• linked fromhttp://bristolgraffiti.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/bristol-city-councils-new-graffiti-policy/

Following the success of the last two 501® Jeans Live Unbuttoned art installations, Levi’s and Vice have come together to find the UK’s most talented painters, illustrators, designers, sculptors, artists, whatever to have their work displayed on HUGE sites throughout London.
There are absolutely no guidelines for this project, other than that your work should try [...]

• linked fromhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/UkStreetArt/~3/pk4NBkwHuiM/

Following the success of the last two 501® Jeans Live Unbuttoned art installations, Levi’s and Vice have come together to find the UK’s most talented painters, illustrators, designers, sculptors, artists, whatever to have their work displayed on HUGE sites throughout London.
There are absolutely no guidelines for this project, other than that your work should try [...]

• linked fromhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/UkStreetArt/~3/pk4NBkwHuiM/

• linked fromhttp://bristolgraffiti.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/bristol-city-councils-new-graffiti-policy/

• linked fromhttp://bristolgraffiti.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/shows-stuff-to-do-etc/

The history of the arts as been filled with loners, those at the vanguard of society, or subsisting in the underworld of a creative economy largely ignored but for the accumulated critique of a plethora of art historians, dealers and buyers in the ever burgeoning arts market. But things are changing, the stranglehold of the gallery system, the elitist clique traditionally associated with the fine arts, approaches and technologies in both application and marketing, and the art buying public in general are evolving at an accelerated rate of evolution.

The Internet has had a strong part to play in these massive developments, and a great example of one site that has taken advantage of the turning tide of arts appreciation is SprayGraphic.com. Whilst studying a degree in Fine Arts at Brighton University I was temporarily suspended from my course for arguing that the wider public’s opinion, informed or not, would play a greater and greater part in the future of the development of art technique, subject and marketability. I fortunately gained a reprieve after my case was supported by a variety of tutors and lecturers on my and other courses at the Grand Parade Annexe. It seems ridiculous now to consider how controversial my views were, for these days it is almost common knowledge that the narrow minded old guard of the arts are desperately breathing their last agitated breaths.

I have found myself communicating more and more with the founder of SprayGraphic.com over the past few weeks, initially I had placed a few advertisements at their site, but as time has moved on I have found a great deal of kinship in ideology with one of its two founders Chuck Banaszewski. I wanted to bring his and Matt Krise’s unique arts community to your attention for a number of reasons, first and foremostly the purpose and motivation they and I share for the future of the arts.

A quote from Chuck regarding the priorities for the Spray Graphic community:- "My goal is to try to get people to think more about art, pop culture, symbols, fashion, and materialism without telling people the "answer" or what it means. I wanted to provoke thought. At the same time, I have been able to look at all of those things mentioned and really appreciate the opportunity to do so. Its been a cool ride! The T-shirt was such a unique and popular canvas for art today. I thought it was the most effective way to get people to think more about life in general. Sometimes it has been very successful and other times not so good…kind of like life. The social network is at the centre of the art world today, whether it be arts entrepreneurship, artists collaborating, gallery space, performance space, marketing, etc. We have always tried to be at the cutting edge of the art world and I believe we have successfully been doing that for the past year and half with the site."

SprayGraphic.com began as a t-shirt company, however it was soon apparent the demand for an all-inclusive and expansive platform for themselves and artists around the world became more and more of a priority. Making the brave leap from a traditional creative company to a creative community is impressive in itself, however to make such a success of this particular arts social network is by any measure an outstanding achievement.

Chuck and Matt are particularly excited by the global reach of the Spray Graphic community, as this statement from Chuck reveals, "here are artists from over 50 countries represented on the site and it continues to grow with quality work on a daily basis. Basically, we encourage users to create profiles that feature their creative efforts, as well as their activist efforts and their adventurous side. At this time, the site is dominated by visual artists and designers, but we hope to balance that out over time with the addition of music bands, film artists, writers, and art appreciators. In one sentence, Spraygraphic is a free online community for Creative Minds."

If you are from a creative background, and work within any medium and I mean any medium, I urge you to consider joining what is probably the most influential urban and contemporary arts community on the net. Although there are many others online, the fact that Spray Graphic is so all-encompassing in its coverage, geographically, artistically, politically and more should guarantee you will find yourself amongst like-minded artists from every background. A perfect place to showcase your work, garner critique from those who truly understand why and how you create what you create, and the logical layout of the site means you won’t be delayed by the usual rigmarole of joining many general social networks out there.

I run another arts site at ArtShout.net where I showcase art on the net that I and hopefully my readers enjoy and I fully admit that Spray Graphic is definitely on my hit list when it comes to scouting out new artists. In fact it can be rather addictive! Their cornucopian listings mean you can search by artist, project. medium, location, and much more. I’d recommend for those new to the site to peruse the interviews which are for the main part a fascinating read, and a great place to search out the next rising stars on the scene, be it art, design, music, video, writing and even t-shirts awaiting your votes and comments.

I took a quick dip (which is a rarity for me but time is pressing) and picked just a few images to give you some idea of the quality of work being showcased at the site:-

Pop Art by P. A. Leigh

Installation Art by Magdalen Celestino

Paintings by Richard Michaud

Tattoos by Method Art

I’m currently in the process of setting up my account, I rarely join social networks as most seem rather time consuming and laborious to use, bar a few automatic post previews from my blogs, however I urge all artists of every medium and genre to consider signing up with SprayGraphic.com – it could change your life!

Spray Graphic are slowly seeping into the consciousness of the offline world, they stage numerous events, all with a great deal of success. Check out their latest event Live Art at 944 Anniversary Party, and keep up with future and past happenings here. Spray Graphic, creativity unified!

Tags: art social networking, artists, new art, new artists, portfolio, Spraygraphic.com, urban art

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The Nuart Festival which kicks off September 10th in Stavanger, Norway is starting to upload videos from the excellent speaker series. Here’s the first one, from Leon Reid IV.

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More from escif here

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(click to enlarge)

Artists: mentalgassi

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I was recently sent a complimentary copy of Wound Magazine’s latest hard copy issue. They originally contacted me regarding their new iPhone application iWound which was launched this summer and is sailing to the top of Apple’s charts as we speak, however I don’t own an iPhone and so I can’t really comment much on their branching out into multimedia publishing, except to remark that they seem to be doing awfully well judging by the news.

Wound is the only lifestyle application on the Apple iTunes Store to be currently rated ‘new and noteworthy’.  Their customers have given the application a 5 star rating and are delighted with their endorsement from Apple.  iWound is available in 77 countries worldwide and can be purchased through your local iTunes store. UK visitors can download the iWound application from iTunes App Store today for under £3 – click here. What’s more they offer a digital version of the venerated arts and culture magazine here.

The current issue entitled La Grande Illusion (which I figure references Jean Renoir’s 1937 classic movie of the same title) is jam packed with lush full page photography featuring proponents, renegades, instigators and movements across the fields of art, fashion, design and architecture. It takes a while to skim through the rather impressive array of magazine sponsorship before one encounters the true content of the magazine, but it’s understandable considering the quality of the arts journalism, photography and subject matter in general. With head offices based in London UK, Japan and Shanghai China it comes as no surprise that Wound’s scope is a measure of true international style and taste, celebrating an edginess and originality unseen in many competing publications. In fact Wound feels more like an eighties issue of iD or Face matured by the hard knocks of today’s fragmented society, seeking out artistic inpiration like a sniffer dog at a drug fuelled warehouse party.

Whatever your cultural bias and taste, I can guarantee you an exciting read, both I and my partner were rather wowed at times by the content, and for myself the article featuring art bad boy Wim Delvoye was a real eye opener. There are plenty of articles to keep the most jaded of culture vultures on their toes, a brand new ‘Close-Up’ section features a fascinating insight into the mad and bad world of the Berlin-based electronica supremo Peaches.

There’s a rather beautiful section featuring underwater divas, modern day mermaids that crosses the vague boundary between art and fashion, without the use of digital special effects the photographers Rene and Radka have come up with some stunning photographs.

I also delved into an article about the Amsterdam-based architectural and conceptual experiment that is The Lloyd Hotel, with its inspired mix of traditional and post-modern design, and a rather macabre history as a former prison during the Nazi occupation, this and other aspects of the building have been deliberately incorporated into the interior experience in a rather profound and meaningful way.

Another favourite article of mine examines the life and work of Amy Bessone – a Los Angeles based painter who blows up images of small porcelain statues to an enormous scale. Dealing with ideas of reproduction and replication, as well as the vague distinctions between high and low art, the mass-produced object, and the art market as a whole. If i hadn’t seen the work I doubt I’d have been sold on the idea, but in fact Bessone produces a very strong and yet strangely intriguing collection.

Amy Bessone – Woman and Serpent – 2007

If you’d like to know more about Wound and iWound then visit their site at www.WoundMedia.com, make sure to check out their blog whilst you’re there, it’s a fascinating read.

 

 

 

 

Tags: Amy Bessone, arts magazine, culture, iWound, Peaches, Wim Delvoye, wound magazine

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