PicoCool

PingMag has an interview with ZEVS, the French street artist whose street art and graffiti “distorts the logos” of corporate brands. “Visual kidnapping is like entering an interactive game: If the brand on the billboard kidnaps the attention of the public with the purpose of consumer demand, I reverse the situation and I kidnap the model on the poster and I demand a ransom of 500,000 Euros from the brand. This sum represents the symbolic price of an advertising campaign for the brand.”

Network: blogs

"American-Spanish artist couple Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz from New York have been exploring tiny little dramas from our everyday madness and transformed them into short therapeutic scenes: What started as miniature snow globes a couple of years ago, has now evolved in veritable landscape panoramas that depict the elaborate bleakness of an emotional icy desert populated by all sorts of creatures. A world in everlasting winter, how grim! And at the same time, how funny! PingMag talked to Walter.”

Network: blogs

I love it when street style and tech come together as does with this KRINK laptop sleeve by Arkitip, a project of Incase “aimed at rtistically embellished Apple products to users who have an appreciation for the creative arts and technology.” Krink pens were developed by graffiti writer and artist, Craig “KR” Costello out of a variety of homemade inks and markers for use in both street and studio environments. “KR’s products gained notoriety by their association with his work in the street, the studio, and by his dripping ink aesthetics.” Available at $79.95 for MacBook and MacBook Pro 15 In.

Network: blogs

Photo of a sign by Artist General taken by Andrew Mager in San Francisco.

Network: flickr

This is a brilliant combination of pixel art and street art.  The photo was taken by Annamarie on 9th Street west of 2nd Avenue in New York City. If you have information about the artist, please tell us in the comments.

Network: flickr

"Drivers hustling to the city’s bustling North Beach neighborhood through the Broadway Tunnel Tuesday got a pleasant surprise—etched into the grimy walls lining the roadway was a tranquil urban forest. The unique mural was created by British-based artist Paul “Moose” Curtis using a technique called reverse graffiti or clean tagging. With the aid of San Francisco police and public works officials, Curtis spent the night blasting away at the years of grime with a high-powered water cannon.” You can see more photos here by Flickr user, dennis. [via jamesjyu on twitter]

Network: twitter

UPDATE: Wired reports that ClearChannel says the Skullphone ads are not a hack, but a paid ad.

“Southern California is all abuzz the hijacking of digital billboards. Silenced Majority Portal, reports that last Thursday, 18 year old graffiti artist Skullphone hacked into 10 of ClearChannel’s digital billboards in Hollwood, Culver City, and elsewhere around LA, putting up his logo in between the more normal ads.” [via textually]

Network: blogs

”La Chute” is a series by French photographer Denis Darzacq. Writes Natacha Wolinkski of the work: “"When the social elevator is broken you have to know how to bounce. Between the take off and the fall, the man parachuted in the city learns to control his trajectory.” It’s an interesting counterpoint to the photographs by William Hundley that we posted about earlier.

Network: ffffound

Robin Howie is a UK designer and artist exploring multiple themes of dialogue, space, boundaries, commercialization and communication. In the great tradition of Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger, Howie’s photo above transforms the public landscape into a conversation. See the series, A Dialogue With Public Space as well as his other work.

Network: ffffound

William Lamson is an American artist whose work includes photography, video, sculpture and performance. In a recent interview, he writes: “My work addresses issues of masculinity, amateurism, science, play and the quixotic quest for personal heroism that accompanies these subjects. I am interested in the character of the amateur, the person who is motivated by love for the activity and a desire to achieve, but is limited by a lack of physical and technical expertise. Through the exploration of this character my work deals with human struggle and how we create meaning through it.”

Network: ffffound

Site Specific is the latest series by Italian artist, Olivo Barbieri. In it, he photographs national monuments, cities and natural landmarks in a style that makes them look like models and miniatures. In an interview with Nicole Pasulka at The Morning News, he explains that “the concept is to see the cities like a model. [To see them] like an architect who decides if they work or if it is better to change something.”

Network: blogs