from Russia with love

Pasteups by Canadian street artist Specter, found at my old favourite, Wooster Collective. I love the scale, the detail, and the unexpected burst of colour in the grimy urban landscape.

your everafter

A Love Letter For You  is a project created by artist Steve Powers, entailing series of fifty sign-writing inspired murals running along a train line in Philadelphia. Ex-graffiti artist Powers began the project by putting out an open call for people's thoughts on the rewards and complexities of relationships. Now, I like to think of myself as fairly no-nonsense and unromantic, but even I can't resist the sentiment here. Plus there's all that juicy typography to boot.

Posts about the murals have been floating around the net for a while now, so apologies if you've seen this all before - frankly, given how cute the whole project is, I just couldn't resist sharing. I am feeling pretty worn out from an excessive combination of work and study at the moment, so the thought of having my morning commute pepped up by these babies is appealing to me in a very big way. Take note, Melbourne (well, I guess we do have Crateman...maybe I just need to spend more time west of the city...).

Enjoy. 

Oh Wooster Collective...

...why oh why did I abandon you for so long? Fool.

1. Anonymous letterbox man

2. SUSO33 in Madrid

3. From the "Mattress" series, Brian Hunter 

All images from Wooster Collective.

Meanwhile post #2: art-o-matic

 

These photos come from serveral weekends' worth of wandering and looking; evidently my August and September were very art-filled indeed. 

From the top:

1. Looking up, Hosier Lane

2 - 4. Tacita Dean at ACCA (a well-written review, plus some more photos here)

5. Mystery art at Curtin House

6. Zizi and the zig zags, off Hosier Lane

7. Colours and shapes, Smith Street

8. Spring showers on Swanston Street

9. Tai Snaith's studio at the Nicholas Building Open Studios night

10. Flatland by Tim Fleming, Nicholas Building

11. Detail of Clare Whitney's studio, Nicholas Building

12. The Nicholas Building has had some interesting former residents

13. Keith Haring mural on Johnston Street

Where the little people live

I have had a link to London-based artist Slinkachu's blog in my sidebar for quite some time, yet have failed to explain just what it is he does, and just why I like his work so much. Slinkachu is difficult to categorise, in that, despite the city streets playing a vital role in his art (for Slinkachu's 'Little People,' the streets of London are the entire known universe), he doesn't fit the mold of street art as we know it. Where artists like Banksy, Blek le Rat and Shepard Fairey interact with the city in a bold, unmistakable way, Slinkachu invades the city in a way that is as subtle as it is clever.

Shot from closeup, Slinkachu's figures appear to fit with the landscape, but a longer shot reveals them to be miniatures, completely swamped by their surroundings. By playing with disparities in scale, Slinkachu addresses urban isolation and alienation, not to mention making wry commentary about the ammount of attention we pay to the very streets we walk on. A tiny revolution is taking place, but if you didn't know where to look, you could well be excused for missing it altogether.

 

All images from Slinkachu's blog. 

There is also a book, 'Little People,' which I am trying to convince myself I don't need. Needless to say, it's fantastic. Lastly, Slinkachu also keeps a collection of press clippings on a second blog, which is noteworthy solely for the reason that one of the clippings features the best headline I have ever seen. Pun perfection.

Combo

Judging by its whopping 5,207,757 views on Youtube, it's safe to say a fair few people are aware of the stop -motion video Muto, by Argentinian street artist Blu. It gives the term 'splitting headache' an entirely new association, not to mention showcasing Blu's artistic talent. Well, Blu is back, this time in collaboration with video artist David Ellis. The resulting video is as arty and creepy as you might expect, plus this time you get to see Blu at work (albeit at high speed), which amps the interest factor up. Definitely worth a watch.

Via Wooster Collective.

Prime cuts

Not being too clued up on the different cuts of meat, I can't really decipher the details of this, but I sure appreciate the sentiment. By GG, via Wooster Collective.

Veni Vidi Vici (AKA Ancient Rome nerdery)

Centurions and the like by Nomade via Wooster Collective. These have popped up in NY, LA & San Francisco, and I think they are all kinds of awesome.

Sunny side up in Balaclava

(Also spotted in Fitzroy and the CBD, but dark + rain aren't exactly condusive to outside-and-uncovered photos.)


EDIT: This reminds me of a set of tags from France, which were left all over the streets and shop windows of Paris by retired watercolourist Jean-Luc Duez:
The story of Monsieur Duez and the AMOUR tags can be found here.

Joy joy joy division

As seen in Melbourne:



Also found, whilst wandering around Fitzroy & Collingwood: