June 2010: Superpastel in Buenos Aires

Today's a big day around here: in addition to three World Cup games, the class of 2010 graduates tonight. Since I've spent two years at this school, I'm really going to miss some of these guys. Congratulations, everyone! Today, we travel to the southern hemisphere to hear from Superpastel and his mission to document Buenos Aires. He writes:

"I started painting 10 years ago in the city of Buenos Aires. I like painting in areas like Saavedra, Palermo and Villa Crespo."
"My style was generated by several parallel transformations. I'm finishing up my architecture degree at the University of Buenos Aires, where I was working over time to achieve a connection between graffiti, urban planning and architecture."
"I like working on group walls as well as individual paintings."
"Any spot is good if there's friends and sun. I love seeing other parts of Argentina as I paint."
"I'm working on documenting the street, not just in drawings or photos. I love Argentina's architecture from the '20s-'50s."

Gracias, Superpastel! For more photo documentation, take a look at his Flickr.

Friday ProFile: Toasters

As humans, we often let fear limit our belief in what’s possible. The minute a person gets that knot in his stomach, it’s easy to think twice. However, fear can also serve as a great motivator. The guys of Toasters keenly understand this feeling and work it to their advantage. “We constantly feel unsafe but we are often battling ourselves,” they explain. “Nerves are positive; they keep you on your toes and talk you out of making that wrong decision. Complacency inevitably leads to trouble. We've been stopped numerous times by the authorities and always manage to sweet talk our way out of a corner.”

While other children viewed playgrounds as a play place, Toasters had more fun tagging up school buses. “In 1985, everyone at school had a tag,” they recall. “We were totally blown away by Style Wars and Subway Art. I remember leaving my mates house after watching Style Wars and thinking, ‘My life will never be the same again.'” Back in 1998, a beer and cider fueled party officially sparked the creation of the Toasters crew. The trio cut their teeth in Wolverhampton, and then roamed from Buenos Aires to Berlin plastering rooftops with toasters.
Toasters didn’t anticipate the fame that resulted from their ubiquitous stickers. They recall, “Back in 2003, we looked on in amazement as five daily national newspapers in Britain published articles about the Toaster image. They asked their readers if they knew who was responsible for it and what the image meant? We had extreme emotions of fear and pride. The project was as famous as it had ever been but we were gripped by a sense it was spiraling out of our control.” Since that moment, they’ve maintained the image but experimented with scale and position to take their simple toaster to another level.

In a sense, Toasters were almost ahead of the curve. “The phrase 'street art' makes me chuckle sometimes as that genre did not exist when we started getting the Toaster image up in 1999,” they insist. “We simply chose an image rather than a word as we realized it would be more conspicuous amongst adjacent tags on a wall. It would raise more questions than it would have answers which we found fascinating.”

Although the Toaster image is a constant, the crew never ceases to push the limits of what’s possible. “We want the Toaster to keep on gathering fame along with a versatility in how we produce it. It might appear on a wall, on a sticker, on a canvas or on a flag. It can go beyond 'street art' because as I mentioned earlier 'street art' did not exist when we conceived the project. The project is not just about 'street art'. We want to keep reinventing the image and show its durability within the oversaturated, logo heavy public spaces. There is also a need to portray the Toaster in its purest form and let it shout out that simplicity rules.”
From birdhouses to messing with city clean up crews’ buffing, the Toaster crew hit the streets relentlessly. Speaking about the future of street art, Toasters predict, “ Dirty fingers crossed, a lot of the undetermined and short term fame seekers will fall by the wayside as the highly motivated and talented will hopefully survive.”

Cheers, guys! For more toaster photos, head over to their website. Here's hoping the weather holds up over here and folks Stateside have a delightful three day weekend. See you Monday!

May 2010: Henk Hofstra in Drachten

Sometimes, objects are more fun when they're hundreds of times their normal size. What's better than an ice cream sundae? UConn's One Ton sundae at Winterfest. What trumps a squid? Obviously, a giant squid. Dutch artist Henk Hofstra knows the merits of super-sizing. Today, he fills us in on his gigantic projects and hints at his latest endeavors. He writes:

"In 2007, The Blue Road was my first big environmental art project. In Drachten, I painted a one kilometer long road bright blue to prepare the citizens of my town for the canal they will dig there."
"I work in Drachten, a town in the north of The Netherlands. Two of the outdoor projects were in my hometown (The Blue Road and Invasion of the Ants). Art-Eggcident was in Leeuwarden (even farther up north; it's the capital of the Friesland province). Creditcrisis was in Rotterdam. My next project, Above Water, will be in Lelystad.Beside the big projects, I make paintings about the countryside or cities, the sea etc.. You can see them also on my site.""Myself, however sometimes I need to hire people for making (litterally) the project. But I don't brainstorm with other people, I just create my own ideas. I don't have a favorite place to paint; it doesn’t matter. I make my paintings in my atelier. I can do my big art projects everywhere. I like to do a big environmental project abroad once."
"When I was spraying the red ants on the road in the middle of the night, a drunken guy came toward me. He could hardly stand when he saw the big red ant. I wonder when he went home if he told his wife or girlfriend, 'I saw a giant red ant, 3 meter long, 2 wide on the road.' What would his wife say? 'Sure Peter, you're drunk again. Were there pink elephants again too?’"
"I just finished Invasion of the Ants a couple of days ago. I'm now working on my newest project, Above Water. It's a huge man's head with a creation on top; together, they measure 7 meters in length. It will be in Lelystad, a city in the middle of The Netherlands. It will be opened in the middle of June. I can't tell you every detail yet, because we want it to be a surpise. I can tell you already that it will be a reflection on today's world."

Thanks, Henk! For more fantastic sculptures, stop by his website.

January 2010: Rub Kandy in Rome

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with ancient Egypt. I built pyramids in my backyard, dressed up as Cleopatra for Halloween, and pored over books on hieroglyphics. Perhaps it's this last point of interest that makes me like Rub Kandy's works. His unusual paintings and sculptures punctuate the city with enigmatic messages. Fortunately, he wrote in to decode them. He writes:

"When I started, the word 'street art' wasn't used. In the the 90's in Italy, we used to talk about 'lettering' or about 'aerosol art'. When you were making a line with a spray-can, you had to take care that color didn't drip. Even the word
'graffiti' was 'out'. Like everybody, I used to do 'pieces' with letters and puppets. I moved away from pure writing because I preferred to watch the art world. Now that I'm doing some art expos and I'm seeing a lot of good street artists doing art expos, I envy the young bombers who ravage the city, who break open metro manholes, who recharge the markers with acid. I'd really like to have that rage now."
"I can rely on an hell-bent-krew who inexplicably still trust and help me. I think that, when you deeply wish for a thing, there is a glow which lights up your face; your energy spreads and the others follow you. I don't work much with others street artists, but there isn't a certain reason. Maybe I personally don't know many street artists."
"I always try to move widthwise. I mean when I learn a new technique, I mix it with the old technics. I move continuously, trying not to do what I already did. I wanna be a beginner forever; I hate the professionals.I wanna learn and change. When someone tell me I'm doing great works, I start to do others. When you arrive, you die. A lot of great artist try to be recognizable. They look at the fashion world as a model of diffusion, so they fill the world with faces, stars,hearts, skulls, arrows, each one like the others. They wanna be recognizable: they do branding, great branding. I don't want this, I don't want to do branding. I just try to do good works, just the works attesting for themselves. As my friend Ester always tells me, 'The good mum wants hers sons to grow up healthy and strong, the good artist wants his works to grow up healthy and strong'. So I try to make healthy and strong pieces,'cause I'll turn from them. I hope my works will outlive fashion."
"I don't have a favorite place. I do this: if I walk and I see a good location, I try to accurately plan everything. I'm not able to work with other people watching me if I don't have a plan. When I did RATZINGER, for example, I worked for a week in my lab, but the installation took five minutes. If I want to try new techniques and styles, I go work in abandoned buildigngs to play freely."
"I'm working on a series of anamorphosis work. I'm mixing two of my passions, photograpy and painting. I'm sending you a pic for your great blog!"

You are too kind, Rub! For photos of this new series, stop by his blog.

Friday ProFile: Gabri le Cabri

Many people discover street art on their own. Through books, videos, or their own observations, they mess with the techniques and pick up skills along the way. Parisian artist Gabri le Cabri had the good fortune to learn stenciling techniques at school. “I started doing stencils thanks to my art teacher in high school, when I was 15 or 16,” she explains. “In the late ‘80s, stencils were one of the only forms of expression besides hand-style tags and graffiti pieces one could see in the streets. I lived in the east of Paris where many stencil artists were active. I also felt more attracted to stencil because it was commonly used in punk imagery, which was the music I used to listen at. So when our teacher taught us how to cut out our own stencils, I chose a picture of The Clash for my first try. She later introduced me to another schoolmate who already bombed in the streets, under the name of TNT, and he asked me to go with him, which I did very soon afterwards.”

Born and bred in the city of Paris, Gabri knows her way around the City of Lights. While she drew on walls as a small child, she never outgrew the habit. “I always wondered why my hands could not realistically draw the perfect representation I imagined in my head,” she insists.
Back in the ‘80s, Gabri was active all the time, covering the streets of Paris with her work. Then she took a ten-year break before diving back into photography, collages, and stencils. “I think my style has evolved in its content because I am now a more complex person than I was when I was a teenager,” she reflects. “I explore more themes than I used to. According to the media, I can express things that would not fit in other contexts, either because of the size of the media, or of the technique. The technique used by other stencil artists also encouraged me to do more challenging stencils.”
Since last year, Gabri has worked with other members of S/75 (Paris sous les sticks). The group dynamic transformed the way she approaches projects. “I think it is a rich experience,” she confesses, “since it is based on a sense of friendship between the members and we can all benefit from the others' experiences, influences and help. For the moment, I am happy to be part of a crew whose members also act independently.”
Whether she’s working with stickers or stencils, Gabri represents her views. “I prefer to promote ‘equality between genders’ or even better, ‘equality between all human beings’ than just ‘girl power.’” Gabri believes that it’s important for women to participate in street art. “Like in all the other domains,” she argues, “I think women bring a different point of view, but I like to imagine it as a complementary point of view, not as an opposition or a struggle. I'm not very attracted to what I would call ‘girlie’ street art. To me, it is a reflection of the separation between genders and even sometimes a tendency to show girls as sexual objects that are supposed to be pretty and attractive or as people who can only create ‘cute’ things.”
In 2010, expect to see more themes of peace, respect, curiosity, and multicultural acceptance in Gabri’s work. “I would love to have more time to spend on my ‘non-commercial’ activities to develop my technical skills and to be able to produce more,” she wishes. “But right now I have no real plans except a few projects for new stickers and stencils in mind.” No matter the style, Gabri says, street expression is all about “interaction with the city, questioning anonymous citizens, and putting a little sunshine in everyday life.”

Merci, Gabri! For more photos, visit her Flickr. That's all for now. If you're in CT, definitely head down to New London for the Hygienic "Salon des Independants" opening. Hopefully, I'll make it down there next week. Until then, there's nothing but work and meets in my future! Rest up this weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

November 2009: World War Won from SA

Second day of the new (posting) year and we're already representing new countries. Today, we check in with World War Won who got his start in South Africa. Currently posted up in London, World War Won cleverly modifies the city streets with a dash or two of paint. He writes:

"I started working in public when i was 16. I spend a lot of time working alone. But when I'm actually installing works in public, I prefer to be with some pals.""I'm not sure that I have developed a style. Style seems to be an ongoing organic thing - something that just emerges after lots and lots of work. I don't think it is something that you should be aware of when you are producing. Just make things that you like."
"I jump around between mediums a lot as I get bored very quickly. At the moment, I am really interested in creating work that is open-ended and interpretable, work that has no real message other than to provoke individual interpretations from the public."
"I used to paint in the suburbs of Cape Town in a crew called PaintdripRisks. We were mainly interested in locations that were hidden: walls along bicycle paths, etc. Then recently I moved over to £ondon to target masses of people. Right now, my favourite places to display work are in the busiest parts of central £ondon."
"Saying this, I'm not really that interested in graffiti as a medium anymore. In short, I think there are many new ways to create public work and spraycans are not necessarily the most interesting or the most innovative....I'm interested in playful invention and I try and

think of new ways to infect the city all the time. Right now, I am working on being as prolific as possible."

Thanks so much, WWW! Has anyone over in England see his stuff? SA? Let me know! For more photos and updates, check out his blog.

October 2009: Specter in Toronto

I love artists who keep the viewers guessing. There's nothing quite like a change of style to shake things up. From his clever re-interpretations of street signs and storefronts to his blinged-out buildings and statues, Specter keeps Toronto on its toes. Today, he takes a quick break from his latest project to shoot us some photos and text. He writes:

"I started doing street art about 15 years ago, thought it was called graffiti back then."
"I almost always work alone because it can be hard to coordinate with other artists, but sometimes I make the effort to work with some fantastic artists."
"15 years of sucking has helped develop my style, but my work has been influenced by many different people. From architects to set painters, they've all helped me develop my current style."
"I've seen tons of crazy shit while putting out work and been through a lot of shit, I don't even remember half of it but a few events stick out. The most memorable would probably be when I jumped off a 30 foot wall to get away from the cops. Just so you know, it wasn't worth it!"
Thanks, Specter! He's currently working on a new series titled "Manage Work Flow", so he'll be busy well into the new year. For more photos, check out his website.

Friday ProFile: Ellis G.

When I was a kid, I love coloring on my driveway with chalk. My sketches were never very good, but I enjoyed leaving my mark for other people to see. These early chalk drawings led to other creative endeavors. Ellis G., on the other hand, took the reverse approach. Hailing from Manhattan's East Village, this native New Yorker started out bombing and ended up chalking. Don't be fooled; while the medium seems simple, his pieces are anything but.

As a kid in the late 1970s, Ellis marveled at graffiti culture springing up around him. "I was certainly inspired by what I saw out there in the streets," he recalls. Bombing with IRAK crew members like Earsnot and the late Dash Snow, he spent his youth getting up around the city. Since 1979, he's left his mark in New York, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Miami, Amsterdam, Negril, and Bangkok. No matter where he roams, he alway returns to his roots. "I have a special affinity towards New York," he says, "I'm from here."
After a good fifteen years in the graffiti game, Ellis decided to mix things up. Taking a stick of chalk to the street led him in a new direction. After choosing an object (perhaps a bicycle or fire hydrant), he works quickly to chalk a vibrant outline around its shadow. Each shadow remains frozen in time long after the sun's position changes or the object gets moved.
In addition to his chalk pieces, Ellis also keeps it spicy with his trademark fire-tagging. "I did it once at a friend's place on a piece of plywood back in 1999," he remembers. "I didn't revisit it until late 2008. I was working in a gallery and I was bored, so I decided to cop a tag on the bathroom wall and set it ablaze." Since those early endeavors, he's experimented and improved his technique.
Don't think for one second that chalking is easy; before I spoke with Ellis, he'd been picked up by the cops. (Will they start going after children next? Clearly my early hopscotch days were a violation.) "There's always the risk of being arrested," he insists. "I have spent many a night in central bookings. Not fun."

In spite of the challenges, Ellis continues to hustle. His chalk pieces are all over the Lower East Side. This summer, "Ocular Echoism: The Autonomy of Ellis G." drew steady crowds at Collective Hardware. "As an artist, I want to create more," he says. "I would like to develop into large-scale installations. I am currently working on various projects. As a person, I want to be the best father I can be." Although his work can seem a bit fantastic, Ellis's message is a big reality check. "I'm motivated by the need to create and engage," he insists. "People need to take a second out of their schedules to become aware of their surroundings and the life around them."

Thanks, Ellis! I caught up with him at Willoughby Windows this summer and agree that he's a really cool guy. He brought his son, chatted with friends, and talked about new projects. When I camped out in front of the Os Gêmeos mural, he stopped by to chalk out his respects to Dash Snow. Ellis is definitely someone you can grab a beer with after his awesome gallery opening. For more info, check out his website (it will direct you to his MySpace etc.) Hope everyone has a great Halloween and I'll see you Monday!

October 2009: Stencils in Storrs, CT

I love going to visit my sister at UConn. Maybe it's because we're always ridiculous when we get together or perhaps it's because I miss the atmosphere (all those 18-22 year-olds crammed into one place). At any rate, I never expected to find stencils on campus. Storrs is even quieter than my hometown, but someone's been busy. Here's a taste of what I found.

Apparently, "deception promotes cross-pollination." Who knew? I wonder if this person has seen Ludo's robotic flora.
We found this owl watching us from afar. I zoomed in close to get a better look.
This stencil was located on a bench outside an academic building. Who knew Venus was born on concrete?
Finally, this umbrella sits just outside my sister's door. I saw it on move-in day but came back later to photograph it. Are they all by the same person? Can anyone offer some insight? Drop me a note or leave a comment and I'll get back to you. Tonight, I'll pull together the ProFile as I put the finishing touches on my Halloween costume. I promise photos and stories in the near future.

September 2009: The Stickheads in Milan

The Stickheads may not have a lot to say, but they sure do a lot. This Italian crew teams up with other local artists for the Stick My World project. (I sent some stickers in this year; it's a great time!) Here's a look at their work, who they are, and what they do:

"At the beginning of the 21st century, the crew was proudly founded by: Run 128 and Naws."
"In 2002, Curt and S103 joined the crew."
"In addition to the original crew members, Story 134 and Undo work with us."
"We're all about stickering, postering, and writing."
Thanks, guys! Stay up on all the Stickheads news by visiting their website.

Friday ProFile: Parapluie

This summer, the umbrella has become more than a protective measure in the Northeast United States. With three dry days in the entire month of June, people grew attached to their parasols. Gradually, the parasol evolved from a utilitarian device to a chic accessory. From primary colors to print, New Yorkers rocked a fashionable variety of umbrellas. However, none of these creative creations hold a candle to Parapluie and his street art versions.

Born in Saint Denis, Parapluie still loves pasting in Paris and its surrounding suburbs. “It’s near my neighborhood and many people get to see my work,” he says. The umbrella logo stems from his search for an easily recognizable object. “I wanted an image, a logo, or an object of everyday life,” he explains. At first, he spent hours drawing and cutting the stickers by hand.
Over the course of fifteen years, Parapluie perfected his style. Graduating from small stickers to wheatpaste and aerosol, his work grew in scale. “My style itself became increasingly minmalist, kinetic, and fractal,” he adds. Regardless of where he is or what he creates, he feeds off the positive and negative criticism of others.
Sometimes the streets can get crazy for a solo artist. He recalls, “I was painting a logo in a vacant lot in Paris during the daytime. Fifteen police officers stopped me. Later, I was released, but they took my aerosols.” Since that incident, he’s rarely feared the cops.
At other points in his career, he spent time tagging as a Stickopathes member. “We stuck stickers on everything,” he says. “It was cool!” Whether he’s spraying or sticking, Parapluie believes that graffiti and street art are at heart the same thing. “There’s no real difference,” he insists, “because it’s all the same claim: ‘let me express myself!’”
This quest for self-expression drives street artists regardless of the medium. Parapluie, for instance, strives to create “a showcase of art in everyone’s eyes.” While the rules and techniques may change, this motive will never disappear. “The street art scene is in perpetual motion,” he explains. “That’s the great part. It’s always full of change.”

Merci, Parapluie! For more photos and information, visit his website.

Back in CT, folks. If anybody wants to meet up, hit me up! Also, thanks to all the people who showed up for my last night bash. You all made my summer!