urbanlicious

Melbourne street art by Cuba Gallery. Me likey.

Street Art Below the Street and Out of Reach

103 street artists from around the world came together in a long-abandoned New York City subway station for a street art exhibition way below the street. The show – whose existence has been a secret – has been seen by almost no one. The only potential crowd was the urban explorers of New York City or the employees of the MTA – until New York City Transit described such actions as trespassing and punishable by law. The dark, uninhabited and echoing climate is far different from the standard gallery scene. This is a show without a crowd. This is an exhibition that has been mounted illegally in a long-abandoned subway station. Known as the Underbelly Project, “this is an art exhibition that goes to extremes to avoid being part of the art world, and even the world in general”. This is just too, too New York.

To get a better glimpse of how this idea came up, how the artists worked underground and see more photos, check out the New York Times article.

Dare to see?

HELLO MY NAME IS

For those of you interested in street art, a graffiti group exhibition will be up and running at Milk Gallery & Design Store starting March 11th thru March 27th.

The exhibition will be featuring the iconic Hello My Name Is stickers tagged by Turbo, Tabone, Wyne, Weak, Omeria, Canavar, Cins and Funk. For more info about the exhibition, the gallery and its location, visit http://www.whatismilk.com/

friday gem

another blog that you might find interesting. unurth is a street art blog — tons of graffiti, stencils and pasteups from all over the world.

here’s a preview.

happy friday!

Cinematic Rebellion

Some know him by his stencil of a little girl letting a heart balloon go away… Some saw his graffiti on Israel’s West Bank barrier showing how life looks on the other side… Others might have seen his rat stencils around… Or his pop art Warhol-style retro Kate Moss screenprint. Some probably heard about his replacing 500 copies of Paris Hilton’s album with a sticker which said “Paris Hilton, Debut Album. Featuring Why Am I Famous?, What Have I Done?, and What Am I For?” In short, many have seen his strikingly satirical and humorous street art pieces – often in shape of rats, monkeys, policemen, soldiers, children and the elderly – containing slogans on politics, culture, celebrity satire, consumerism, capitalism, war and unethics.

Last Sunday, the Sundance Film Festival had a surprise: a movie that didn’t appear in the catalogue; neither the director identity or its whereabout was known. It was a 98-minute movie/documentary about the British infamous street artist Banksy, in which he speaks on camera for the first time. According to the trailers, viewers don’t get to see him this time either – all we get is him photographed in the dark, wearing a hoodie with his voice digitally disguised.

Structured as a film-within-a-film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, [according to L.A. Times’ review ] looks at guerilla art and its main creators. “Trying to make a movie which truly conveys the raw thrill and expressive power of art is very difficult. So I haven’t bothered.”, Banksy said in a statement, “Instead this is a simple everyday tale of life, longing and mindless vandalism.”

Not sure when it’ll open in theatres but no doubt it’ll be an interesting slice of graffiti cinema. Stay tuned.