Wynwood Walls: Because Street Art is Good

There is graffiti, and then there is street art. While the line between the two is sometimes drawn thin, the Wynwood Walls arguably define the latter end of the spectrum.  Thanks to Jeffrey Deitch and his Deitch Projects, and Goldman Sachs, the walls of the warehouses in Miami’s Wynwood Arts District are covered with murals by the best of the best.  From Barry McGee and Kenny Scharf, to Os Gemeos and Shepard Fairey, these are some good looking walls …

Nunca, Ryan McGinness, Stelios Faitakis

Space Invader, Futura

Aiko

Clare Rojas

Ron English

Shepard Fairey

Os Gemeos

Kenny Scharf

Barry McGee

El Mac, Retna

Kenny Scharf and You!

If you have ever wanted the chance to collaborate with Kenny Scharf (and who wouldn’t), August 10th is your chance.  The only catch, you have to be a teenager (even better!).

On Wednesday, August 10th, from 1 – 3, teens are invited to get their hands dirty and express themselves while helping to create a collaborative mural at The DETAILS Guild Wall celebrating theWhitney’s future home in the Meatpacking District. Artist Kenny Scharf will provide some helpful hints and facilitate this interactive, hands-on project along the way.  This opportunity is free, and there is no registration necessary which means SHOW UP EARLY!

The Street Art Takeover of Los Angeles Continues

First came the graffiti, then came the Art in the Streets show, and now follows a whole lot more graffiti all over the streets of Los Angeles.  But these are not your standard throw ups, or tags; instead the West Hollywood Library is currently undergoing a deluxe facelift thanks to the work of three supremely talented street artists curated by MOCA: Kenny Scharf, Shepard Fairey and RETNA.

RETNA

RETNA

RETNA

Kenny Scharf

Kenny Scharf

Kenny Scharf

Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey

If you are in L.A. drive by and check it out, Shepard Fairey is still out there working on his piece.  Pretty rad!

 

Coloring for All

Coloring.  It’s just good. We start to do it as babies, learn to do it well as children, are often forced to do it as adolescents, and many of us just stop doing it as we grow older.  But these unique coloring opportunities are good enough to bring even the least creative of us back to the Crayolas.

 

 

And if spending $135 for the beautiful Hermes coloring book seems a bit exorbitant to you (and it is!), check out the Hermes website where you can color online, do some Hermes tangrams, play the key chain slot machine, and waste a whole lot of time in the most fashionable of ways.  Don’t let the French scare you, just click away!

Kenny Scharf and the Gates of the Lower East Side

As street art has taught us all, one man’s gate is another man’s canvas.  This is just the case with Kenny Scharf’s most recent endeavor – to canvas more than a hundred roll-down security gates throughout the Lower East Side.  It’s fittingly called the Gates Project, and the graffiti is being painted in conjunction with Anonymous Gallery.

Pretty rad.  So far Scharf has hit 2 Delancey and 132 Orchard Street, have you seen any others?!

 

Julian Beever: Way Beyond Sidewalk Chalk

Julian Beever is an English artist that creates amazingly surreal chalk drawings on pavement surfaces around the world. He has been at it for more than twenty years now. The drawings like insanely real, so much so that people with actually walk around his “potholes,” and “spills.”  What do you think?

The Arctic

Underground Bank

Batman and Robin

Boat

Butterfly

Gold Rush

DHL Man

Dungeon

Frog

Holes

Lobster!

Watch Out!

Avoid the Hole

Rafting

Rescue Mission

Times Square

Transformers

Hose

Fountain

 

 

 

 

Os Gemeos

Os gemeos (Ose Zhe’-mee-ose) means twins in Portughese, but in the art scene the word is also synonymous with identical twin brothers, Octavio and Gustavo Pandolfo.  They are street artists, and their world is a colorful and wildly-patterned one, inhabited by people and animals, boats and pyramids, cars and music, and pretty much any other thing that they happen to find or be inspired by.

Os Gemeos have worked all over the world and on all sorts of canvases since they started painting in 1987 – from buildings in Berlin to subway cars in Brazil, and murals and paintings everywhere in between – and not a single piece is planned ahead of time.  The twins imagine and create each creation spontaneously, which I think is pretty amazing.  It certainly seems like proof enough of that supposed secret language that is spoken between identical twins!

If you are in NYC and want to check out their work the above mural is at 320 West 21st Street in NYC.  They also painted the mural below on Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island.