ESPO paints in Ireland

The New York Times just published an article about ESPO, who received a Fulbright scholarship to paint in Northern Ireland.
See the article for the slide show too.

Congratulations, Steve!

Philly cops charged in attack on graffiti artist

Cops break this guy's jaw, knock out some teeth, then try to cover it up. PD vows to stop the violence.

Most larger police depts in the USA seem to have a few bone breakers and shoot-first guys working for them, and those guys get most of the excessive force complaints, statistically. It would be great if these thugs could all be forced to find other jobs before they kill people. It would be REALLY GREAT if the police departments would fire them before they become front page news. When the courts have to step in to clean up the PD, the thugs should all go to jail.

If the goal is to have citizens obey the law, it's essential for the police and elected officials to toe that line and to be punished when they don't. Terrorizing citizens is not something civilized society should allow its police to do. Document, publish, and complain when you see it go down, because you could be saving lives.

Thanks to David Vernitsky for fighting this good fight in Philly. We sure hope he's recovering well from his awful injuries.

Kudos to the Philly PD for getting rid of the violent offenders on the force.

We hope the wedding-party-killing NYPD thugs don't go unpunished either. The courts really let the people down on that one, but the department is taking some internal action allegedly.

--from the article:

-AP

"Philly cops charged in attack on graffiti artist

By BOB LENTZ ? 9 hours ago

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Two Philadelphia police officers accused of beating a man they saw painting graffiti were charged Tuesday with assault and falsifying records.

[...]

Authorities say Officers Sheldon Fitzgerald and Howard Hill III broke the graffiti painter's jaw on one side and dislocated it on the other before throwing him head first into the back of a patrol car. The man was never charged with a crime.

'This is an unfortunate incident, but it is in no way a reflection on the entire department,' Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said at a news conference Tuesday. 'I do think that it is another statement that excessive force just will not be tolerated in our department.'

District Attorney Lynne Abraham said her office completed its investigation into the attack on David Vernitsky earlier this month after receiving a complaint of excessive force in November.

Vernitsky had attended a wedding and was spray-painting congratulations to the couple on the wall of a beauty supply house in the city's Feltonville section when police saw him, officials said.

Vernitsky fled, but the officers caught up and beat him, kicking him in the groin, bruising his face and ribs, and knocking out three teeth, Abraham said at the news conference.

The officers released Vernitsky after they checked for outstanding warrants and found none, officials said. The 36-year-old Philadelphia man was taken by friends to a hospital, where he stayed a few days, Abraham said.

The officers didn't document their contact with Vernitsky. Instead, officials said, the pair made a false entry in their log showing they were elsewhere at the time of the beating.

Fitzgerald and Hill were suspended without pay pending trial, Ramsey said. The pair was notified of the charges Tuesday and have 72 hours to turn themselves in.

[...]

The officers, who have been on the force five years each, face charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, tampering with public records and conspiracy.

Earlier this month, a television news helicopter videotaped 18 city police officers and a transit officer kicking and beating three shooting suspects as they were dragged from their car. Ramsey said last week that four officers would be fired and four others disciplined for their roles in the beatings."

-AP

Paint and sperm trouble

Some paint and solvent ingredients (some types of glycol ether) are reportedly responsible for low sperm quality (infertility) problems in men, according to a British study. Unfortunately the article doesn't seem to link to the study or name it, so it's hard to find out which glycol ethers are now known to be at fault. A quick search online for [MSDS spray paint glycol ether] seems to indicate that many spray paints also have forms of glycol ether in them, as apparently do the water-based paint (latex?) mentioned in the article. There's no indication whether the impairment is permanent or will wear off after exposure stops, so best to err on the side of safety. We've long known that spray paint is dangerous to the central nervous system over time, not to mention lungs of course, so the smart move is to wear good protection.

Definitely wear those respirators that can help protect you from paint. Dust masks are useless except for the largest droplets. They won't protect you from the solvents.

A British study suggests that men routinely exposed to chemicals found in paint may be more likely to experience fertility problems.

The research found that men, such as painters and decorators, who work with glycol solvents are two-and-a-half times more likely to produce lower levels of "normal" sperm.

The study, a joint research project between the Universities of Manchester and Sheffield, examined more than 2,000 men attending 14 fertility clinics. The research found identified a wide variety of other chemicals that did not impact fertility.

Laser-etched decks

Refill magazine, which focuses on our kind of artists, has curated some laser-etched skate decks. The one by Aaron Horkey (Abuse) is spectacular.

via BoingBoing

Hieroglyphic Collages - Steven Travis

May 27 - June 21, 2008

Amos Eno Gallery
530 W 25th St. 6th floor
NY NY 10001
212 226-5342

Steven is not a writer but he works with lettering and calligraphy in interesting ways.

Erik DeBat "Risk" - Chicago - Time-lapse mural

Toronto declares legal mural not art, must go

This is absurd. If graffiti is defined as illegal marking, then legally done artwork is the obvious alternative. There's always so much shouting about permission (or purchase) being the salient difference. A commissioned mural is just that.

To instead censor work based on an aesthetic, a tool, lettering content, or (dare we say it) ethnicity or socio-economic status of the artists (real or imagined) is so Dark Ages.

Luckily, you can comment about this at the Toronto Sun (comment form is hidden under the talk back image).

Barcodes in Artwork (and graffiti)

Quite interesting.

Website selling freight photos is violating writers' copyrights

This isn't the first idiot selling artwork that doesn't belong to him online, and he probably won't be the last. It's amazing though that people doing this crap are so ignorant about copyright law. You'd think they would worry, since it's so expensive to violate.

Please take a moment to write and educate him. Ask your lawyer to send a cease and desist letter if your work is being exploited without your permission (to help protect your identity and your rights). If dude sells your artwork, he owes you 100% of the money for violating your copyright, at a minimum. Any lawyer for the arts can take care of this for you.

Given how seriously copyright is being prosecuted these days, it should be easy to have his hosting company boot him for this as well, if the cease and desist doesn't work immediately.

Copyright happens the moment an artist creates something. It is not something you have to apply for and it's not something that disappears because of the legal status of the work.

copyright.gov

Illegal Only magazine from Poland

Another great graffiti magazine has recently come out of Poland, Illegal Only. It is free, downloadable, Mac/Windows - Flash. This format is really cool, because the pages turn quickly and it has some music and video also.

But the best thing is the photography.

Issue 3 features Odessa, Ukraine, and it's something you've got to see. Here is a taste:



Of course they want your artful bombing photos too.

Blu: Muto - Buenos Aires - graffiti animation

Blu has released parts of this before, but this is a much more involved version than I've seen previously. Mind boggling technique.

China's All-Seeing Eye

[Shenzhen] "Over the past two years, some 200,000 surveillance cameras have been installed throughout the city. Many are in public spaces, disguised as lampposts. The closed-circuit TV cameras will soon be connected to a single, nationwide network, an all-seeing system that will be capable of tracking and identifying anyone who comes within its range -- a project driven in part by U.S. technology and investment. Over the next three years, Chinese security executives predict they will install as many as 2 million CCTVs in Shenzhen, which would make it the most watched city in the world. (Security-crazy London boasts only half a million surveillance cameras.)

"The security cameras are just one part of a much broader high-tech surveillance and censorship program known in China as "Golden Shield." The end goal is to use the latest people-tracking technology -- thoughtfully supplied by American giants like IBM, Honeywell and General Electric -- to create an airtight consumer cocoon: a place where Visa cards, Adidas sneakers, China Mobile cellphones, McDonald's Happy Meals, Tsingtao beer and UPS delivery (to name just a few of the official sponsors of the Beijing Olympics) can be enjoyed under the unblinking eye of the state, without the threat of democracy breaking out. With political unrest on the rise across China, the government hopes to use the surveillance shield to identify and counteract dissent before it explodes into a mass movement like the one that grabbed the world's attention at Tiananmen Square.

"Remember how we've always been told that free markets and free people go hand in hand? That was a lie. It turns out that the most efficient delivery system for capitalism is actually a communist-style police state, fortressed with American "homeland security" technologies, pumped up with "war on terror" rhetoric."


- A fascinating article on many levels. Think: Corporations profit at the expense of Chinese people's subjugation to the state. Our cities are next. After the corporations and governments can see all of us all the time, we'll all be completely safe, and all our shopping needs will be attended to before we even know it.

Favela Painting - Brazil

'Favela Painting: Rio Cruzeiro?, is a 2000m2 painting of a river in traditional Japanese style running through Vila Cruzeiro, one of the most notorious slums in Rio de Janeiro. The design was made in collaboration with the Amsterdam based tattoo artist Rob Admiraal. When we are not hiding from gunbattles between the local drug gang and the police, we are working on the insanely huge painting together with a group of local youths. Depending on the weather and the political situation we hope to finish the painting within the next couple of months.

We just came back from a short trip to Holland during which we did several interviews and appeared on television twice. First during a 35 minute documentary about our Favela Painting project and later on a very popular breakfast show. On our flight back, flying over Rio, we were surprised to see our new painting clearly from the skies.

After completing the painting we are going to work on our traveling exhibition about the project. To learn more about the project or to find out how you can contribute, check our website www.favelapainting.com with tons of new information, images and video?s.

Greetings from Rio de Janeiro,
Jeroen Koolhaas & Dre Urhahn

The last graffiti artist

- Ruskig and Angest, in Malmo

Color - It's okay to express yourself, in the closet or garage

Just ask the Swiss Embassy.

"Perhaps we need to follow the example of the Swiss embassy in London, where a recent much-publicized party revealed a secret that its staff had enjoyed privately for years - its underground parking garage is not a dull white wasteland but a place full of colour and commentary.

"In 2001, then-ambassador Bruno Spinner had invited local graffiti artists to create what was supposed to be a temporary installation, but it proved too irresistible to whitewash."

[...]

"Back at the Swiss embassy in London, one of the contributing artists, Banksy, has become so famous in the seven years since the graffiti installation was created that his part of it (which includes 21 profiles of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin sporting a Mohawk and a Mona Lisa with a rifle range stencilled on her forehead) is estimated to be worth £1-million."

"Which is, no doubt, a lot more valuable than all of the granite, marble and embellishments in the embassy's front hall put together."

Of course, there's no photo in the article. And the article goes on about the adventures of conservative people painting bright colors in closets for secret thrills. London does seem the perfect place for a Banksy in the old pantry or a perky little painted car park.

Go ahead ... live a little. Gray is for battleships.

Daniel Dociu - Guild Wars artist

Extraordinary game illustration you really should see, in an interview with its creator, Daniel Dociu on BLDG. As you marvel at the deep worlds he's created, consider that he's doing it with little more than his big imagination, a little charcoal, and Photoshop.

Blek le Rat - new book

Blek le Rat - Getting Through the Walls, published by Thames & Hudson.



Blek le Rat is one of the most influential figures in the world of street art, who is said to have inspired Banksy.

Also, photos of his installation from May 7 at The Conran Shop, Fulham Road, London, by Paul Jenkins.

These look to be pasted up stenciled material of some kind.





Thanks to Mark and Amy.

Interview with MICO

Free Daze (UK) - UPDATE

UPDATE: Daze was freed from prison this week after his case went to appeal court. The protests helped to raise the profile of his case and generated lots of support mail from around the world.

---

Graffiti writer Daze (Gary Shields) from the UK was jailed in March for 28 months at Ayr Sheriff Court. This was for eight offences.

A protest and appeal are aimed at getting this ridiculously long sentence reduced. See the link for details and current petitions.

[Note that this is not the same Daze whose painting appears on Art Crimes' front page this month.]

Time-lapse Slick/Persue/Brisk/OG Able

fun in Southern California

The Gateway project: Crol and Werk with Victor Ochoa

Os Gemeos - pictures from their Madrid show

These photos of the February show in Madrid make it obvious why Os Gemeos are so popular. Their work is just plain fun -- both for them and for the lucky audience.

Invader in Kathmandu

Miss Van

Miss Van has some nice things on show and for sale here.

Graffiti LA

This great website supports the book of the same name. There is lots of LA history online here, and it's a great read. The book is amazing and huge. You must get one. It has more than 900 pictures, including a CD-ROM. The website has additional material and commentary.

Estria's skinny cap (stencil tip) tutorial [updated]

Correct info, from the site: "In 1986 Crayone TWS and Razor KTD first introduced Estria to the Skinny Cap. Razor was the first to conceive of it." (San Francisco Bay Area)

This type of detail cap has spread to Europe and beyond over the decades.

Here's the first public tutorial on home made skinny caps.

Be forewarned: Using these can be incredibly messy. You will get paint all over yourself until you get the hang of it. Wear gloves and trashed shoes. On the upside, you'll have plenty of loose paint for those nice splatter effects.

Twist (Barry McGee) interview

via Rory Ahern - VICE/VBS.tv

London: Ron English billboards

Overnight two RON ENGLISH billboards have appeared in West London.

The exact locations are:

1) the corner of Harrow Road and Hythe Road (next to the Texaco station)

2) outside Willesden tube station.

[please send photos!!]

also, from Elms Lesters Painting room (where they are now showing)

The Adam and Ron show catalogue

Hundreds of fans queued for the catalogue signing, here at the gallery this
morning, with Adam Neate and Ron English.

Unsigned catalogues are still available from the gallery or by post.

Ring the gallery on 00 44 20 7836 6747 to reserve one.

The show continues until Saturday 31st. May.

Opening hours:
Tuesday - Saturday 12 - 6pm
Thursdays 'til 9pm

See the link for upcoming London show info: Delta, WK Interact, Anthony Lister, Jose Parla!

London: Banksy tunnel - this weekend only [updated]

"Graffiti artist Banksy has turned a south London tunnel into a half-mile long exhibition space, but the elusive artist kept its location secret until the last minute, reported the BBC. Banksy marshaled more than three dozen international artists for what he's calling the "Cans Festival" - and is encouraging visitors to contribute their own graffiti starting Saturday.

Members of the public are being invited to take part in Banksy's latest project in London, as an army of graffiti writers turn a whole street into an art exhibition. "

More: www.thecansfestival.com

UPDATE: on Flickr