As part of the exhibit ‘Above The Radar II,’ The Fridge and Albus Calvus teamed up on a workshop this past weekend to teach elements of graffiti style and technique. Two ‘crews’ worked with pros to sketch out the lettering, characters, and colors to create their own murals.
Above The Radar II is on display at The Fridge thru December 3. More details below.
Thanks to TransitDC for submitting these photos to our reader shots series a while back! Have you seen an Einstein, tiger, or boombox around the city lately? Keep an eye out for these …
Earlier this summer, before Art Whino’s G40 at Vitamin Water Uncapped Live in early May, an unusual scene was happening at the corner of 14th + Florida Ave. NW: legal graffiti writing, in daylight, out in the open.
Above: writers work on murals at the corner of 14th + Florida Ave., DC.
Special thanks to readers MA + TD for these nice submissions to our ongoing Reader Shots series. This week includes a look at work from the G40, Garfield Park in SW DC, and Blagden Alley in Shaw, NW.
Video by MikaAltskan
The DC Department of Public Works (DPW) is searching for mural sites in all DC Wards to be considered for the MuralsDC program from June-August 2011. MuralsDC is a partnership between DPW and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) – created to help replace illegal graffiti with artistic works, to revitalize the DC community, and engage DC youth.
There are currently 27 MuralsDC projects throughout the District. Each tell a unique story of DC’s diverse neighborhoods while deterring further illegal graffiti. DPW and DCCAH will focus on sites that are frequent targets of graffiti.
It’s exciting to find a fresh new mural in DC, like this one we stumbled on while walking around the city last week. A friend says “the pieces were done for 368 music group artist Da Phuture for his single Stupid Dope Moves, as a custom paint job by Art Under Pressure. Also featured in the picture is “2″ by Cave and “Dali” by SLR.”
It’s rare to find a mural that’s so bright, clean and spacious. Writers and crews often fit as much as possible onto available wall space, even spilling over like you see on the pavement at the bottom of “Moves”. Graffiti style in general tends to be wild and crazy. It’s cool to see the contrast of clean wall space and color that allows the styles in the lettering and character to really come through on the mural.
Below, the music video the mural was produced for. Note, lyrics NSFW:
Seen these faces around DC lately? Look up next time you’re near Adams Morgan. STRANGER Crew added these pics to the MixedMediaDistrict Flickr pool to be featured in our Reader Shots series.
Only weeks ago, we were warned of an imminent, global cultural tipping-point: that we, as a human race, are on the cusp of true belief in alien life. And that’s when it happened. Extraterrestrial graffiti started popping up all over DC.
Above: a message. And a preview of what’s to come.
We’re collecting photos of graffiti + advertising in Washington DC to catalog the influence of cultural arts in the media, marketing, community + politics of America’s Capital city.
Find + share more Reader Shots at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/mixedmediadistrict/
A series of wheat-pasted posters appeared this week in DC’s historic U Street neighborhood to mark Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – under the banner of non-violence and “revolutionary spirit”.
The posters read: “Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit … declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.”
The work appears in mid-town’s U Street Corridor, historically known for both turmoil and triumph. “The intersection of 14th Street and U Street was the epicenter of violence and destruction during the 1968 Washington, D.C. riots” (Wikipedia) – and the site of spontaneous celebration 40 years later on the election night of President Barack Obama.
“MR. OBAMA, WE NEED’E’ JOBS” – write OLHA + STEF in a message to President Obama on the DC Metro Orange line. In context, there’s a strangely hysterical irony here that both the left + right side of the political aisle can back: People need jobs!
We’re collecting photos of graffiti + advertising in Washington DC to catalog the influence of cultural arts in the media, marketing, community + politics of America’s Capital. Our second week features some great shots thanks to readers JS + HH.
Find + share more Reader Shots at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/mixedmediadistrict/
We’re collecting photos of graffiti + advertising in Washington DC to catalog the influence of cultural arts in the media, marketing, community + politics of America’s Capital. Our first week features some great shots thanks to readers A.W. and Flickr user hch0007.
Riverfront Fest hits the District this Saturday, October 9th — with a lineup featuring the No Kings Collective b-boy + break-dance battle, art by The Fridge + Art Whino, and event sponsorship by the ReadySetDC crew.
Higher Stars’ mural and music video are featured in August’s DCCAH Art(202) Journal, with a great story of the project’s production. Start to finish, the work was completed, amazingly, in under 12 hours — with a live show at Bohemian Caverns to boot.
You gotta love a house party with a handbill. Radio CPR Presents: High Voltage, with DJ sets by PreColumbian, DC Anthology and Detroit Cupcake Collective. Radio CPR 97.5 fm is a community powered volunteer-run radio station based in Mt. Pleasant, DC. Listen on the radio anytime, or tonight in Columbia Heights.
Kelly Towles recently created Scout at 12th + W St. NW, shortly followed by a video of the installation produced by Sebastien Tobler. Provided by the artist, ReadySetDC writes “[t]he mural and short film explore a DC neighborhood with a child like sense of exploration. A quick take on what most people should do in their own area of the city. Enjoy!”
Watch video: SCOUT from Kelly Towles on Vimeo.
Street artists have stepped up recently in the campaign to get DC a vote. Albus Cavus teamed up with DC Vote for the Give Me A Vote campaign, DECOY is in the mix, and hands by GAIA are all over town. Help Dc get a vote! Check out http://www.dcvote.org
Seen this poster pasted around DC recently? The image has cropped up all over the city in the past few weeks, with the quote:
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocked fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed”
— President Dwight Eisenhower
The poster brings us back to the real meaning of “innocent bystanders” in Heineken’s coy ad pitch – and illustrates yet again the influence of art in media. That influence, of art and counterculture in mainstream marketing, is what sparked our new Ad/Remix series for eSocialMediaShop.
Hosted by Asad ULTRA Walker
Inspiration Exhibition opened at American University’s Katzen Museum May 8 + runs to June 6th.
Details, show info, and Facebook like buttons are on the Inspiration Exhibition Facebook Page. Favorites by DECOY, and Juan Pineda, are below – but of course they can’t beat a visit to the exhibit. More pics are posted on Flickr.
DECOY: relax, 2010
Juan Pineda, 2010
Graffiti draws a remarkable counterpart to marketing and advertising. Memorable street campaigns take the same creativity, consistency, branding and visibility needed to make marketing work.
Street artists are marketers gone rogue (also a popular theme of the year) – developing and executing creative concepts, many with a specific and often populist tone. Like it or not, the closer you look, the more of a message there is to see in the details of graffiti.
DC represented big in 2009, and themes in our graffiti and street art reflected important, meaningful local issues: problems of homelessness, DC’s non-state status, and few (but expanding) outlets for public art. Check out a full photo set of the year in DC graffiti on Flickr.
These are the freshest names and stand out styles in DC graffiti:
JAKE
CHE
MOE
REZIST
PEAR
AERA
DECOY
Click here to see a Flickr photo set of the year in DC graffiti.
Fill: REZIST. (Next: JAKE). REZIST’s fill-ins are always crazy colorful – and legible. Same with JAKE, who tones down the new school funk and maintains a wild style.
Bomb: CHE. (Next: MOE). A close call but easy to pick. MOE may have more tags up, but CHE is mighty close – with bigger fill-ins and better, riskier, more visible spots. MOE tagged Adams Morgan’s mural on DC’s non-state status – an ironic, shady move to deface a message the rest of DC’s graffiti seems to be all about. Watching CHE and MOE get up this year was like watching the good guy vs. the bad guy – and here, the good guy wins.
Spot: JAKE. (Next: CHE). JAKE is up in the undisputedly best spot in DC – in the middle of the Patomac River on Georgetown’s Key Bridge. To hit the spot, JAKE had to either get a boat, or haul gallons of paint and loads of supplies under the bridge span across its huge arcs, starting at several chainlink fences directly next to the US Park Police office. JAKE’s piece is one of the most visible in the District, in a place that’s the antithesis of graffiti – squeaky clean, picture perfect Georgetown. A huge hassle, if not nearly impossible to remove. It epitomizes graffiti in a clean, simple, colorful piece that carries impressive implications in logistics and location.
Stencil: RVLTN. (Next: 51). Stencil images hit the streets of DC to illuminate two big issues in DC: homelessness and political representation. Amidst the toughest economic time in decades, DC slashed funding to social services that help the homeless. Next, the 51 stencil hit corners and street boxes with a simple, clear, concise message: make DC the 51st state – no matter how our vote tips the political scales.
Poster: DECOY (Next: DIABETIK). DECOY covered more DC walls than any other poster artist this year with a distinct style that’s easy to spot. DECOY was part of an awesome cartoon poster campaign in early December at 14th/T (already removed!) along with the next pick: Peeps. All year, poster Peeps popped up all over the place in DC.
Sticker: Crook. This sticker is iconic of everything about graffiti and Washington DC: free speech, politics, corruption and dissent. The sticker’s amazing wit calls attention to the fundamental issues in both graffiti and politics – and common to us all: open access, free speech, expression, opportunity, and equality.
A full photo set of the year in DC’s graffiti is posted on Flickr.
Something missing? Leave a comment and links to pics of your favorite DC graffiti!
DC Commission on Arts & Humanities recently commissioned mural artist Joel Bergner to paint Bloombars – a small community arts space in Columbia Heights, DC. Joel’s mural tells the story of a Felipe, a boy living in the “Favela (shantytown) City of God in Brazil.”
Felipe's Story Mural by Joel Bergner at Bloombars art space in Columbia Heights, DC
The image was created with an easy process in Photoshop, explained by DC-area Adobe guru Richard Harrington of the agency RHED Pixel – in a workshop on Photoshop for Motion Design at the 2009 DC Motion Graphics Festival.
To create the full image, four portrait-aspect (vertical) photos are combined in Photoshop by:
The process works best with about 40% overlap between single photos when shooting by hand, or by rotating a tripod head about 15° for panoramic or 360° images, according to Harrington.
Harrington’s Photoshop for Video Blog features hundreds more tips on cool tricks in Photoshop, at http://www.photoshopforvideo.com/.
Halloween hit DC in style at techARTS Halloween Party – with music from the Eighty Eight DC + XCultureTV crews, a touch of decor by Graffiti Research Lab, Artomatic in the sponsorship list, and my newest favorite photographer Vincent Gallegos. Check out his photo set of the night’s costumes at ReadySetDC – including a shot of my rad concept costume “MySpace is Dead.”
