Well, Looky Here.

UPDATE: Sad news on a Melbourne Banksy wall from reader Mike





Let me begin first by saying that I know next to nothing about street art. I am a fan, but still, a layperson. When I was preparing to write this post, I went around the neighborhood (east village and Noho), snapped some pics, planned a brief outline of the discussion and then I started reading.

Oops.

The more I read, the more I realized how much I don’t know. The thoughtfulness, passion and scholarly writing by the fans and critics humble me.

(By the way, there are a lot of Banksy and Shepard Fairey discussions right now. Just to get you started.)

I doubt I’ll get any serious street art writers/bloggers reading this but if you are, stop right now. I will only piss you off.

So much of the street art has become my local outdoor wallpaper. And like wallpaper, the more you see it, the more immune you get to the details. Because I became so used to it, I stopped seeing it. But when the art started to be sanctioned, I began to pay attention again; probably due to the expansive scale and exceptional intricacies not afforded to the artist on the run. The Haring reproduction on the Deitch Wall (Houston and Bowery) was the first piece I noticed in 2008. Then, of course came Os Gemeos and now Fairey (see 4/28 post).




We all watched with great curiosity the building of the Cooper Square Hotel (more on the building in a post on EV/Noho architecture later) as it was destined to do battle with its surroundings. They hired four graffiti artists to paint one side of the building in order to make the building feel like part of the neighborhood. While many neighbors complain about absolutely everything, I think the gesture is fantastico.







And just last week Shepard Fairey remade the wall of the Cooper Square Hotel. Yes this street art is sanctioned (and this can even be called corporate) so it can’t be called graffiti but the temporariness of it does give it some cred.












Here are some fine samples of what we have come to expect from the art in my hood.

















Having these guys around brings comfort when so many some of the big pieces like ESPO and REVS have disappeared.
thanks for the espo pic



The street art discussion will continue on future posts. Fantastico!