More Street Art Than You Can Imagine

If this blog has whet your appetite for more street art graphics, l urge you to go to one of the best archives of this art; it also including articles from the original e-zine "Graffiti Observer". 
                                              See www.sohobooks.net
                               We welcome your comments and critiques.

two of the best "pieces" l've ever seen

varieties of graf

for purposes of this blog & to eliminate confusion about what kind of street art l'm writing here about, l'll call the varieties of graphics produced on exterior walls "graf". in the posts below l've presented three general categories, or really four; "writing and stencils" contains a photo of writing & stencil combined, whereby the writing is little more than just words or scribbles written in unadorned line form; the "tags" are adorned writing, often the names of graf writers' groups, so adorned way, though beautiful, they are often difficult to read, and it is what most think of when they hear the word "graffiti" since it was the type of graf that first  gained attention, on subway cars in NYC in the 1970s & 80s; "stencils", are just that, created in a studio and then spray painted onto a wall so a black image results; this is the main type of graf depicted in the documentary film - "Exit Through The Gift Shop" - and used mostly by the two currently most renowned graf artists in the world - Fairey & Banksy. "pieces" are more depictions of things, e.g., cars, and people, and have a great deal of variety, e.g., the top "piece" shown is an illusory shadow, the second is a realistic face painted on a metal storefront shutter, the third is done to be so realistic that you have the illusion the people are real, and the fourth is a very realistic interpretation of famous people. directly to the right, are three more examples of graf l'm not sure how to classify, but certainly deserving of being in the family of graf

"pieces"

tags

writing & stencils

Homeless on the streets of USA

The top photo l took about 20 years ago in SOHO, NYC and included in my book "Below 14th Street" as a way of showing, in the biggest, liberal city, even in it's hip-chic areas, people were in desperation, living on handouts, and on the street; the bottom photo l lifted from the south Florida newspaper SunSentinel, today, under the headline (front page) "S. Florida struggles with the homeless.... the bad economy continues to push more and more people into the streets." And, of course, this is the situation throughout our country, then, and especially now. Have you heard any politicians talk about, much less offer solutions. (See debates on extension of unemployment payments, reductions in Medicaid, etc. how much the rich should have to pay to help cover the needs of the poor, sick, homeless...maybe an extra 3 or 4% of their earnings over $250, 000/yr.) l have to say l'm becoming more and more ashamed of this country's...my country's... growing heartlessness. l don't even want to get started on the tragedy in Tuscon. l am sticking here closer to this blogs' original raison d'etre. after all, where do you tend to find the most graffiti, but in the most distressed, most under cared for urban neighborhoods, places you'd likely see the homeless. (see street scene below)

not your "nice neighborhood" street

A STREET SCENE I 'D RATHER NOT SEE

Don't like to write too much without pictures, and thought this would be most appropriate as a lead to my next blog, soon, on the places most street art in the sense of graf is found...the ghettos of the world.

Exit Through The Gift Shop

If you haven't seen the movie of the title above, and you are interested in the contemporary art world and/or graffiti...see it. l bring it up now because of a recent news story in the NYTimes about it, one of many l've read about it. It is presented as a documentary on the contemporary street art/graffiti  scene, and there is some good documentary footage on how the graf artists ....some of them... create, and where & how. it seems to me to also be a put-on about who is creating under whose name. the key manipulator is probably Banksy, the most highly regarded of street artists, at the moment...and it's been out about a year...anyway, there have been many articles about the film, particularly about it's truthfulness. now the producers including Banksy are being sued by someone who wants credit for work on the film he didn't get. (l've sometimes been accused of the same thing). whether a put on or not - the movie is a great commentary on the art world...l recommend it.

one more thing: this movie supposedly portrays the incredible functioning of a street art follower/photographer which to a large extent is what l am, the guy writing this blog. and, where he supposedly started in 1999 (mentioned in the movie) that was the publishing date of my first book of street art, after 20 years of producing the photos in it, most of which you can see at www.sohobooks.net. Be back, soon.