From 1971 to 1977, the Environmental Protection Agency asked freelance photographers to shoot images related to environmental issues that were overwhelming the turbulent ’70s. The Documerica project is a fascinating look at how various communities across America coped with the crises that plagued their small towns and big cities. While there are a fair share of disturbing moments in the striking photo series, there’s also a lot of beauty amongst the chaos. Click through to see a smoggy New York skyline that looks like sweet, perfumed death, one of the earliest electric cars, and indulge your love of dirty subway scenes. Read More »
Depicting derelict cars and graffiti-covered vans that your mama warned you to stay away from, Kevin Cyr’s hyper-detailed paintings of grimy vehicles are broken-down gems. His series ranges from random vans he documented in Brooklyn (of the Vandura, Chevy, and Econoline Chateau variety), to various delivery flatbeds, and creepy ice cream trucks. The oil (and sometimes silkscreen) works on panel are almost reminiscent of Matchbox toy cars that have been destroyed with a Sharpie — but their photorealistic details make these paintings far from a mere caricature. The inclusion of vehicles with brand logos (we’ve always loved the Utz girl) bring up questions about commercialism. Check out our gallery of Cyr’s paintings past the break.
Urban artist SABER has discovered a new place to put his graffiti: the sky. In an effort to protest a mural moratorium imposed by the Los Angeles City Council, the SoCal street-scrawler tagged the skies above his city with cryptic messages like “Upperplayground,” “Art Work Rebels,” “Art Is Not A Crime,” “End Mural Moratorium,” and in a nod to fellow graffiti-maker, Shepard Fairey, “Obey.” SABER’s skywriting project comes on the heels of MoCA’s Art in the Streets exhibit, and addresses LA’s contradictory practices of sanctioning huge billboards for ads while prohibiting large-and-small-scale murals. According to LATaco.com, the campaign is an effort to get more people to sign a petition ending the mural moratorium. As SABER claims, “Los Angeles was once the ‘Mural Capital of the World’ and [the] city should claim that title again!” See more skywriting after the jump.
Graffiti may have been around for decades, but thanks to artists like Banksy and Swoon, street art has achieved new cultural significance — which means that, for many of us, some of the most stunning works of modern art are just around the corner. Of course, the city is a big place, so unless you spend your days wandering the back-roads and alleys, it’s easy to miss some of your local street-art masterpieces. That’s why we’ve teamed with Havaianas to create an extremely handy guide to a selection of the amazing artwork in NYC, LA, and Miami that doesn’t need a museum to shine — inspired by the brand’s new limited-edition Graffiti sandals. Check out a gallery of images from the guide here, then click through for the whole thing, including printable maps.
Twenty-five years since the Chernobyl disaster, people are slowly returning to the restricted “Zone.” Yes, it’s still radioactive, but people come to maintain it, document it, and exploit it for thought provoking projects. One such visitor is photographer Alex Cheban, who focused on the abandoned town of Pripyat and its haunting graffiti.
There are patterns to the ghost town graffiti “scene.” Unsettling silhouettes of children reach for light switches in rotting buildings and play on the tallest roof in Pripyat. There are flowers blooming on the walls of the most hollowed out urban ruins. There’s even a glimmer of dark humor in the graffiti tribute to the indestructible roach, now ruling over the town’s unfinished parks and empty streets, crawling over rusted barrels and smashed billboards. See more post-Chernobyl graffiti in our gallery.
Opening this weekend, the first major American museum survey of graffiti and street art, Art in the Streets chronicles the evolution of the urban art movement from the 1970s through today. MoCA’s groundbreaking exhibit features works by dozens of working artists, including Shepard Fairey and Swoon, but for anyone who can’t make it to the show, we’ve compiled a list of must-have books on the topic. From the 1987 book Spraycan Art to The History of American Graffiti, our required reading list gives you everything you’ll need to stay informed about the past, present, and future of graffiti art across the globe.
Yesterday we reported on Theodora Richards’ brush with the law, an incident in which she was apprehended for writing graffiti. Historically the medium has been male dominated, so in appreciation of Richards’ efforts, we compiled a list of her predecessors — our ten favorite female graffiti artists from around the world. Though it’s doubtful tagging “TNA” (which she was arrested for) will ever earn her a spot on this list, it’s nice to know she’s trying, even if those attempts end with a court date. Check out our ten favorite female graffiti writers after the jump.
Our friends at Gothamist report that Theodora Richards — Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards’ 25-year-old daughter, and a successful model who has appeared in the pages of Vogue, Glamour, and Rolling Stone — was arrested last night after cops caught her tagging “TNA” on the side of a convent in SoHo with a paint marker. (Any guesses as to what that means? Perhaps she’s anti-nun?!) She was also found to be carrying around both marijuana and Xanax. Theordora is currently being held in the custody of the NYPD awaiting arraignment, which most likely will happen later today. We can’t help but wonder: When someone who is as wild as Keith Richards is your dad, should you get in trouble for this kind of (admittedly relatively tame) bad behavior, or is it simply part of your genetic code?
The first publication dedicated to the full range of work by subculture hero KAWS, this amazing eponymous monograph highlights a superstar from a new generation of pop artists.
A graffiti artist, painter, illustrator, sculptor, toymaker, and product designer, Brian Donnelly, aka KAWS, made his name altering public advertisements with X-eyed, skull-and-crossboned, spermazoidal characters, before turning his talents to editorial collaborations, collectible toy figures, design objects, and colorful canvases. A wildly successful crossover artist, KAWS cleverly makes Mickey Mouse, the Simpsons, Smurfs, and SpongeBob SquarePants anew.
L’image Obscene (The Obscene Image) examines a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, in which European medical interns use their surroundings as canvases for vivid and bawdy illustrations.
Whether decorated with crude drawings or elaborate murals, the walls of Parisian hospital break rooms are the subject of this new book by Marie L. Bouchon, with images by photographer Gilles Tondini. Featuring French text and English translations, it reveals an ephemeral practice that also provides a window into the contemporary work culture of French hospitals.
