Global Graphica

We’re loving this UK street art website aptly called UK Street Art (www.ukstreetart.co.uk/). Lots of good, juicy street art images from the United Kingdom in a well-designed website. Check it.

We’re adding some new street-art website links to our updated list, in the sidebar of the Global Graphica homepage. Here’s the linkage to some cool street art sites we like …

Street Art – Antville.org
http://streetart.antville.org/

Barcelona Street Art
http://www.barcelonastreetart.net/

Mexico Street Art
http://streetart.com.mx/

The Street Art Locator
http://www.streetartlocator.com/

Here we go again … another round of bandwagonesque media coverage on Banksy as yet another news source goes to press with a story revealing the identity of the mysterious British street art superstar. The esteemed American weekly news magazine Time reported on the story Monday this week. The Times of London, the BBC, Telegraph and the Independent have all recently reported on the Banksy identity story. This time around the media frenzy started when UK newspaper the Mail on Sunday ran a story a couple of weeks ago reporting Banksy’s real name, Robin Gunningham. The article was published with a photo of a 34-year-old man the paper says is Banksy in Jamaica. There have been previously published pictures and reports purporting to have unmasked Banksy. There’s little clear-cut corroborating evidence in the Mail story, but the paper appears to have gone to great lengths and expense to do some real digging. Its claims have the ring of truth. That Time magazine and so many large reputable new sources are running the story suggests that the Mail is right — Robin Gunningham is indeed Banksy. Still, we’re not 100% convinced.
(Banksy’s work is featured on Global Graphica via the Flickr photo pool of Banksy in the homepage sidebar and on this page. Check it.) Thanks to Jess for the tippage and linkage.

We found this neat street art blog called Fubalu from Switzerland. We like its description; “Things found along the way.” It’s a good collection of street art — stickies, stencils, painted pieces and other stuff — mostly in Zurich. Check it!

We stumbled across this overview article (in English) on street art in Stockholm on the official Swedish government website. The story by Nicholas Claude is titled “Street art in all corners of Stockholm” and points out where to find street art in and around the capital.

A convenient group-pool feed of Banksy photos on Flickr as been added to the site. Check it …

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.

The New York Times has a first-rate feature on graff in the German captial. There’s an article and a good companion video worth watching called “Graffiti in Berlin” Das ist sehr gut, ja?

Here’s the Wikipedia entry on “graffiti.” It’s worth reading to getting the full background on the subject, as well as an historical context. And for anyone who asks, “Graffiti” as Wikipedia defines it is …

Graffiti (singular: graffito; the plural is used as a mass noun) is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. Graffiti is sometimes regarded as a form of art and other times regarded as unsightly damage or unwanted vandalism.

We get a lot of kicks visiting Signs Defiled (www.signsdefiled.com), a website posting tons of images of ads ad signage defaced, often in funny ways. Check it.

New street art link: Time Out New York (TONY) magazine’s interactive street art photo gallery. Some good stuff, including works by Banksy.

The New York Times has run a story about the final days of street art at the 11 Srping Street building in downtown New York City. During the past four weeks or so the new owners of the building, who will turn the building into a condos, have allowed artists to legally put up art work on the inside of the building, as well as the outside, in an effort to stage one last exhibition this weekend before construction crews start their work. Much of the art on the interior will be concealed behind drywall after this weekend. The building is open to the public Dec. 15 – 17, from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. (Tip of the hat to Jess E. for the tip.)

There is an interesting article today in U.K. newspaper the Guardian about the changing urban landscape of Melbourne, Australia, as the city tidied itself in preparation of the Commonwealth Games. The clean-up is a result of an initiative to remove graffiti and street art. The report, titled “The writing on the wall,” was penned by the well-known British street artist “Banksy.” According to the story, Melbourne’s effort to paint over its rich tapestry of urban art is enforced by the city’s new official zero-tolerance stance on anything that constitutes graffiti. This includes stencil art for which Australia’s second city has become famous internationally among followers and creators of street art. (Props to Robin for the tip.)