Global Graphica

An enigmatic, simple and crudely-rendered image on Ludlow St., in the Lower East Side, drawn as if by a child with precocious ambitions and talent for visual commentary. In this street-art poster, an Apple iPhone is as much an unhealthy chemical vice as coffee and liquor. Love it.

An ad for the new Massive Attack album has been banned by the London Underground authorities on the grounds that is looks too much like street art. The advert is for the Brtistol group latest CD “Heligoland” and was to have been displayed in “tube” (subway) stations throughout the British capital. But because the album’s cover art looks too much like the “graffiti” art of popular street artists such as Banksy, it has been deemed unacceptable. The art work in question was created by one of the band’s members, Robert “3D” Del Naja.

Getting word from World Famous Design Junkies about a new street-art poster series called American Pioneers from Shepard Fairey and the OBEY team. Fairey is collaborating with legendary RnB singer Smokey Robinson on a dope new poster.

A recent entry on the Tumblr blogscape: Hipster Puppies. Says what it is. Cute, funny, droll. Must see.

The exterior wall of vintage clothing shop 11 (Eleven) at the corner of Prince and Elizabeth streets has is commissioned art space that changes every few months. The current artwork is this boldly-drawn picture of an eagle coughing. Awesome.

More awesome wheat-paste street art from A.S.V.P. on Wooster St. in SoHo. Love the idea of heart “protection.” Nice work.

Who’d of thunk it: Dayton, Ohio has a street-art scene. It’s being nurtured by the Dayton Circus Creative Collective whose mission is in part to make “street-level culture” more visible in the city. They’re doing so through a series of events and projects. The group is the spawn of the annual Slideshow indie music and arts festival and among their efforts is an “art park” called Garden Station.

Comics Superhero Drawing – Originally posted on February 6, 2010.
Grad Van – Originally posted on January 31, 2010.

This is the work of a skilled illustrator that’s been pasted up as street art. The drawing is in a pencil-sketch style of a comic-book superhero — we think it’s the DC Comics hero the Atom, but we’re not sure, as we’re not huge comics fans so we don’t know. Awesome to find this on the street in SoHo, in downtown New York City.

UPDATE & CORRECTION: Little do we know about comics superheroes. The comic-book characters shown in the street-art drawing is not DC Comics’ the Atom, but rather it’s Captain America, one of the Marvel Comics stable of superpowers-enabled crimefighters. (A big thanks to RobN to putting us right!)

The New York Times reports on how French graffiti / street artist “Andre,” who is known for his character Monsieur “A” (or Mr. “A”), is exhibiting another body of his visual work with an indoor gallery show at the influential clothing-culture shop Collette on Rue de St. Honore in Paris, France.

The artist, whose real name is Andre Saraiva, explains how he thinks it’s patronizing to try to exhibit graffiti or street art on canvas in a gallery setting. Thus his show at Collette features paintings in a style that is completely different from that of his street artwork and totally removed from the Mr. “A” icon and style he’s painted in cities around the world (and which he recently contributed to the “Luxury Reborn” ad campaign for Belvedere brand vodka shot by photographer Terry Richardson with model / actor Vincent Gallo).

“Ink” stencil-on-wheat-paste street-art poster at the famously bombed-out spot on Wooster St. south of Grand, across from Deitch Projects annex gallery in SoHo, in New York City.

Reports have been flooding in the past couple of weeks that anonymous U.K. artist and director Banksy allegedly put up at least five pieces of street art in Park City, Utah, while he was in town to screen and promote his documentary film at the annual Sundance FIlm Festival.

The movie “Exit Through the Gift Shop” screened to much critical acclaim, but it’s now been revealed that its last-minute inclusion in the event was on condition that the artist not put up illegal graffiti artwork on public or private property, i.e., vandalism, while in town to attend the festival.

But at current count five works of art have been discovered in and around Park City that bear Banksy’s unique style, though some have speculated the work is at the hands of copycats or an attempt by hired promotional guns (not Banksy himself) to stir up yet more publicity for the film. In any event , the street-art has been removed, but you can see pictures of it across the InterWeb.

Verdict: FOA … Full of Awesome.