Simpsons graffiti

Simpsons graffiti murals spotted in Vancouver, apparently commemorating the 2010 winter Olympics. Laughing Squid has more.

Turf war: Street artists v. guerrilla marketers

Via Wooster.

Free Banksy!

Banksy has made several of his most famous images available as free downloads. Note from the artist: "Prints look best when done on gloss paper using the company printer ink when everyone else is at lunch." (Via MeFi.)

Urban Wandjina: Aboriginal Street-Art

When approaching an image of Wandjina, the spirits that are believed to have created the Aboriginal tribes of the Kimberley on Australia's northwest coast, certain protocols should be followed: typically, a shout out to warn the Wandjina of your approach is appropriate.

Stenciling or spraypainting the image on city walls is not.

Only a select group of Aboriginal elders have permission to paint the spirits' image, and they typically do it on tree bark or cliff walls; nonetheless, Wandjina art, most notably appearing on ancient rock art (above), is appearing on alleyways and carparks in Perth, prompting concern from some Aboriginal elders.

Mike Donaldson, president of the Kimberley society, says, "This person shouldn't be doing graffiti, that's the bottom line... but from my perspective, it does raise the awareness of Aboriginal culture."

It reminds me of Tame Iti, a controversial Maori activist, whose moko has helped lead a resurgence in full-facial tattooing among Maori men. Like the Wandjina image, application of the moko is reserved only for Maori who undergo spiritual rituals and can't be inked by just anyone; despite this, the moko has appeared on faces of many colors and geographies, more as fashion than spiritual marker. But perhaps a more appropriate parallel to the Wandjina graffiti is Iti's work with indigenous Maori music. The co-creator of (( the open project )), a program promoting creative collaboration across cultures through music, film, and art, Iti combines traditional Tuhoe chants with hip-hop beats to make the music more relevant to new generations. Whether the Wandjina graffiti does more than provide a quick reminder of Aboriginal creation myths or if it's a reflection of the increasing urbanization of the Kimberley's indigenous people, the conversation about translating traditional themes in new mediums is undoubtedly a worthwhile one.



Images: top, all others.

Brand-name trash

While not all that original--Adbusters ran some images a few years back of trash bags covered with the Louis Vuitton logo--I like the sentiment. Rene Gagnon created this "top dollar garbage" stencil as "a statement about the value we put on things because there is a pattern associated with it, coach, gucci, doony and bourke..." It also suggests, from a dumpster-diver's perspective, that there's gold in them thar bins, as fickle consumers toss items they grow bored with or figure it's easier to buy something new rather than fix the damaged old one you've already got. Below, a different artist's logo-covered dumpster from early 2006, via Stencil Revolution.

Projecting Fear

Wooster points out a guerrilla projection project done by Miami-based activist/artist Ivan Martinez, in which he "runs scared" through the streets typing in his fears--our collective fears?--which are then projected on building facades. This one, projected on what appears to be either a museum or a condo bloc (or, given the unabated condo blitz here in MPLS, maybe I'm--ahem--projecting), reads:

"WOW! How much did this cost? Looks nice, can me and a couple hundred of my homeless friends live in it?"

Found

Toronto street art. "Bush = Hitler" is (still) a stretch, but...

On View: Barry McGee

Via Unbeige, an excuse to show more images by Barry McGee, the exhibition Do Not Stack at LA's Robers & Tilton.

Written on the city.

Earnest, sometimes funny, occasionally profane, and once-in-a-while surprising: text-based graffiti compiled at written on the city. Especially bizarre is this series of flyers in San Francisco expressing CIA paranoia.

Earlier: Written on North Minneapolis, "Love thy bro."

Banksy Industries

As street-artist/provocateur Banksy sees prices for his artwork go through the roof, his streetside guerrilla stencils are in demand too. So much so a group of men dressed as workmen recently entered a run-down building in Liverpool in a foiled attempt to steal a rusted door marked with one of the artist's signature rat pieces.

Banksy's new works, on view in a new show on London's Oxford Street called Santa's Ghetto, include a piece (reportedly bought by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) in which Michael Jackson appears in a reimagining of Hansel and Gretel.