American Street Art: Murals, Graffiti & More

Remember the yarn-bombed Wall Street Bull? Now, Polish street artist Olek struck again when she covered the almost 9 meters tall memorial statue of Albert Einstein at the National Academy of Science in Washington DC! Unfortunately, the city cleaned the yarn-bombed Einstein within hours… Olek says Einstein, for her, was an easy choice since he was such a creative thinker himself. “I thought he might have a sense of humor about it,” she says. […] Presumably this kind of thing is par for the course when you’re a guerrilla yarn-bomber. (Washingtonian) ...

What happens when a city declares war on graffiti? That’s one of the questions, the documentary Between the Lines, a film about a group of Toronto street artists who find new meaning in their work as they defend it against Mayor Rob Ford’s War on Graffiti, is going to answer! As mentioned by thegridto.com, Toronto’s Mayor Ford is making sure that everyone knows that he hates graffiti and street art since he took office in late 2010: He’s since gone so far as to slap on the coveralls himself to power-blast it from the walls of the city and herald a new mobile app that lets Torontonians report what they deem to be unsightly scribbles and murals themselves. ...

This fall, the Manhattan auction house Doyle New York is going to host New York’s first art auction dedicated to street art and graffiti! This street art auction’s aim is to span the late 1970s through the present day, for what reason Doyle New York is currently seeking works to feature by such artists as Shepard Fairey, Banksy, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, KAWS, Os Gemeos, David Choe, Faile, Barry McGee, Zephyr, Dr. Lakra, Swoon, Lady Pink, Dash Snow, Futura 2000, Crash, Ron English, D*Face, Seen, Dondi White, and many more… ...

Some weeks ago I informed you about the brilliant anamorphic mural paintings by Spanish Boa Mistura crew, now they published the corresponding video documentary! Boa Mistura’s project Luz Nas Vielas has been carried out in Vila Brasilândia, São Paulo, during January 2012. The project is part of the Crossroads series: Boa Mistura’s participative urban art interventions to modify rundown communities using art as a tool for change and inspiration. Between the 4th and 16th of January BOA MISTURA had the opportunity to live in Brasilândia, hosted by the Gonçalves family, having this way direct contact with the community. After preliminary studies and analysis, the defined framework are the narrow and winding streets that connects the urban net, known as Vielas and Becos. The dialogue with residents and their active participation has been decisive for the Project. Beleza, Firmeza, Amor, Docura andOrgulho are the concepts chosen by the collective for the interventions. ...

I’m pretty sure, some of you already heard about the international Park(ing) Day, right?! The idea behind this interventional project is the create temporary parks throughout the cities around the world, but of course you can build those parks whenever you like… …like Joe Baldwin together with the Altgeld Sawyer Corner Farm did in Chicago back in 2011. For a few hours, he turned nearly an entire Logan Square street block into a 280 square meters urban park: ...

Two of my favorite urban artists, namely Mr 2011 TED Prize winner JR and Mr next level tagging José Parla, recently teamed-up for the next part of the Wrinkles of the City Project - this time they created murals in Havana! For Wrinkles of the City, JR usually portraits elderly people, representing the memory of the city he picks for its interesting past, talks to them and pasts these portraits, printed in monumental sizes, in the very same city in various places that inspire JR and also represent the city heritage. This time, José Parla goes along with him contributing his amazing abstract typography skills. The combination of the large scale portrait photography works of JR and the stunning calligraphy art of José Parla is just beautiful and results in amazing eye-catchers with even more impact than their both works by itself does already. Take a look and share your love! ...

In my eyes, Augustine Kofie is one of the of best graffiti dudes of our time. His close-knit to graffiti writing on the one side and architectural-inspired drafting concepts attracts not just me, but many people around the - I know that. My work is me! Back in 2011, Kofie was invited to paint at the Art Basel Miami event. During his painting progress, MTN got the chance to talk with him about his influences, ideas and his work in general. Combined with some nice impressions from Kofie’s wall and progress in Miami, the is a nice, brief self-introduction of Augustine Kofie and one of the best, if not the best interview with him as graffuturism.com mentioned. Keep drafting! ...

After the analog Urban Art Guide Vienna, the All City Street Art App, the Geo Street Art iPhone App and the Adidas Urban Art Guide, now also Buenos Aires got its first street art map! Street Art Map is a project dedicated to gathering, locating and preserving the street art movement in Argentina through photographs. Similar to all the other apps and websites, also the Street Art Map Argentina covers just a limited area. Providing a interactive (Google) map as usual, the project allows volunteers to submit their own photos. ...

Shepard Fairy aka Obey The Giant is not just the head behind the well-known Obama election poster and this cover for Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2011 issue. No, he also is one of the early-birds of the international street art movement, a true legend if you like to call it that way and for that reason got his tribute in one of the latest The Simpsons episodes! Now, Shepard is going to get his own first film: Obey The Giant - The Shepard Fairey biopic… ...

The massive paint attack which took place two years ago at Rosenthaler Platz in Berlin, was one of the most impressing urban art interventions I’ve seen so far in town. Organized and executed by Dutch performance artist Iepe Rubingh and his team, the so-called Painting Reality project recently was the force behind a similar paint attack in Sao Paulo… Painting Reality in Brazil As a part of the Baixo Centro Festival which took place during the last week in Brazil’s biggest metropolis, a group of activists tipped out several buckets of colorful paint on a much used junction and started in that way the great process of an urban live painting, using cars, bikes and pedestrians as brushes, spreading the paint all over the streets! Again it’s just amazing to see how easily you can color your city and have a lot of fun. ...