banksy’s olympic commentary

The last round of Banksy work that cropped up had me a little bit disenchanted. But I have to say that I’m a fan of the Olympic commentary that popped up this week. I love the mattress placement in the one below.

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retna mural on houston x bowery

Retna is the latest to grace the Bowery mural space with his artwork. He just wrapped up the piece Tuesday night. I made it over there right after sunset, as the lights were coming on. A few additional looks below. Before Retna was Faile, then JR, etc., etc…

video– utah & ether

Some impressive footage of Utah and Ether painting some daytime throwups in Bankok. Why am I sharing this? I have always been fascinated by this duo. They are like the Bonnie and Clyde of Graff. They both got pinched back in 2008 after a stint in Europe, presumably after participating in the same activities depicted in the vid below. Check it.

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KATSU and some other good stuff in SoHo

The other morning I was on my way to shoot some stuff at the Jack Spade showroom on Greene. I couldn’t help by notice that KATSU had been busy in the neighborhood. These sidewalk stencils were everywhere, including at the top of the steps exiting the R train on Prince and B-way. Last I heard from the dude, he was going big at MOCA. Anyway, I’m liking the stencil campaign. It was early enough in the morning that the streets (and sidewalks) were still relatively empty, so I was able to get a few shots. I also noticed a few stickers of the variety below.

and a detail–

Along the way, I also saw this mickey mouse stencil on an express mail label. I dig it.

New Shepard Fairey video.

Check out this recently released vid featuring Shepard Fairey talking about how Obey came about. According to the video, Fairey derived some of his early inspiration from the NYC bred skate company Shut. As it so happens, I spent an afternoon back in June hanging out with Rodney and Eli (the founders of Shut) and shot the the stills (above)  for an article that was to be included in the latest HS print mag. Anyway, I thought that this video was pretty cool. It even includes some old footage of Shepard himself doing it up on a mini ramp. Check it–

Banksy’s latest

I’m wondering how long this sign will (did) stay up. Nice work, B. Off topic, I recently discovered that an amigo of mine recently acquired an invader piece, with part of the wall attached. Hahahah. Dude, it takes a lot to make me feel jealous. But, I’m just saying, I sort of wish I had some Invader work.

New York Street Art

I don’t mean to write two “I heart NY” posts in a row. But, I really enjoy the non-stop visual stimulation that occurs just walking around the City. Today I was on the way to shoot this, and I happened upon the scene pictured above (and below). I don’t know what I like more about what is going on here– several dozen trampled roses on the sidewalk, or a dog that looks like a baby deer. I think it is going to be a good weekend.

How sick is this?

EVOL is an artist that I have been following for a while. He has a knack for turning small items into cityscapes with his precision stenciling. I had the pleasure of shooting some of his work earlier this year at Volta. It was awesome to see his work in person. But his latest piece is the coolest that I have seen in a while. He excavated a field to create crisscrossing trenches, before lining them with his stenciled plywood walls. He documented the entire process on his Flickr page. Check it out.

[images: EVOL]

Happy Friday

I had myself quite a busy little night, last night. I stopped through the new location of the Hole Gallery on Bowery to see NYC graffiti legend, TAKI 183 in the flesh (and shoot his book signing for curatedmag). For fun, I put together a little animated gif above of TAKI scrawling his tag in someone’s book. I hope that it doesn’t give anyone seizures.

After the book signing, I headed across the street to the New Museum for an event with KAWS and Hennessy to celebrate the ltd. edition bottle that KAWS designed for them. ?uestlove was the DJ. It was a cool scene. Here are a couple of my favorite shots–

Above and below: ?uestlove, of The Roots.

I threw this one in just for kicks. The CK billboard hasn’t been as good, since Eva Mendez left. But I think it is funny the way that the BP and CK logos line up from this angle. Anyway, I’m a nerd.

I feel like Jakesmag has been a little bit heavier that I intended, for its first week in existence. I think it is partially a result of the fact that I have been in such a serious mood all of the time lately. I’m shooting for a bit of relaxation this weekend, so that I can tone things down a bit, if that’s ok. Have a great weekend.

Love Me calling out BNE

It is no secret that I’m not super fond of the French, generally. I mean, they basically don’t really like me either. Don’t get me wrong there are loads of great French people. I just never met most of them, I guess. Anyway, the same it true IMO when it comes to French street artists. Invader, yes. JR, yes. Guetta, no thanks. BNE, no thanks. Since when was putting a sticker with block letters everywhere (I seriously don’t think that I walked 2 blocks in paris w/o seeing another stupid BNE sticker), art. I’m sure that some people find the ubiquity alone, a form of art. I on the other hand really appreciate the latest Love Me campaign, which appears to be calling out the lamitude of BNE’s garbage sticker campaign.