In the 1970s, The East Los Streetscapers promoted the idea that graffiti muralism was part of the struggle to claim urban space. This concept was shared by the Los Angeles Fine Art Squad, a group of artists also taking art to the street using murals. This activist...
OFF THE WALL
STREET ART ALIVE
STREET ART ALIVE is a 25,000 sq. ft. immersive “multi-sensory art and culture experience” that presents Street Art from Los Angeles and other major cities around the world. The interior entrance to the show features a recreation of an ‘80s New York City subway station...
Book Review: STREET ART & SOCCER "The Chosen Few: Aesthetics and Ideology in Football Fan Graffiti and Street Art" By Mitja Velikonja
The Chosen Few: Aesthetics and Ideology in Football Fan Graffiti and Street Art By Mitja Velikonja 176 pages DoppelHouse Press Graffiti and street art are often considered synonymous since they affect the urban environment in similar ways. But graffiti is...
WAYS OF NOT SEEING
If, as John Berger writes, “Oil painting… is a celebration of private property”, then Street Art is the equally joyous appreciation of public property. This difference is due to the nature of the work and their contrasting environments: Graffiti beats the streets...
CURFEW: WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ WALL
Heaven’s gate doesn’t separate life and death like the U.S.-Mexican border. And if the rhetoric and rifles weren’t forcibly obvious symbols, the new pedestrian crossing from San Ysidro into Tijuana is unambiguously penal. A cattle stockade. While the debate over the...
CURFEW
My previous column ended with a quote by French graffiti artist Tilt: “The pop culture war is over. America, you won,” along with my wish “Let’s just hope we lose the street art war.” Far from being a Francophile (I don’t love Paris), I harangued against the sameness...