Graffiti/street artistists and styles everyone should know.

Cafe Society
41

I know absolutely nothing about the background or participants of the film, but this is how it’s presented in the movie. True or not, I don’t know, or care.

Spoilered just in case someone doesn’t want to know before they see the film.

[spoiler]French immigrant Thierry Guetta was a small businessman in LA who became obsessed with his camcorder and a desire to document EVERYTHING in his life. I mean, EVERYTHING. He had a camcorder with him at all times, all the time. Everyone around him became very used to it, and forgot about it after awhile. Guetta’s cousin, a street artist nicknamed Invader for his Space Invaders mosaics, came to visit and Guetta showed him around LA, while of course documenting Invader’s art/vandalism. The art, and the adrenaline, got Guetta hooked on street art and he started hanging around artists like Shepard Fairey, who went on to create the Obama HOPE poster, while of course, documenting everything.

Guetta went on to meet and document other street artists in LA, Paris, NY? (can’t remember) and London but the one street artist he had yet to meet, and was dying to meet, was Banksy. He tried and tried and tried, but couldn’t get a meeting. Then one day, Banksy came to LA and put the word out that he needed someone to drive him around. Fairey told Banksy he knew just the guy.

The scene where Guetta relates receiving a phone call from Fairey saying (something like) “Hey, I have Banksy here, would you mind showing him around?” is absolutely priceless. If it’s a fake, then Guetta, or whoever’s playing Guetta, needs to win an Academy Award. It was beautiful, the excitement in his voice and the stunned look in his eyes, as if he still couldn’t believe his luck.

So, Guetta shows Banksy around and they become friends. Banksy even lets him film in Banksy’s studio where many of his creations are made and practiced. Being sponsored, so to speak, by Banksy opens the door to meeting other street artists and getting even more footage. Thing is though, everyone assumes that Guetta is a filmmaker, making a documentary about street art. That’s not true though. Guetta just likes to film. He never watches anything after he films, and has thousands, geez, maybe tens of thousands of tapes moldering in boxes, many with only a date and many not marked in any way. When he’s put on the spot he cobbles together a “documentary” that’s absolute and total shit. Banksy is appalled.

Fast-forward to Guetta deciding to become a street artist himself (a not very good street artist) and Banksy taking over Guetta’s footage and coming up with…Exit Through The Gift Shop! There’s more to it than that, of course, but that’s the gist.[/spoiler]

I have no idea whatsoever what really happened, who is really who, who really shot the footage, who put together the movie, or anything. All I know is that it’s fun, and funny, and shows a shitload of AMAZING street art by many many street artists.

42

A while back, I heard of an artist whose medium was cleaning. He’d find a tunnel or some such that had been stained completely black with soot, and then clean patches of it through stencils shaped like skulls or the like. The authorities are never sure what to do with him, to arrest him or thank him.

I couldn’t remember the name, but looking around, it looks like the fellow I’m thinking of is Alexandre Orion.

43

I really like Thoup. I don’t know beans about him? her? them? except that the art is in the UK.

44

I’d guess that it was illegal, at first. I was lucky enough to see one of his drawings in a New York subway in the early '80’s before he became famous. It was drawn with chalk in an empty poster holder (where they would put movie posters or other advertising). Everyone else seemed to ignore it, but I stood there and marveled at how cool, and simple, it was. Definitely art. Definitely temporary since at the least it would be covered up when someone inserted the next movie poster. Probably illegal or at the very least, frowned-upon. About a year or so later I read an article about him and recognized his style immediately. It’s the only time I’ve seen a known street artist’s work in person and it was totally by accident and happenstance. I lived in Kansas City at the time, and was only in New York because I delivered a car there.

45

So I’d say Keith Haring, Shepard Fairey, Banksy and maybe Jean-Michel Basquiat (although I know him mostly because they made a movie about him).

46

I watched the documentary Beautiful Loserson Netflix a few months ago and really enjoyed it. Of all of the artists featured, the work of Margaret Kilgallen moved me the most, specifically her freight train tags.

47

Gitfiddle, if you don’t know about it already, you might want to check out Juxtapoz.

48

I’ve heard of Bansky, and he’s the only graffiti person I know by name. Shepard Faire I know from his Obey stuff, but I don’t think of it as graffiti - I think of him more of a poster artist like the guy who did the Obama Hope thing. In general I don’t think of sticker people as being in the same group as paint on graffiti artists.

49

Art and vandalism are not mutually exclusive. Heck, if you’ve seen Se7en, even murder and art are not mutually exclusive. You may personally hate art that breaks the law, but that doesn’t make it not art.

50

A more meandering answer… personally there are several issues at work:

  1. Is it art?! Yes this is an entirely separate issue from any other consideration. I personally like Banksy’s stuff. It is pleasing to the eye and make relevant commentary. I don’t really like “tagging”. It’s mostly boring and egotistic and predominantly amateur. I did find the big debate about Banksy repurposing some generic but famous artist’s tagging with his own art amusing - when you put legality aside, what other social contracts some into play?

  2. Style vs location: Yeah of course, even if it’s a good graffiti per se, if it’s on your house it’s kind of annoying. In which case it falls under the morality blanket of “prank” -something that strictly speaking is not kosher but might still serve a societally useful purpose, but could also just be blanket vandalism. OTOH if it’s an abandoned building, it might be not just relevant statement but also a potential improvement, and not against anyone’s permission because no one cares about the decrepit building or it’d be repaired and occupied. And then, there’s also graffiti style art that is actually legally commissioned by building owners.

This clearly isn’t a black and white issue.

And of course, all that is irrelevant anyway, legally is a separate issue from artistic merit, and both are a separate issue from fame slash notoriety. Come on people, are you seriously going to say that Bonnie and Clyde aren’t allowed to be famous because they are famous for being outlaws? Give me a fucking break.

51

Sorry! I also have to say that wow! This wreaks a smelly odor very similar to “premarital sex is unCatholic therefore we must criminalize condoms”.

52

Actually, Shepard Fairey IS the guy who did the Obama Hope thing.

A lot of the sticker people do both, at least according to Exit.

I can’t wait until the movie comes out on DVD. There are a few artists I desperately want to know who they are and see more of their work. There was one woman who was painting something on a wall not with a brush or spray paint, but with her hands, very messy, but it turned out beautifully. I like messy art too, like Jackson Pollack, or this woman from the Ukraine.

53

Can I trespass your home and take a crap in your fridge ? Hey, that’s performance art !

54

I don’t know if he’s the same level as the other people mentioned in this thread, but Rami Meiriis Tel Aviv’s pre-eminent graffiti artist - muralist, actually, since most of his work nowadays is by commission. His paintings are everywhere in Tel Aviv.

55

Did you miss post 39?

56

And you know what, I might appreciate the artistic part of it if it’s compelling, but I’d still call the cops on you. You’d be hard pressed though to convince me that shitting in my fridge is demonstrative of the same talent that say this or this is.

57

Paul “Moose” Curtis, also mentioned in your link as a pioneer of the technique, was just mentioned in today’s San Francisco Chronicle.

58

This animated wall artis pretty stunning.

59

I’m not a graffiti artist, nor am I a connoisseur. But I want to talk about tagging for a moment (not that I will change your mind, but just for the conversation).

Some tagging may be nonsense of course, but very often tagging is done by talented graffiti artists. I am happy for artists that are finding some ‘commercial’ success, but one of the hallmarks of the hip-hop culture’s take on graffiti is tagging…most ‘successful’ artists know this, so when I hear them putting down tagging, I wonder why they feel the need to do that. If an artist is good, his tags usually have a very unique style to them that is beautiful in its way. If you get used to reading graffiti tags enough over the years, you get pretty good at deciphering even the most distorted letters (sometimes), which is interesting. I know some tags look like anyone can do that, but many of them have their own kind of style that isn’t as easy as it looks.

And of course, much tagging is elevated to graffitiin it’s own right.

My point of view comes from a hip-hop culture angle, though. Of course everyone takes from graffiti art what they themselves see in it. I just wanted to give a shout out to all the taggers out there.

60

There’s another one like this on vimeo using an old deserted building. It’s incredible. I’ve been looking for it but I can’t find it to post it.

Love it!