Documentary Films: Exploring Graffiti, Street Art & Urban Art

Art Market Documentary | “WTF? Another Banksy documentary?”, was what I thought when I recently stumbled upon “How to sell a Banksy”! But after I watched the trailer and read the synopsis I became aware, that this film is not about Bansky, but about the crazy institution of the international art market… Banksy’s work now reportedly changes hands for millions. But he puts up his street art for free. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you got your hands on one of these? Does it mean you’ve found a winning lottery ticket or just scraped some worthless crap off a wall? ...

Mural Art | After Spanish graffiti and street artist Aryz painted his concrete wall, Barcelona-based GR170 is the next artist participating in the “Concrete Walls” project! GR170 was born, and now paints and lives, in the outskirts of Barcelona. He began painting in 2001, and now considers himself to be a painting addict, who loves painting on the streets, and the stale smell of plastic (paint) in the morning. Due to the zero tolerance police, and the hypocrisy of the government bodies behind it, the creation of murals on the streets of Barcelona has become more and more restricted. For this, and other, reasons, the majority of murals created are illegal, and done with no profit in mind, in abandoned factories, tunnels, motorway bridges, and any other places with big cement walls which are not watched over by police. (mtn-world.com) ...

Some days ago, I received an interesting book about street art in South America or more precisely Buenos Aires! Matt Fox-Tucker and Guilherme Zauith present in “Textura Dos - Buenos Aires Street Art” their impressions from the streets of the Argentinian capital and its neighborhoods on about 140 colorful pages. After “Graffiti Argentina” this is just the second book I know which documents the colorful urban artworks in Argentina. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city with a vibrant street art scene attracting some of the world’s best graffiti artists. Matt Fox-Tucker has spent more than six months exploring the city’s 48 neighbourhoods documenting and photographing the incredible murals, stencils and graffiti textures that decorate the surfaces of its offices, shops, factories and homes, and touch the lives of the people around them. (buenosairesstreetart.com) ...

Yesterday I received a nice e-mail by two French film-makers you informed me about their new urban documentary series “Streetosphere” about the surprising urban cultures in Europe. The first episode will take place in Paris. After that, many cities will be discovered in Europe. Each episode is 26 minutes long. We Discover the city with people who use the urban space to make insolite actions. We want to have a poetic approach in a dynamic program. (Sterenn Films) ...

Graffiti Documentary | Another trainwriting film premiers in Berlin: February 2nd, Unlike U - Trainwriting in Berlin will be shown first at the Babylon cinema in Berlin-Mitte. Unlike U portrais four generations of sprayers in Berlin, of which the oldest of the hardcore artists is already over 40 years old, while the youngest are around 17. All protagonists have one thing in common. Each one has sprayed countless trains in their lives, some of them even over a 1000. ...

Urban Art Films | We all know these fantastic painted animations and time-lapse documentations by famous mural artist Blu. If not, you should check Blu’s “Big Bag Big Boom” animation or his “Combo Collab Animation” with David Ellis! After I featured him on my list of the “Top Urban Artists 2010”, Blu now published his first DVD, containing a collection of videos made during the last 10 years, including interesting footage of the creations of his large-scale mural artworks as well as the well-known wall-painted animations and over 40 minutes of extra contents! ...

New York Underground | Steve Duncan seems to become a new super hero for all the urban explorers out there. The New York based urban historian and photographer and his videographer Andrew Wonder recently published their Undercity film, which documents their adventures in the underground of New York City. More Urban Exploration Photography: Waiting for the video to load? Check out some of the world’s greatest urban exploration photographers and be impressed! ...

A lot of reknown urban artist, like Herakut, El Mac, Augustine Kofie and Remi/Rough already painted live in Jaybo’s Project Room in Berlin. Now, the master himself invited to watch him paint at the Soto Berlin shop. He painted simultaneously three artworks in front of an audience. Unfortunately I missed this event, so I have no new “Urban Artist in Action” shots for you… Nevertheless, Jaybo’s live painting was recorded and for that reason there is this really nice short video online. Have fun watching the master painting! ...

Graffiti Documentary | All parts of the popular street art and graffiti documentary Bomb It 2 are online now! Now you are able to watch the street artists Klone, Inspire and Know Hope in Israel and Phibs from Everfresh and Twoone in Australia as well as Great, Bates, Victor Ash and HuskMitNavn in Copenhagen, Zero in Singapore, and many, many more! Just wanted to let you know that the final episodes of Bomb It 2, which has seen Jonathan Reiss and his crew travel to Asia, Australia, the Middle East and the beyond, exploring the local graffiti scenes and speaking to local artists will be going live today! (via e-mail) ...

Mural Art | I can’t understand anything but I really love that brilliant video showing Spanish graffiti and street artist Aryz painting a concrete wall in Barcelona earlier this year as a part of the Concrete Walls Project! Living in Barcelona, he got in contact with the local, very creative and inspiring street art scene early and developed an own, unique characters style. Now, he is well-known around Europe for his amazing murals and pieces (just remember that beautiful work he did together with Smash137!) that he uses spray-cans as well as paint rollers and brushes for. ...