Posted inArt

Street Art Politics & Commercialization…How Far Is Too Far?

For a while now, people I come across here and there have cited Dan Bergeron, aka Fauxreel, as an example of a street art sell-out. Why? Because back in 2008 he partnered up with Vespa to post 324 seven-foot-tall Vespa Squareheads wheatpaste ads on the streets of Toronto and other Canadian cities as part of an ad campaign that combined his characteristic “photograffiti” style with a very commercial addition ― Vespa scooter handles. The works caused a backlash from people who thought he went too far. It is an approach to ad marketing that isn’t as original as it may seem and it even has its own name, murketing.

Posted inArt

Spencer Tunick, Terence Koh, Francesco Vezzoli…Does Lady Gaga Need An Art Teacher?

The age of celebrity art has dawned and no one is a better example of that high-end marriage between the haves and the haves than pop singer Lady Gaga. It has been a long time coming for the maven of the dancefloor, whose every move feels like a tribute to 1990s club kid culture. Yet, her recent collaborations with Francesco Vezzoli and Terence Koh raises the question, does she desperately need an art teacher?

Posted inOpinion

Reviving the Stories of Art

The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones doesn’t have time for contemporary art history. In his latest post, “The trouble with art history? It’s boring,” he explains why: Perhaps art history is coming to its senses, and learning to tell stories that bring great art to life. If so, it is finally catching up with historians, paleontologists and […]

Posted inBooks

Reading Martha Cooper’s Tag Town & Going Postal

In the world of graffiti, Martha Cooper is a cult figure. She’s an old skool photog who, along with Henry Chalfant, documented the fast-changing world of New York graffiti and unintentionally helped make it sexy and digestible for public consumption. Her book Subway Art, co-authored with Chalfant, kickstarted the graff book genre that has ballooned (for better or worse) into a full-blown field that witnesses hundreds of books published a year.

Since the influence and impact of Subway Art is well-know, I chose to focus this review on two more recent works by the graff photography veteran which were published in that last few years, Tag Town: The Evolution of New York Graffiti Writing and Going Postal.

Posted inNews

Brooklyn Housing Project Gets the Ax, Iran Cuts Ties with British Museum, Nelson-Atkins Gets Impressionist Stash

… a Manhattan gallery is being accused of selling a Basquiat without the owners permission … the 2009 New England Art Awards have been announced … the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland is getting a new building … Transport of London has banned posters for Massive Attack’s latest album because it resembles graffiti … a sanctioned mural on private property is threatened in LA.