tagged w/ Graffiti Research Lab
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Aside from its rain and coffee, Seattle, Washington is known for many things subversive, from Grunge music to the activist driven WTO riots. This region of America raised the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Lee. Today, there is a culture here that is only represented anonymously in the reclaimed public spaces of the city. Images dot the urban landscape in the typical street mediums that are used across the globe; spray paint, stickers, paste-ups, stencils, wheatpasting, posters, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, flash mobbing, installations, post-graffiti, mosaic tiling, murals, wood-blocking, LED art, reverse-graffiti and yard bombing.
You will see that these are not commercial enterprises or vandalism graffiti, but individual creative statements... something we can all relate to. Street art as a medium has been popularized internationally by the likes of Shepard Fairey, Banksy, D*Face, Paul Insect, Swoon, Twist, Neck face, Faile, Space Invader and WK Interact. It can take on many purposes and sometimes involves activism, phenomenology, repetition, attention capture, culture jamming, direct action, guerrilla messaging, propaganda, subvertising, decoration and territory claiming.
The following is a small window into this temporary world that's constantly being revised in a flux of new symbols. It's a snapshot of work on the Seattle streets over about a 3 year period, a visual capsule in time, not a comprehensive representation of Seattle street art and the people involved over the years. Some of the work only existed for a day before it was written over by other artists or removed by the city... a reminder that nothing is permanent, and control is an illusion in the chaos of a city. Enjoy.
http://seattlestreetart.com/Aside from its rain and coffee, Seattle, Washington is known for many things... more
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Days without potable water, hours of interrogation, sleep deprivation, and the theft of more than $20,000 in cash and equipment are among the hardships two New Yorkers say they endured as prisoners of the Chinese government during the Beijing Olympics.
"They threatened our lives, threatened the lives of people we know, of our family members, and they told us that they could get us, even outside of China," a 32-year-old artist from Williamsburg, James Powderly, said yesterday.
He and Thomas Grant, a 39-year-old videographer from the East Village, arrived in New York yesterday morning, having been deported from Beijing on Sunday — the day of the closing ceremonies for the 2008 Games.
Two advocacy groups, Reporters Without Borders and the Visual Artists Guild, organized a rally on the steps of City Hall yesterday, where Messrs. Grant and Powderly gave accounts of what they say happened to them.
Mr. Grant said he had been in Beijing to give independent journalists and artists technical assistance in getting their work past Chinese authorities. One such artist was Mr. Powderly, who said he was at the games to highlight human rights abuses through public art installations.
The two said they and four other Americans were apprehended outside a restaurant August 19, held for questioning, and then taken to a detention facility on the outskirts of Beijing.
"We were interrogated for periods of six to 10 hours a day in holding pens," Mr. Grant recalled. "Two days into the detention, we were shown a piece of paper written in Chinese, which none of us could read, and told that we had a sentence of 10 days given to us for a violation of Chinese law. Vague as it was, that was all we were told."
Following pressure from the American ambassador to China, Clark Randt, and New York politicians such as Rep. Nydia Velázquez, the Chinese sent Messrs. Grant and Powderly, as well as six other Americans who had been detained, back August 24.
Once they arrived at Beijing's airport, they were deprived of all of their cash and credit cards and told that they would have to pay for their own flights home, Mr. Grant said. He also said they found out that more than $20,000 worth of video equipment had been taken from them.
Representatives of the Chinese Embassy in Washington and of the Chinese Consulate in New York could not be reached for comment.Days without potable water, hours of interrogation, sleep deprivation, and the theft... more
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James Powderly, co-founder of the Graffiti Research Lab (G.R.L.), was detained by Beijing authorities while readying a specially planned Tibetan protest project using the infamous L.A.S.E.R. stencil. After being disinvited to Beijing’s National Media Art Museum cause they refused to cave, the engineer-artist decided to go to China anyway and promote a free Tibet. He was reportedly picked up around 3AM this morning our time and according to FreeTibet, "his current whereabouts remain unknown."
For those unfamiliar with the L.A.S.E.R. Stencil heres a link to a really cool video about it:
http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?page_id=76#video
James Powderly, co-founder of the Graffiti Research Lab (G.R.L.), was detained by... more
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Graffitti artist Mike Baca faces up to 7 years for writing his name-half the time one gets for murdering their wife.Graffitti artist Mike Baca faces up to 7 years for writing his name-half the time one... more
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This guy got sick of his fingers being covered in paint. Luckily he has a ton of free time and some programming skills. Here is some video of his creation, The Graffiti Machine.This guy got sick of his fingers being covered in paint. Luckily he has a ton of free... more
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If you happen to have some skills, a laptop, high-powered DLP projector, high-resolution camera and a 60 megawatt green laser, why not try your hand at doing a piece over an entire building. Developed by the Graffiti Research Lab, the open-source L.A.S.E.R. Tag system has to be seen to be believed. THIS IS GRAFFITI ON A NEW LEVEL PEOPLE...!!! STEP YOUR ART GAME UP...!!!!If you happen to have some skills, a laptop, high-powered DLP projector,... more
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