Street Art in the Mission, San Francisco

Stumbled on a very dynamic, large wall of street art, outside of CELLspace in the Mission area of San Francisco. These were actual paintings and murals for the most part, not glued-on Xerox copies. It was a real treat to find all these screaming colors, over sprays and paint strokes, some with commentary, some just plain weird and fun. Many different artists and eclectic styles attacked this wall, transforming it into a visual wonderland.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For more on the artists and their art: http://www.cellspace.org/new/node/259

(This entry was  originally posted on 5/18/10 and transferred here –  as we are discontinuing our other blog site)

A Berlin Wall Art Gallery

After stumbling on some dynamic art from the Berlin Wall randomly one day, I spent a whole day browsing the internet for these images of art. Okay, there may be a few in here that aren’t from the wall, but that’s how they “googled”.

I picked only the best photos and edited a little. There are so many great pieces, they deserve to be in some cohesive format all together. It would have taken months to try and research each artist and photographer, so please excuse the fact there are no credits here. Whenever possible, I left the occasional signature on the images. Some seem to be actual pieces removed from the wall but most are still on the actual wall itself. There are before and afters – ( freshly painted, then the same art after graffiti and weather had taken it’s toll ). Both are very cool. The crumbling plaster cracks and irregularities of the wall, lend great texture and dimension, with a collage-feel resulting. The paintings near windows and cracks have a surreal Magritte look, with an arm sticking thru or other worlds beckoning inside windows. Some of the photos are tourist snapshots so there may be a human in there and some have the actual artists in front of them. (I think.)

All kinds of great eclectic styles – Russian/Chinese propaganda, German expressionist, Mexican mural, urban street punk, comic, representational, graphic and expressionist. For all you Cure fans, there is even a little Warhol – like stencil of Robert Smith!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Credit goes out to all the fantastic artists and photographers, whoever you are, for creating such a great collection of street art! Enjoy. 

(This entry was  originally posted on 10/19/09 and transferred here –  as we are discontinuing our other blog site)

San Francisco Art Institute’s Spring Show 2009

 

Took the chance to see some fledgling, fresh talent at local art school’s spring exhibits. Some of it didn’t translate well into the blog format, the installations and pieces where sound were a key factor. Nonetheless, there were a slew of creative works and it was hard to choose which ones to feature here. Didn’t have time to list artist’s names and titles, but wanted to share the eye candy with you all… Shown here are some wonderful selections from the SFAI Spring Show, May 21-28th 2009, Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco.

(This entry was  originally posted on 5/27/09 and transferred here-  as we are discontinuing our other blog site)

Abraham Obama

Artist Ron English has done it again! Execution is subtle yet great!

Do you consider yourself a pop artist? “Not in the strict sense of the term. I don’t take a bland enough look at the surface of pop culture. The pop guys only commented on it in the sense that it existed– there it is. But I’m passionately engaged in pop culture, I have opinions about it, I bring the subconscious into play with it. My work is more about social commentary. It just has the look of pop because I’m using pop iconography as a sort of visual vocabulary with which to comment on my life and times. And in this way I feel more akin to the social realists or even the surrealists. It’s like this: Art is polite society, and there’s two things you don’t mention in polite society– politics and religion. My work is filled with both, and that may make it unpalatable to polite society, but at least it’s never boring. It’s Popaganda! “

For more of Ron’s POPapaganda art go to: http://www.popaganda.com/

(This entry was  originally posted on 1/14/09 and transferred here-  as we are discontinuing our other blog site)