INKFLOW has officially dropped, check it out here. It just so happens a certain designer for Constant has artwork included…

KILLACAN.COM OFFICIAL CONTEST Create a free hand original design on an empty aerosol spray paint can. Artist is granted complete freedom of design. May the illest can win. Please take a moment to view some examples in our myspace album so that you can get an example of what it takes to KILL A CAN.

Official RulesOpen to all ages with parent permission. (Although any winners under the age of 18 will not be able to order spray paint when claiming there prize.) Courtesy of our sponsors: pureg.net

-You can use any size aerosol spray paint can you find.

-The can could be black and white or full color.

-It does not matter what you use to paint your can as long as its done free hand. (no digital prints, stickers, or transfers will be accepted)

-The wording “KILL A CAN” must be signed somewhere in the artwork to confirm and authorize the can as a contest submission. (You must include the number of the current KillaCan contest you are entering.)

- Finally clear coat the can when finished to help preservation of your artwork.

- Ship the can to:
KILLACAN.COM
P.O. BOX 19804
San Diego, CA 92159

- Once your Art Can submission is received, Our photographer/videographer will professionally photograph your submission and upload it to the appropriate Kill a Can myspace photo album.

Judging

This contest will take place once a month and will award 3 Winners.

All submissions will be uploaded to the appropriate contest album and will be open to judging by myspace users. Each photo comment containing the words “KILLED THIS CAN” will count as one vote. The votes will be counted on the 15th of the following month.

Prizes

1st Place – $200 Gift certificate from our official sponsor PUREG.NET

2nd place- $50 Gift package courtesy pureg.net

3rd place- $20 Gift Certificate, courtesy pureg.net

Nasimo, Bulgaria’s most recognized name in Graffiti is having a solo exhibition in Vancouver Canada. To View some of his extensive amount of work on and off the streets check out his promo video on YouTube.

The opening reception is Friday April 4th starting at 8pm Featuring Nasimo’s work in the form of painted walls, original canvasses, videos playing, painted women, sculptures and of course music, food and drinks.

Nasimo – Scratching Instinct Solo Show
April 4th – 30th
The Fall Gallery
633 Seymour St.
Vancouver, Canada

more info

www.thefalltattooing.com email: btc@btcracks.com

You can see graffiti in every country in the world. It often defaces walls, poles, trains and the fronts and sides of buildings. Graffiti is considered undesirable vandalism to its victims who spend time and money to paint over or wash it off their property. Indeed, graffiti painting is an ongoing problem in many subway stations and on public walkways, signs, cement walls, and other locations.

However, on the streets of the United Kingdom near London, an artist called Banksy continues to gain international recognition and fame for his graffiti. The fact is that Banksy’s “street art” has become immensely popular with both pedestrians and private art collectors alike. In the last several years, there have been a number of exhibitions and auctions of Banksy’s art work as his popularity has soared.

The growing popularity of his art is in evidence in the secondary market where a painting titled “Space Girl and Bird” sold for $575,000 in an auction event last year (2007). In fact, Banksy’s art can now be found in many private art collections worldwide. Banksy has also produced leaflets and books on art and has his own website. He self-published his first three books, “Existencilism,” “Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall,” and “Cut It Out.”

His latest book called, “Wall and Piece,” was published by Random House and has already sold more than two hundred and fifty thousand copies. Nevertheless, Banksy continues to keep his real identity secret to avoid arrest and prosecution. His anonymity is said to be born of a desire to be a “quality vandal” and to elude the police. He once said, “Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could draw wherever they liked, where the street was awash with a million colors and little phrases. . . . A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business.” He has a unique view of the art world as well. He has said, “The art world is the biggest joke going. It’s a rest home for the over-privileged, the pretentious, and the weak.”

Banksy’s graffiti began appearing on trains and walls around Bristol, England in 1993. By 2001, his street art could be seen all over the United Kingdom. His art has a distinctive style which makes it easy to recognize. It features attention to detail and uses layered stenciling and spray paint. Banksy uses familiar images and his pictures contain dark humor and are often controversial. His art is often focused around anti-war, anti-establishment, and anti-capitalism themes. Sometimes Banksy’s works have a pro-freedom message.

Banksy uses rats as images in many of his pictures. His most famous street paintings are a series of black-and-white stenciled rats. Many of these rats are created to be larger than life. The rats have become immensely popular with London pedestrians. A “gangster rat,” painted on a wall near the Smithfield market, wears a peace-sign medallion and carries a sign that says “Welcome to Hell.” Another rat holds a sign that reads, “Please love me.”

Other Banksy art features the image of two policemen kissing painted on a public wall. In another picture a military helicopter is adorned with a pink bow. Winston Churchill has a Mohawk haircut in another. He has even produced revisionist oil paintings such as Mona Lisa with a yellow smiley face, and a pastoral landscape surrounded by crime-scene tape. Banksy, dressed in a disguise, installed them in the Louvre and the Tate.

Banksy often uses public walls as a background to display his art. Although recently he has been creating art on canvas as well. In addition, Banksy sometimes enters museums and galleries to add his own art to the museum collections. In the last several years, Banksy’s street art has been seen internationally. It has been found in the Middle East on Israel’s West Bank barrier, and in various countries worldwide including Spain, Palestine, Germany, and the United States. He painted the security fence at Bethlehem with a scene of a hole in the concrete barrier. The hole revealed a glittering beach on the other side.

Banksy is viewed by people in many different ways. To some he is an anti-hero who touches the public conscience. Others think of him as an anti-social rogue who vandalizes public property. Some people who have done business with him consider him to be both a genius and a madman. Many view him as unique and irreverent.

On his website Banksy states that he has bought a taller ladder to use in his work. So there can be no doubt that his graffiti (“street art”) will continue. For their part, the authorities in the United Kingdom will continue to try to identify and subsequently arrest Banksy, the world’s most wanted graffiti artist.

James William Smith has worked in senior management positions for some of the largest financial services firms in the United States for the last twenty five years. He has also provided business consulting support for insurance organizations and start up businesses. Mr. Smith has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Boston College. He enjoys writing articles on political, national, and world events.Visit his website at http://www.eworldvu.com

Why do you think people are so opposed to the word cunt?

I think most people probably don’t really know themselves why they find the word so offensive. The way it is used has become so established – either spat out in extreme anger and desperation or blotted out to just one letter in the media – that it has taken on a kind of mythic madness and power. People just shy away from even thinking about it – it’s reputation is so distasteful that they don’t seem to realize that this word that they feel is so wounding and disgusting is a word that signifies the wondrous place that we all entered the world from. Of course there are those who think that women and their sexual organs are intrinsically evil and I find it perfectly
understandable why these people use ‘cunt’ as a swear word.

Is that a real cunt tattoo on that young lady’s butt?

I haven’t been close enough to give it the spit-&-rub test but I believe so. It’s not the tat that worries me though, it’s more the expression on her face. Quite disturbing.

Do you think that Greg Taylor in part expected and hoped to have some controversy regarding his show?

I don’t know Greg personally but as I understand it the show wasn’t a conceptual one but more of a happy accident – a clay torso he was making exploded in the kiln and he was struck that the cunt fragment was a powerful piece in itself. Of course he can’t have been naive to the provocative impact his work would inevitably have but I don’t believe that stirring up controversy was his stimulus. I couldn’t say the same of my intentions.

What’s the response been like towards your fling ups?

Bemusement / mild embarrassment / hate mail / high-fives

What’s your artistic background?

I don’t have one – at least not a public one – but I think I would wither away if I wasn’t busy creating something or other. I’ve spent a lot of time over the years scribbling in notebooks and scheming up pranks – particularly with my dear friend Rayna Fahey who runs radical craft group Craft Cartel (http://craftcartel.com) with me.

What do you think about creating a global map that is color coordinated to the level of acceptance of the word cunt?

Digging the epic scale of the idea. Does any place accept the word? I imagine a lot of people would get quite hot and bothered about the results: lovely!

Have you used other mediums other than fling ups to dignify cunt?

Undies emblazoned with ‘cunts: deep warm and delightful – NOT offensive’ (subtlety isn’t something I practise on this topic), ‘respect your box’ boxes, Cunt-Catchers (like dream-catchers but with loftier aims), Cunt cakes with jelly beans or cherries as clits and I keep a blog ‘http:/.blogspot/cuntisnotadirtyword.com’ – I did have a facebook group: ‘I don’t find the word ‘cunt’ offensive’ but it got pulled for being “offensive”.
Any plans to bring cunts to other towns to enjoy?

Sure – if anyone invites me – I’d be thrilled to swap cunt for board.

What do you recommend people do to promote awareness about cunt’s kinder side?

Start using cunt as a compliment – as in – ‘you’re a top cunt!’

Classical art. Modern graffiti. To many people they’re worlds apart. To the gang at Worth 1000 they’re just crying out to be brought together.

In their contest they want you to add modern-style graffiti to classical artworks, except Norman Rockwell. The point is not to put graffiti over top of the painting but rather incorporate it into the scene. Check out the cliche list and guidelines on how to get the lowdown on the contest.

In a pre-emptive strike, the street artist Shepard Fairey filed a lawsuit on Monday against The Associated Press.

By Randy Kennedy

Published: February 9, 2009

In a pre-emptive strike, the street artist Shepard Fairey filed a lawsuit on Monday against The Associated Press, asking a federal judge to declare that he is protected from copyright infringement claims in his use of a news photograph as the basis for a now ubiquitous campaign poster image of President Obama.

The Associated Press objects to the use of a photo of Barack Obama by Mannie Garcia in a poster by Shepard Fairey.

The suit was filed in federal court in Manhattan after The Associated Press said it had determined that it owned the image, which Mr. Fairey used for posters and stickers distributed grass-roots style last year during the election campaign. The photo, showing Mr. Obama at the National Press Club in April 2006, was taken for The A.P. by a freelance photographer, Mannie Garcia.

According to the suit, A.P. officials contacted Mr. Fairey’s studio late last month demanding payment for the use of the photo and a portion of any money he makes from it.

Mr. Fairey’s lawyers, including Anthony T. Falzone, the executive director of the Fair Use Project and a law lecturer at Stanford University, contend in the suit that Mr. Fairey used the photograph only as a reference and transformed it into a “stunning, abstracted and idealized visual image that created powerful new meaning and conveys a radically different message” from that of the shot Mr. Garcia took.

The suit asks the judge to declare that Mr. Fairey’s work is protected under fair-use exceptions to copyright law, which allow limited use of copyrighted materials for purposes like criticism or comment.

“Fairey did not do anything wrong,” said Julie A. Ahrens, associate director of the Fair Use Project and another of Mr. Fairey’s lawyers, in a statement on Monday. “He should not have to put up with misguided threats from The A.P.” Paul Colford, a spokesman for The A.P., said on Monday that the agency was “disappointed by the surprise filing by Shepard Fairey and his company and by Mr. Fairey’s failure to recognize the rights of photographers in their works.”

He added: “A.P. was in the middle of settlement discussions with Mr. Fairey’s attorney last week in order to resolve this amicably and made it clear that a settlement would benefit the A.P. Emergency Relief Fund, a charitable fund that supports A.P. journalists around the world who suffer personal loss from natural disasters and conflicts.”

Mr. Fairey, 38, has become one of the most visible practitioners of a guerrilla-style art that has grown out of the graffiti scene but has expanded beyond paint to include a wide variety of techniques and materials, producing works usually displayed illegally on buildings and signs.

Mr. Fairey decided to create the image on his own before contacting the Obama campaign, which welcomed it but never officially adopted it because of copyright concerns. Before the election, Mr. Fairey was best known for his fake-advertising stickers and posters, pasted in cities across the country, showing an ominous, abstracted image of the wrestler Andre the Giant along with the word “Obey.”

Mr. Fairey is the focus of a retrospective that opened last week at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. (In a development that was not much of a surprise, he was arrested there on Friday, accused of illegally pasting his work in places around Boston; he has pleaded not guilty.) A collaged work made by Mr. Fairey based on his Obama poster was acquired last month by the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, part of the Smithsonian Institution, and placed in its permanent collection.

After Mr. Obama’s victory, speculation increased about which picture had served as the basis for Mr. Fairey’s posters. In interviews the artist said that it was one he had found on the Internet. Bloggers, including the Manhattan gallery owner James Danziger, pursued several leads until, according to the lawsuit, Tom Gralish, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, helped track down a photo by Mr. Garcia that showed Mr. Obama sitting beside the actor George Clooney at a 2006 event about Darfur at the National Press Club.

Further complicating the dispute, Mr. Garcia contends that he, not The Associated Press, owns the copyright for the photo, according to his contract with the The A.P. at the time. In a telephone interview on Monday, Mr. Garcia said he was unsure how he would proceed now that the matter had landed in court. But he said he was very happy when he found out that his photo was the source of the poster image and that he still is.

“I don’t condone people taking things, just because they can, off the Internet,” Mr. Garcia said. “But in this case I think it’s a very unique situation.”

He added, “If you put all the legal stuff away, I’m so proud of the photograph and that Fairey did what he did artistically with it, and the effect it’s had.”

“I am a proficient artist specializing in illustration, life and figure painting. Concentrating on the human form, I am fluent with a range of mediums, including oil paint , watercolor, acrylic, drawing and digital media. As a traditionally centered artist, I seek opportunities to use my technical skill and creative ability. I work in the studio in oil, in the classroom as a teacher, and at the computer as a digital artist.” – Geoffrey Klepis
Where did you grow up/currently live?
I was raised and currently live in Calgary, Alberta.

What are your creative mediums of choice?
The 3 primary mediums that I work with are oil paint, graphite, and digital painting in Photoshop.

How did attending Studio Escalier in Argenton-les-Vallées in France come about?
Being a student at ACAD(Alberta college of art and design), I was frustrated that no technical knowledge pertaining to drawing and painting was available to me. In its place was a strict regimen of political art rhetoric with no supplementation to technical art ability. My interest in figure drawing and oil painting was not being accommodated at all, and in its place was apparent political assimilation into a modernist school of thought, whose only advice was to abandon representational forms of art, for ones that focus on political rhetoric. Creating a marketable art gimmick was the focus, and not developing a strong skill set as an artist. This is what led to me researching more traditional forms of art creation, and I found info about Studio Escalier in a copy of American Artist magazine. I was quickly drawn to Ted Seth Jacob’s book “Drawing with an open mind”, and Anthony Ryder’s “The Complete Guide to Figure Drawing”. You see the school of thought revolving around these artists, as well as the teachers at Studio Escalier, is based on the collective knowledge of a wealth of artists, traceable back to Michelangelo. This can be seen in “The Flowering Staircase”, which was assembled by my teacher at Studio Escalier, Timothy Stotz

I would accuse the contemporary system at ACAD of attempting to cut the current generation off at the head, denying it the hundreds of years of collective innovation being handed down by some of the most innovative and inspired artists. In its place is perpetuation of self indulging art stars with no practical abilities, which would explain why after 10 years, only 10 percent of ACAD graduates are even creating art anymore (this is what they tell you at ACAD). So is this an institution that enriches the lives of artists and the art community, or simply the business of issuing worthless paper (diploma’s and degree’s) for a mountain of debt?

Can you tell us a bit about your experience there?
Studio Escalier exposed me to a form of teaching that was quite different than my college experience. A strict schedule of figure drawing and painting infused with contemporary classical knowledge turned even the most amateurs of the group into bearers of classical knowledge and ability. The gentle teaching methods of both my teachers optimized my learning experience, and made the absorption of the knowledge very pleasant and manageable. The small town of Argenton-Les-Vallees was a serene location that was conducive to inner reflection and learning.

What style of art are you a fan of/inspired by?
Well, clearly I am a fan of classical masters, one of my favorites of which is Ingres. I am in love with his smooth turn of the form done in oil paint. I am also a big fan of video game concept art, which operates on the basis of this classical knowledge, because it is based more in representational ability rather than political rhetoric. I am a big fan of old school arcade games, and the type of characters that are present in them. The overt stereotyping and sexualisation that is often the East’s reflection of the West is something I find amusing and fascinating, and something I try to express in my own character’s designs. I find that a lot of contemporary game character designs are watered down, and I would like to bring back some of the old school zaniness that exists in the arcades of the past.

Hows the art scene in Calgary?
When one sees the art scene in Calgary, it is clear what I meant earlier about cutting the art knowledge off at the head. There is plenty of art with representation elements, but nothing that utilizes real knowledge of turning the form or structural anatomy. Therefore even professional art will often have an amateur feel.  Otherwise many of the main galleries will carry a collection of very decorative works, and craft based works. These are often the pieces that have the most professional feel to them. There is also a movement of post-modern artists in the city, using installation and performative mediums. But it is definitely struggling and existing in a larval state.

How is Calgary to live in?
Living in Calgary is all I really know, so I think it’s alright. It’s an oil city with very capitalist values. We are very rich but it seems that wealth is not often seen by those who need it most. The towers get higher and more impressive, but the shadows they cast get larger.

Do you think you would ever move to France?
Seeing as I do have my French citizenship, as well as family in Paris, this could be a real possibility for me. This would depend on my success as an artist in the future.

How do you feel about digital art vs. analog art?
For myself there are more similarities when I pick up a paintbrush vs. my stylus than anything else. When drawing or painting in any medium the same principles of color and form apply. The true differences that exist would be the ones of the politics of reproduction, having a single physical copy of say an oil painting, versus a digital painting which is infinitely reproducible.

What inspired you to teach and can you tell us a bit about your teaching history?
Teaching has been a great experience for me to give young kids some intuitive drawing and painting information. I remember struggling at a young age because of the lack of knowledge and mentorship that was available to me. I think to myself what knowledge I know now that would’ve been an incredible asset to me as a child, and I teach that to the classes I work with.

What are your plans for the future?
I currently operate a long pose figure drawing studio in Calgary (anyone can contact me if you wish to attend). I would like to expand the interest in figure drawing and painting in Calgary, and possibly open a studio downtown for open figure drawing, teaching oil painting and classical techniques, and selling my work. I am also very eager to work as a video game concept artist, but I have found this to be a very limited industry in Calgary. I will keep on working at in, but so long as I live in Calgary I can only hope that the game industry begins to do better.

To understand why graffiti is so vilified by the powers that as mere “vandalism” one must know what vandalism actually is. Painter Gustave Courbet (a famous vandal himself,) considered it to be the “destruction of monuments symbolizing war and conquest,” a perhaps romanticised view I find difficult to agree with; since when did a bunch of chavs ever justify overtly the arson, for example of a bus shelter in terms of the shelter’s socio-economic significance? I’ve yet to hear one. A more apt descriptor is that of vandalism being the expression of an alternate culture, in this case the “criminal” one.

Vandalism is executed against another’s property in any case, and this is to my mind the root of the reason as to why it is considered unacceptable in a capitalistic society such as ours: it destroys the link between being a well-adjusted, functional person’s exploits at work, and his material wealth. Tags on cars make them worthless, and consequently the hours spent at work tallying up the monies requisite to buying said car are no longer of worth to the worker. The tag has transubstantiated the work from a point where it can be used to buy things, where it is essentially useless. Needless to say, for the worker, this is upsetting. His car is fucked, and he’s wasted his time doing reports on how John Doe broke his legs while sodomising a large black man on a non-regulation surface for the purposes of an insurance claim. The worker thus makes the link that vandalism annuls his exploits, and therefore must be in in opposition to his goals; much like an enemy.

To me, this is a good thing, It reminds us of the transient nature of things material, and it seems as if many crews which don’t produce crap graff are intent on reminding us that there are things far more important than the appearance of a public space, or the look of a car. It is a special case due to the car still being useful as a tool, and nothing else. It no longer becomes a status symbol of the hours sacrificed, or ideals compromised to achieve a status the worker has had to to make his purchase possible. Some people need this violent prompting more than others, but I view graffiti as a vector towards a more functional, and less materially judgemental system of thought. This can be considered the “criminal culture” discussed above. It may also teach that events do not necessarily follow from one another, and infuse a bit of interest into the life of your average 40 year old, who’s perfectly nice and all, but wandering his way to the grave having left all of his passions in his 20′s. This “interest,” is something the taggers also sometimes seek, when they enter into the risk-taking of tagging a train, or someone’s personal property, indulging an impulse made redundant years ago, when risk was the conduit to survival, e.g. through catching animals to eat, etc. and thus I am compelled to support graffiti made in that spirit of awakening the senses, through the desecration of certain things we hold dear: for the sake of the one who had his house graffiti’d (it’s for his own good,) and for the burning youth’s desire not to become totally numb, in a society whose ruler’s recent actions seem to treat people as mindless economic units.

It is also important to celebrate graffiti expressing unfavourable, and even seditious views, for they are socially incredibly important. They remind us that “the right” to free speech extends only as far as what the government want us to say, and no further. Examples such as Richard Barnbrook’s treatment in the London assembly, and laws outlawing the professing of hatred for gays and minorities reflect this bastardised version of free speech, that prohibits discussion of “extreme” and “underground” views. Look at the picture below. To “say” such a thing would incur a legal action if someone of eminence said something “bad” by these laws, or arrest if someone normal said them at the wrong place, at the wrong time. The presence of offensive graffiti evokes discussion, and alerts people as to the presence of more that just centrist views present in their community, something that allows itself to be a platform for articulation of something more than just fuel price issues, and directs thought towards why and how such graffiti artists exist, and either what can be done with them, or (preferably) why the laws of free speech prohibit the progression of certain, equally viable viewpoints to just the centrist one. Either way, if it makes people think, it’s good.

Graffiti, finally becomes art through the framing of a certain point in time, such as Banksy’s protests against increasing police power in Britain manifested as a picture of homosexual activities between 2 officers of the law, or the below Nazi picture epitomising a racial divide in a community. It is through this, it realises itself also as a form of culture. Perhaps a criminal one, but most certainly one whose primary tool is “shock and awe” tactics to deliver whatever message is has across.

You can read more articles like this at http://www.repine.net78.net There’s also UK graffiti photos and writer interviews.

Above Drawing: Black Mass (2009) Pen & Ink 14″ x 51″

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