Arab Street Art: A Vibrant Expression of Culture

Beautiful new wall faces by Cuban American contemporary artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada can be found in Argentina and Barhain! The artist, who is going to exhibit at the Guggenheim Bilabo next month, as was mentioned by RJ, is one of the founders of the New York Culture Jamming culture! Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada started replacing the faces of cultural icons chosen by advertisers with the faces of anonymous people in the late 90’s. The idea was to question the controls imposed on public space, the role models designated and the type of events that are guarded by the collective memory. For that reason, Jorge was mentioned in Naomi Klein’s book No Logo, focusing on branding, and often making connections with the anti-globalization movement. ...

In Cairo, Egyptian graffiti artists made this military street barrier disappear, by painting a fantastic mural that makes the concrete wall visually transparent! Here’s the story about the Sheikh Rihan mural: *Following deadly clashes in Tahrir that erupted last November, and resumed more than once after that, which have left over 50 civilian protesters killed, SCAF, the military ruling junta of Egypt has built walls around Tahrir square and its side streets to prevent protesters from passing around. More than 4 walls have been erected, turning Downtown Cairo to a maze-like area with citizens forced to find longer routes to cross the obstacles. ...

When Arabic Graffiti by German publisher From Here To Fame was published earlier this year, I already wrote some line about the book, because it extrapolated a totally new field of graffiti reflection. With images of the energetic Arabic calligraphy in mind I was really looking forward to get my own copy…with good reason! Arabic Graffiti is not just a great collection of astonishing artworks by different artists like L’Atlas, Sun7, eL Seed and others, but also a nice reading when it comes to Arabic script and calligraphy or public art in Middle East in general. On round about 200 colored pages, the book brings together artists, graffiti writers and typographers from around the globe who merge Arabic calligraphy with the art of graffiti writing, street art and urban culture… ...

Graffiti Magazine | Today I first got to know the graffiti mag Sandblast, which “is the first magazine to cover the Middle Eastern graffiti scene in depth.” (Invasian) Including interviews, photos and background-stories, the first issue of the Magazine which will be out in July features graffiti and its protagonists from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Egypt what’s a quite interesting thing with all the riots, protests and revolutions in mind! And also the cover whets my appetite for some more nice shots and Arabic letters on trains and walls! ...

Arabic Calligraphy | German publisher “From Here To Fame” is going to release a new book about “Arabic Graffiti”, for what reason there are some release parties planned in Berlin! The book features artworks and thoughts of local and international urban artists, graffiti writers and calligraphers, like Hassan Massoudy, Malik Anas Al-Rajab, eL Seed, Hest1, Julien Breton, L’Atlas, Aerosol Arabic, Native & ZenTwO, Zepha aka Vincent Abadie Hafez, Typism, Akut and many more! ...

Documentary | I already informed you about the upcoming new graffiti and street art documentary “Bomb It 2” and showed a first trailer. Now, the after first videos showing urban artist from Bangkok additional parts of the film are online, presenting deeper insights into the film’s concept by featuring the street artists Klone, Inspire and Know Hope in Israel! The sequel to BOMB IT, Jon Reiss’ explosive graffiti documentary which told the story of the street art movement from humble beginnings to global phenomenon. This time round, Bomb It 2 ventures into uncharted territory, reporting on the street art scene in Asia, Australia and beyond. (babelgum.com) ...

Iranian Street Art | I already wrote about Iranian street art pioneer A1one and his interesting mixture of stencil art and proper calligraphy, but today I found a great documentary by the Webistan Photo Agency in which he talks about his backgrounds, street art in Tehran, his own art and why in Iran they know that the wall graffiti and street art are important not only in Iran. In Iran, both Hip Hop and graffiti have the same age. This culture is not established yet. It’s like an child - it’s just growing but right now it’s more fight and just doing websites… (A1one) ...

Yeah, it’s time again for some urban art eye candy from the Urbanartcore Flickr-group and some very interesting stories, which are too small for an own article: L’Atlas in Berlin - French urban artist L’Atlas is in Berlin! Berlin-based street art photographer Just was on the streets with him and took some great shots… Pothole Gardening - Pete Dungey and Steve Wheen created a new way of green street art! They planted flowers in potholes… ...

Two days ago, the debut exhibition of Iranian street artists in the USA starts! The show, called “From the Streets of Iran, Works on paper by urban artists in Iran” and curated by Shervin Shahbazi, presents graffiti-based artworks, which make urbanism, political resistance, scenes of everyday people and the innocence of youth subjects of discussion. In addition to western graffiti and stencil art, the artists - ICY, SOT, FRZ, MAD, and CK1 - combine calligraphy, visual arts and revolutionary feelings to a wonderful urban mixture. ...

The global ReUse art project calls for art! It is an on-going urban, street, and domestic planning campaign endorsing urban perma-culture and renewal through artistic means. This year, ReUse will take place for the third time, this time the art exhibition will reuse an abandoned building in central Tel Aviv! Have a look at the photos from the past events with artworks by over 100 international and local artists: ReUse Project 1: Jerusalem 2007 and ReUse Project 2 - Tel Aviv 2008. ...