www.streetsaresayingthings.com

Shepard Fairey is known for his nonsensical, DIY street art OBEY (which originated with the “Andre the Giant has a Posse” stickers) of the late 90’s. Now, the once anti-establishment skateboarder is making posters for the Showtime’s new season of Dexter and has become the unofficial artist of Barack Obama’s Hope campaign. Much like Godard in his Maoist period, Fairey’s decision to make his return to the limelight a political statement gives a new sort of street cred to the artist’s work.

Though let’s not pretend that Fairey is only motivated by change:

An auction for a Fairey’s Barack Obama collage in July netted over $100k. Yes, there’s chedda to be made doing this sort of thing.

The elusive graffiti artist and international prankster Banksy sold a painting for more than double that amount last year (102,000 pounds for his “Bombing Middle England”), but Fairey’s political portraits are now going for over one hundred percent more than they were only a year ago on eBay.

More here……..    Shepard Fairey Sells Out (For Hope) / Jossip

Tags: graff, graffiti, graffmuseum, sast, sater, streets are saying things, Obama, Democrats, Shepard Fairey, art, Barack

Read more here……Portland in a snap: Graffiti galore

Tags: graff, graffiti, graffmuseum, sast, saster, streets are saying things, Asylum, Maine, art

New York cops have busted a Bonnie and Clyde pair of graffiti artists who belonged to a tagging crew that began in Chicago, police said Friday.

Jim Clay Harper, 23, of Wilmette, and girlfriend Danielle Bremner, 26, of New York, traipsed across Europe spray-painting graffiti on trains in England, Spain and Germany, police said. He signed his work with the tag “Ether” and she called herself “Dani,” police said.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1122307,082308graff.fullimage

Tags: sast, saster, streets are saying things, graff, graffmuseum, graffiti, trains, subway, tunnel, transit, New York, NYC, Chicago, Made You Look

A cop working the beat downtown without a break since June has gone missing.The 600-pound bronze sculpture of a police officer writing a ticket placed at the corner of Broad Street and Greyrock Place as part of the Downtown Special Services District’s art in public places exhibit was stolen from his post Sunday and police are looking for clues to his disappearance.

The sculpture by renowned artist Seward Johnson is one of 53 pieces of lifelike art placed throughout the downtown area. The “Time’s Up” sculpture that was stolen is owned by the artist and is the last casting of his seven-piece limited edition.

Read more here…..Wanted: 600-pound police officer – The Advocate

Tags: sast, saster, streets are saying things, graff, graffmuseum, graffiti, police, art, missing

TRAINS OF THOUGHT

Curated by Streets Are Saying Things.Com and Yves Laroche.Com

Trains Of Thought is a new show that features the most talented and fresh artists in the graffiti art field. The artists featured in this show have the most extensive history and talent in the graffiti community. They will be applying their skills to Giclee Trains that will be exhibited in the show, and the subjects they choose are their original thoughts.

Artists from New York City, Montreal, and all over the world will be featured in this exhibit. 60+ artists will be featured all together in this exhibit, and they will school you!

Painting a train has traditionally been something special to a graffiti writer, and is a phenomenon that is something to bare witness of. The thoughts that are being laid onto these pieces of art are exceptional and some just sophisticatedly simple.

Come see the Installations, sculptures, paintings, photographs, sketches and studies, limited edition prints and products that will be available at this show.

There will be a book signing by the curators of “Piecebook, the secret drawings of graffiti writers”, written by Sacha Jenkins and David ‘Chino’ Villorente.

The show opens in Montreal at on August 29th 2008, 6pm-9pm @ Galerie d’Art Yves Laroche, 4 St-Paul E. Old Montreal, www.yveslaroche.com. Please call for info 514.393.1999.

There will also be an After party @ Cherry club, 417 St-Pierre Old Montreal, 10pm-3am, with dj’s E.P. Bergen (BV3), Buddah Morales, Casio Royale (BV3), & L’ami-e (BV3).

Trains Of Thought will be on display from August 29th – September 9th 2008.

This event is part of the Meeting Of Styles Montreal weekend… www.mosmtl.com.

In loving memory of Vittorio Fiorucci.

Thank you to all the artists involved and people making this possible. Word to our sponsors.

They are the Bonnie and Clyde of the graffiti world, and now a Queens woman and her boyfriend have been arrested, suspected of causing more than $100,000 in damages at transit facilities around the city, Newsday has learned.

But the suspects problems aren’t just local: the couple just got back from three months in Europe, where they dined, partied – and tagged their way through 10 or so countries, according to law enforcement sources.

“They had a mad bombing trip,” one source said.

At least one of those countries – France – has expressed an interest in prosecuting the duo, the source said.

Both XXXXX, whose tag is “Utah” but sometimes uses the tags “Dani” and “Erin,” and XXXXX, known as “Ether,” are in the NYPD’s book of most notorious taggers.

Read more here……..NYC pair eyed in European graffiti spree — Newsday.com

Tags: sast, streets are saying things, saster, graff, graffiti, graffmuseum, Utah, Ether, NYC, Chicago, France, News

The L.A. County supervisors\’ measure will allow authorities to hold taggers and their parents liable for civil damages.
By Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
11:10 AM PDT, August 19, 2008

Seeking to hit graffiti vandals and their parents in the pocketbook, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today unanimously approved a measure that would allow authorities to hold taggers — and their parents — liable for civil damages.

It goes into effect in 30 days.

The new county law is part of a broader strategy against blight that aims to step up enforcement by conducting more specialized prosecutions, as well having the violators pay fines up to $1,000 and having liens issued against their property. When warranted, the measure also would allow authorities to seek felony vandalism charges in court.

The thinking behind the approach, said Supervisor Gloria Molina, who introduced the ordinance, is to shake up parents and guardians who are in denial about their children\’s actions, unaware of them or simply don\’t care. It is another tool to hold the adults accountable, she said.

Los Angeles County spent nearly $30 million last year to clean up graffiti, records show.

But Molina, who said that the actual property damage to businesses and public buildings and infrastructure is far higher, said tagging also had led to violence, including murder.

In one of the most high-profile cases, Robert Whitehead of Valinda was shot to death in 2006 after challenging young gang members he caught crossing out another gang\’s graffiti on a neighbor\’s garage. Last year, Pico Rivera grandmother Maria Hicks was gunned down after she honked her car horn, flashed her car lights and followed a tagger who had defaced a wall.

The killings led Molina to push for a six-month pilot program in Pico Rivera and unincorporated areas south and west of Whittier.

L.A. County Sheriff\’s Capt. Michael J. Rothans said that during that period, there were 168 arrests — 133 minors among them — for tagging that resulted in $345,000 in damage. In Pico Rivera, one suspected graffiti vandal who was arrested last March was believed to be responsible for tags on 100 locations.

Rothans said 41% of the families with suspects under the age of 18 have sought help by agreeing to attend a parenting or intervention program. None of those minors have been rearrested, he said.