Global Graphica

It’s a bit of a surprise that the Tate Modern, the globally esteemed London art museum, has recently opened an exhibition of street art. But with the international explosion of street art in recent years, the countless number of books on the subject recently published, broader mainstream appeal and adoption of the aesthetic by a growing cadre of designers and the media, it should not be a surprise at all.

The Tate is a massive sign of recognition of street art’s place in the wider culture.
The show has created space in its galleries (and fittingly on the exterior of the museum itself) for works by an international group of street artists. Two of our favorites, New York collective Faile and Brazilian brothers Os Gemeos, have work at the Tate exhibition, which runs until August 25.

Great little interview clip with Skewville.

Since late autumn 2006, around the time of the final, great explosion of street art at 11 Spring St. in Nolita, in downtown New York City, we started to notice that a lot of work by some well-known street artists was suddenly being defaced with splashes of paint. Works by Swoon, Shepard Fairey, Faile and many others were attacked with bright colors of paint that appeared to have been intentionally splashed on to the work. The paint never covered the pieces completely — the underlying art was always identifiable. The mysterious person(s) defacing the art was dubbed “The Splasher.” The atttacks continued through the winter and spring months that followed. Only recently have we noticed that “The Splasher” has slowed down.
New York Magazine chronicles and investigates the mystery in
a recent article. The irony of the Splasher’s attacks is that they amount to a form of vandalism upon vandalism itself. Most street art is destruction of property in the eyes of the law. The paint splashes can also, as some have pointed out, be construed as an act of art in and of itself, as a crude, shocking commentary upon the street art it targets.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: The Rakes – “22 Grand Job”
Kicks on our feet: Adidas “Marun”

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Deerhoof – “+81″
Kicks on our feet: Puma “Easy Rider” Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Deerhoof – “+81″
Kicks on our feet: Puma “Easy Rider” Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Deerhoof – “+81″
Kicks on our feet: Puma “Easy Rider” Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Placebo – “Where is My Mind”
Kicks on our feet: Puma Double-Lace “R-System” RS100 sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Placebo – “Where is My Mind”
Kicks on our feet: Puma Double-Lace “R-System” RS100 sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Placebo – “Where is My Mind”
Kicks on our feet: Puma Double-Lace “R-System” RS100 sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Placebo – “Where is My Mind”
Kicks on our feet: Puma Double-Lace “R-System” RS100 sneakers

A Japanese manga-inspired part of an epic wheat-paste work by artist collective Faile at 11 Spring St. building in downtown New York City.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Placebo – “Where is My Mind”
Kicks on our feet: Puma Double-Lace “R-System” RS100 sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Placebo – “Where is My Mind”
Kicks on our feet: Puma Double-Lace “R-System” RS100 sneakers

Snarling-German shepherd wheat-paste by street artist extraordinaire Faile at 11 Spring St. in Nolita, downtown, New York City. Love it.

The artist(s) who goes by the name Faile is among the stars of the global street art underground. This artists work takes several forms, but the most striking are wheat-paste posters like the above image, wwhich we snapped in the SoHo lofts district, in New York City. In this case, the subject is the mega-famous celebrity Michael Jackson, who the media have called King of Pop. The Michael depicted in this poster looks like the early 1980′s-era Michael of “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” fame. Faile has explained in “Street Logos,” Tristan Manco’s excellent book on street art, that artists use methods similar to advertisers and brand strategists and that images artists create — like those created by marketers — can be powerful because they can communicate so much with so few words.

Ivan Corsa Photo