Urban artists think big

There’s been a spate of big works hitting urban walls recently. Here’s a quick roundup:

Conor Harrington - Shoreditch:

Fauxreel (Dan Bergeron) - Toronto

Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada - IDENTITY/Madrid

and last but certainly not least - JR (the guy who put huge murals on the Palestinian security wall) - Tate Modern and Lexington St

Bookmark/Share:

Related:

Urban Rot

Depressing but amazing Urban Exploration in the Detroit School Book Depository, wonderfully written up by the explorer, "Dutch". Modern day archaeology has so much to teach us about our own world and recent failings; in this case, the awful management of an education system that repeatedly fails to deliver on its promises of offering people a way out of poverty. It's a form of alternative journalism. 'Citizen archaeology', anyone? Found via Marginal Revolution del.icio.us Tags: urban exploration,urbex,citizen media,politics...

Context is king

In the 'Tuymans Experiment', Luc Tuymans (widely hailed as one of the most important artists in the world - e.g. the Tate Modern's description here, and the curators describing him in the first minute of the video above) decided to radically shift the context of his art. He reproduced one of his most famous paintings on a wall in Antwerp, to see how people responded to it. Curators predicted 90% of passerbys would stop and contemplate. In fact, just 4% stopped. A painting that in a gallery makes close to 100% of people stop and think for a few minutes, and appreciate the art for the thoughts it made them explore and the new ways of seeing something that it gives them, was remarkably valueless when transposed from the art gallery walls to a street wall. Context turned a 'million dollar' picture with the power to influence people and the way they think, into a vulgar paint daub on an alleyway wall ignored by 96% of people passing by. There are vast ramifications to this point; I would love to hear your suggestions in the comments below. When I watched this video this morning, here are some other stories...

Absolutely astonishing

Wall animation from Italian artist Blu...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 6:32 pm and is filed under Culture bucket. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 1 Comment

sharron 3 months ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

I think we shouold paint trees on bare walls - especially in slums - to give a fresh green happy effect to help uplift spirits of the poor.

reply edit reblog flag

Over The Counter Culture