather spend his time volunteering to help landscape local schools, as he does now. It wasn't just that graffiti was popping up faster than it could be painted over - it was that people had given up.

"People would say, 'Why do you bother? It's just going to be back tomorrow,' " he said.

San Francisco doesn't have a graffiti problem. It has a commitment problem. It isn't enough to get a few residents riled up about neighborhood taggers, or to get the police and district attorney's office…

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SF Chron: Has it come to jail time to wipe out graffiti?

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Has it come to jail time to wipe out graffiti?

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Like the city of San Francisco, North Beach resident Micki Jones is fighting a losing battle against graffiti.

"I paint it over and it is usually tagged again in 48 hours," said Jones, who covers up graffiti on her home and other buildings on her block. "It used to be weeks, but now those guys are out there every night."

When it comes to symbolic statements about a city, nothing speaks louder than the painted scrawls on walls. They say a neighborhood is either unwilling, or unable, to stop vandalism. Graffiti infuriates homeowners, degrades streets and undercuts civil pride.

And yet it happens over and over in San Francisco and has for years. How is that possible? The answers range from the economic downturn (less enforcement), to a lack of…

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AP countersues artist over famous Obama posters

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NEW YORK (AP) - The Associated Press has countersued an artist over his famous campaign posters of President Barack Obama. The AP says the image's uncredited, uncompensated use of an AP photo signals a threat to journalism.

The nonprofit news cooperative filed suit against Shepard Fairey on Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. Fairey's spokesman and lawyers had no immediate response.

Fairey sued the AP last month over his "Obama Hope" and "Obama Progress" posters, based on a 2006 picture taken for the news cooperative. He says he didn't…

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Shepard Fairey Expects New Charges in Boston - AP

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Obama Poster Artist Shepard Fairey Expects New Charges In Boston

RUSSELL CONTRERAS | March 10, 2009 06:03 PM EST | AP

BOSTON — The street artist who created the famous "Hope" poster of President Barack Obama expects to face new vandalism charges relating to the red, white and blue image, but his lawyer said Tuesday that the accusations would cover a period of time when the artist wasn't even in Boston.

The artist, Shepard Fairey, and prosecutors went before a clerk magistrate in Brighton District Court on Tuesday. The hearing was closed to the public, but Fairey's attorney, Jeffrey Wiesner,…

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Art turns ugly in squabble over 'Hope'

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Art turns ugly in squabble over 'Hope'

Friday, February 13, 2009

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First Poster Boy, Now Shepard Fairey: Watch Out at Art Openings

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Shepard Fairey Arrested In Boston

JAY LINDSAY | February 7, 2009 08:30 PM EST | AP

 

BOSTON — A street artist famous for his red, white and blue "Hope" posters of President Obama has been arrested on warrants accusing him of tagging property with graffiti, police said Saturday.

Shepard Fairey was arrested Friday night on his way to the Institute of Contemporary Art for a kickoff event for his first solo exhibition, called "Supply and Demand."

Two warrants were issued for Fairey on Jan. 24 after police determined he'd tagged property in two locations with graffiti based on the Andre the Giant street…

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AP alleges copyright infringement of Obama image

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AP alleges copyright infringement of Obama image
Feb 4 06:56 PM US/Eastern
By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

 

NEW YORK (…

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Der Spiegel: Street Art Sell Out

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12/10/2008 05:47 PM

STREET ART SELL OUT

'Guerilla' Advertising Masquerades as Graffiti

By Christian Fuchs
Original article link can be found here

Companies are increasingly turning to graffiti and street art to give themselves a more youthful image. Taggers complain that this commercialization could destroy the street art subculture.

The deed was committed in downtown Berlin in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses. Last Saturday, shortly before midnight, as crowds of revelers were underway in the city's trendy Kreuzberg neighborhood, the…

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