Moniker Art Fair pt2

More great bits from Moniker...

Bold (click in image to enlarge) 

Loved this one on board (click in image to enlarge) 

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Mmmmmm... (click in image to enlarge) 

Sunday avo (click in image to enlarge) 

Love the vase of spray can flowers (click in image to enlarge) 

Stik up high (click in image to enlarge) 

Gold leaf and glow in the dark trainers (click in image to enlarge) 

ROA reveal (click in image to enlarge) 

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London Police and Word to Mother (click in image to enlarge)

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Meeting of Styles 09 exhibition/symposium

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Well, finally got my shit together and sorted through a couple of hundred pics I took over the 2 day graffiti extravaganza. Meeting of Styles is a live, 2 day exhibition of over 80 graffiti and street artists. I was lucky enough to be shooting there for the 2 days, and it was awesome. So many styles, so many artists, so many countries represented, so much talent! It is part of an ongoing global tour that twists and changes at each leg, evolving into a premier global event.

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8 ft tall Pete Doherty (click on image to enlarge)

I have chucked a whole bunch of pics up on my flickr site, and I'll fix my favorites into sets here over the next few weeks (or when I'm running short of fresh posts).

flickr.com/photos/hamstar/sets

Enjoy, and feel free to pass on this link to who ever you think may enjoy this type of stuff. Chur...
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Tribus: An ambitious European public art project

Sweden (click image to enlarge)

Mass produced in Sweden (click image to enlarge)

Amsterdam (click image to enlarge)

Oslo (click image to enlarge)

Application at City Hall (click image to enlarge)

On location City Hall (click image to enlarge)

Mass production of Tribus (click image to enlarge)

Came across this over the weekend. Very interesting project. Not sure where the finance for an ambitious project like this comes from, but I think it's great. It's based in Norway, but now spreading through Oslo and Amsterdam.

Tribus is a sculptural tag, a mass-produced object for the street. It is a work with such a strong and direct shape and color language that a signature is unnecessary. The expression is the signature and the link between the art pieces. The ambition is to get a direct contact with the viewer. Tribus wants the viewer to experience its intervention in the public space as something positive.

Using sculpture in this context overcomes some of the obstacles that Graffiti/Street art meets where the viewer classifies the artworks as sabotage even before the visual contact. Getting people sympathetic to this project teases them to like something illegal, Something they normally would condemn. Tribus take its right without having the power. This project strives not to answer any questions, but want people to ask them.

Who owns the city?
Who owns art?

http://www.tribus.se/

Belfast bike

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Came across this image on the Woostercollective site the other day, and it reminded me of the Welly crew circa '03, especially you Otis (you low rider you...), Anyway, nice piece - not sure who the artist is tho.

New Eine in Hackney, London

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Moving a little away from his usual style super-size single letters on garage doors around London, and onto pos/neg masks. I've seen this done before (blacking out elements to create a word or numbers, but never as well as this.

Trans-Tasman exchange programme

My pic from Taranaki St, Wellington (about 4-5 years ago)

Blacklodge!!'s pic from Melbourne (this week)

Saw a piece I recognised on blacklodge!!'s flickr this morning. Thought: I recognize that! Looked thru the photos I shot in Wellington about 4 or more years ago, and sure enough...

Interesting how many of our/their artists cross the ditch to make their mark, especially to Melbourne 'cause it's so inspirational. Blacklodge!! shot some of Otis's (Mephisto Jones) in Melbourne last week too. It's up on his flickr site now, check it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebadseed/sets

Out and about - Easter in Bethnal Green

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Some pics from the streets of Bethnal Green from the other week. A lot of nice stuff going on there inc. Invader, Word to Mother and a few other fairly high profile scrawlers. Here's the first batch - more to come when time allows...

LAB's Bazaart in Bethnal Green

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Forgot to mention an exhibition I went to in March...

LAB (Little Art Book) with Randomcuts presented BAZARRT, a grand handpicked collection of original paintings, stencils, photography, pasting and installations from some of the most prolific and in demand urban and street artists around.

Housed in a massive, 5000 square foot venue in The Yard, Three Colts Lane - the heart of Bethnal Green, the exhibition began on the Thursday night, with bands, djs and live art, and ran through to Sunday evening. Unfortunately, I didn't find out about it until the Friday, so missed the opening.

Featured artists included Adam Mallett, AKINA, AlPs, AsboLuv, Ben Slow, BG Booniece, Blam, BonBon, Busk, Dan Kitchener, Dscreet, Eelus, Elfin, Eve Mulholland, Eyesaw, Fake (print release), Fark FK, Focus (print release), FORS, Gabriel Moreno, Gemma Ward, Grafter, Harry Yeff, Henry Reeve, Hutch, Ika Ooska, Inkfetish, Jilko, Jux, K-Guy, Lady Sew & Sew, Laura Ward, Lucy Tate, Luke Da Duke, Marco Marzocchi, Milo, Mishfit, Oh Death, Oliver Winconek, OTP, Pho, Pure Evil, Random Cuts, Rourke Van Dal (print release), Rugman, Snub, SPQR, Tek 13, The Krah, Vilchez (print release), VST.

A top exhibition, which included very competitively priced artwork compared to what I've been seeing around recently, combined with the opportunity to meet with some of the artist (and if you were really lucky and there at the right time even watch the artist create the work in front of your very eyes).

Looks like it's now set to be an annual event, so keep your eyes peeled around mid March 2010.

Refreshingly original style making waves

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New post from Blacklodge!! last week with this great style. The piece is from Reka & Phibs, and can be found on Rose Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne. Great retro colour-way too. When I get tired of London I think I'll relocate to Melbourne - there's just so damn much creativity oozing out of every corner if that city.

Havana 100 minutes final (review)

Monorex detail (click to enlarge)

Well, I was lucky enough to score a last minute guest list pass to Havana 100 minutes Secret Wars final at Village Underground's awesome 5,000 sqm space in Shoreditch last night (mucho gratsi Emma/Balance PR). The gig kicked off with the usual hour or so of schmoozing with free cocktails courtesy of Havana Club, fantastic finger foods from JJ Catering, and some pretty nice dj styles from dj Session & friends.

Celebrating street art and Cuban culture in a creative and original style, Monorex v Intercity art-off began about 8pm, and ran for 100 minutes with a giant projection of the logo on the far wall acting as the clock (1 of the 100 pieces disappearing every minute) until the final countdown. The cocktail barmen and waiting staff were run ragged as the arty/streety/trendy/wanky punters packed the space and consumed as much free shit as their little faces could manage.

Intercity detail (click to enlarge)

Style-wise, in my opinion, Monorex kicked Intercity's ass, with a strong, considered piece created by the 5 artists using a fantastic style and solidity of line and colour. Intercity seemed to have 5 artists all working independently of each other, using a weak, almost single weight of line and a definite naive aesthetic. The only apparent point of teamwork for Intercity was at the beginning, when they painted a giant target in the background of their area, and at the end, when they paint bombed their entire piece (and the audience) with watered down red acrylic paint balls.

Judging (click to enlarge)

Judging was carried out by some members of the judging panel, and by the audience (measured with a decibel meter.

Monorex detail (click to enlarge)

Monorex detail (click to enlarge)

The party rolled on into the night, a good time had by all. My camera is completely stuffed now, so had to rely on my phone for the pics from the night - sorry, even photoshop can't help a pic that's shite to start with. I'm sure more pics will be posted up by others soon, as soon as their rum hangover wears off...

More great stuff on the streets of Melbourne

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My man in Melbourne is definitely doing the rounds. He must be snapping every day on his way to work or something. Posting up a prolific amount of great stuff. He's managed to find some Banksy rats, and I love this TMNT piece too. Check out Blacklodge!!s pics on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebadseed/

Melbourne leaving the rest of the graffiti world behind

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Some great graph pics up on Blacklodge!!'s flickr site recently. I love what's going on in the scene over there at the moment. Melbourne excels as Australia's creative capital, and blacklodge!! has captured it nicely in his extensive street exposay. It's also fantastic that he's noted down all the locations for all of his pics too, for anyone who is there to take the tour to see the pieces for themselves.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebadseed/page7/

Blacklodge!! also belongs to an excellent flickr group called Stencil Graffiti, which has 934 members and features over 13, 000 photos. Highly recommend checking it out if stencil is your bag.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/stencilgraffiti/

New plague of rats in London

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A new plague of rats in town it would appear. Shot this one (if that's what you do with rats?) in Old Street yesterday. Banksy it aint, it's Zulu. The stencil is rather crude, as is the technique, but it had pride of place on an entire, freshly white washed wall just along from Curtain Road. Shot it with my phone, so the quality id somewhat ropey, but I like the way you can see the runs and scratches on the textured concrete.

I see your face in the clouds

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Out and about the other night I was surprised to see a rather large face staring across the road at us. Not completely proportionate, slightly skewiff (the picture - not me, fool!) there was something strangely attractive yet unattractive about this piece. So why does it look weird?

Here's a little test for you all. Enlarge the image in your browser. Now shield the majority of the face focusing on only one feature at a time. First the left eye, then the right, then the mouth (I realize the mouth is completely off center, but bear with me). Each individual feature is actually really well illustrated for a 2.5m tall aerosol painting on a roller door, but it looks like they're from 3 different subjects, or the same subject source from 3 different angles comped together to make one.

Thoughts?

Selfish Cunt

New batch of stickers up around Hoxton/Shoreditch. This has gotta be my favorite tho. Ha! Clockwork Orangesque. Dedicated to you Jonathan!

Kate Moss for knife crime

New(ish) on the streets is this nice piece for knife crime London. Around Hoxton, and I think there may be one near Camden too?