FROM THE ARCHIVES: THE BEST

For the next three weeks I am off on an adventure—the best adventure possible! I am getting hitched, an amazing event and process that has inspired my ongoing series of posts called The Wedding Files. While I am on my honeymoon I will be featuring some of my favorite posts from past years (including this one from way back in March 2008) to tide you over until I return. Hope you enjoy them!

Amazing.  Not only is the stencil perfectly cut and perfectly placed, the photo aptly captures the wonder passersby feel when they are confronted with truly clever street art.  Work like this is like a little gift to anyone who comes across it.  Many people think of graffiti as the work of a moment.  I think this piece proves that great street art is carefully considered, created and composed.

Photo via Wooster Collective.

THE SOUNDS OF SPRING

Is anyone else ready for this cold weather to be over and spring to really start? I want spring flowers, green lawns, patio brunches, and sunshine. Is that too much to ask?

Until then, please enjoy this beautiful, serene video by street artist Michal Kohút, found via Wooster Collective.

JUMP! JUMP FOR MY LOVE!

After the long post yesterday, I thought I would keep it short today. How cool is this public pool installation created by artist Ich Bin Kong in Wiesbaden, Germany? I would definitely "jump" into it (while singing the Pointer Sisters of course!).

Found via the Wooster Collective here.

(GIANT) BALLOON ANIMALS

I love when artists come up with an idea for a piece that instantly makes you smile (and wish you had thought of it). This new project–making super huge balloon animals–completed by the Dutch artist collective 'La Bolleur' did just that. Recently featured on Wooster Collective, these huge beauties will be featured at Dutch Design Week. Their artist statement:

This time we blew it.

This summer the city of Eindhoven asked La Bolleur to make something happen in the city centre. It was a nice opportunity to realize an idea that had been going through our heads for a while already. We upscaled balloon animals to monstrous proportions that were hardly manageable. Making it happen turned out to be as much fun as the end result.

See more of their cool projects at their website here (I particularly love their "About" page here!).

ART INTERVENTION

I have been bookmarking a lot of videos about super cool street art recently. Here are three of my favorites I thought I would share with you. Enjoy!

Some background on the project:

"In 2007, the New York City Transit Authority began installing LED signs on subway platforms that display estimated wait times for arriving trains. Unfortunately the information is little more than trivia: except for a few stations, it is only visible to travelers after they’ve paid their fare, so the data has little bearing on commuter decision-making.
Their primary effect, then, is to erode faith in the system, to create expectations that can’t always be met, to raise false hopes, and to erase the mystery and magic of the wondrous system that transports more than five million riders a day.
These LED signs also threaten historical social behaviors, rendering obsolete the time-honored New York tradition of leaning over the platform edge with the hope of glimpsing headlights from an approaching train.
The Spoiler Alert signs warn waiting riders of this potentially unwanted information – allowing them to avert their eyes so they may preserve their spirit of adventure – while still leaving visible the data for travelers who wish to ruin the surprise for themselves.

Learn more about Jason Eppink (a major player in my favorite group: Improv Everywhere) and his other projects here. Found via the awesome Subway Art Blog.

Some background on the project:

"This summer mural painter Matt W. Moore created a series of live painting performances on walls in MARSEILLE, LYON, and PARIS. Directors Le Groupuscule captured the evolution of each mural, gathering over 700,000 pictures, that were edited as a stop-motion animation to an unreleased track by Monsieur Monsieur to create this music video. This collaboration of 3 artistic disciplines to make walls dance is part of the global initiative : Let's Colour Project."

Learn more about the collaborating artists here (in French) or here. Found via Wooster Collective.

Some background on the project:

"Multipraktik is a multi-disciplinary platform motivated by the pursuit of new practices at the crossover between design, photography, video production, music, events and art. We operate as an evergrowing collective of designers, artists, musicians, producers and programers. We create teams based on projects and with each project we try to challenge conventional approaches. This project was organized cross-slovenian street TapeArt actions with different artists (in particular Fejzo & Luka Ursic) as part of the new campaign for Orto (Simobil)."

Get more information on Multipraktik and the artists here and here (website under construction). Found via Wooster Collective.

BOARDED UP

You have to love when someone turns tragedy into triumph.  I love the idea of street artists beautifying boarded up storefronts with inventive stickers and stencils.  These two examples were done through Edmonton's project "Post No Bills, Post Pretty Art".  Love it!  See and learn more at Wooster Collective here or at At.Aw here.

SIR X

Wooster Collective always brings us the best stuff.  This stencil piece, by Sir X, was spotted in Gijon, Spain.  I think it captures the spirit of our times just perfectly, no?  We all want to get away . . . 

Check out the Wooster post here and more from Sir X here.

UPDATE ON FAIREY ARREST

In case you are still interested in the Sherpard Fairey-Boston arrest boondoggle, check out a very detailed story of his police encounter, the subsequent ICA event, and a general conspiracy about the arrest's underlying reasoning here, at Wooster Collective.

THEIR EYES ARE WATCHING GOD

The public artist JR has just completed an amazing project: posting roofs and trains in the slums of Kibera, Kenya with beautiful black and white portraits of eyes.  Can you imagine how happy it would make people to walk by these photo murals everyday?  Gorgeous!

Found via Wooster Collective, of course.