Sundance Channel

Haikus everywhere, 5-7-5 all around, you just read one here

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:00:50 +0000

Over the past year or so I've observed haikus, that "less is more" form of Japanese poetry, making a quiet stealthy encroachment and presence upon online pop culture through a variety of means. Some of these I've mentioned around these SUNfiltered parts, which makes me wonder whether we're witnessing an emergence of haikus and a comeback for the genre of poems in general back into something possibly more mainstream or at the least "meme-stream." I had written earlier about a reader of the New York Times online edition who has gained some small measure of fame for his comments left in limerick form. The best recent example of the merging of pop culture with poetry occurred when Salman Rushdie tweeted his thoughts on the Kim Kardashian divorce in limerick form. In fact, the latest issue of New York Magazine's Intelligencer focused on the poets or at least on the tough economic realities of that noble profession (Walt Whitman had a second job as a government clerk). If you're not convinced of my thesis on the pop emergence of poems, but specifically haikus, I turn your attention to the following exhibits.

Dam graffiti in Ventura County

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:07:58 +0000

I was blown away when I first saw this photo. I thought the clever imagery was absolutely brilliant, but I suspected it was probably too good to be true and Photoshop had to be involved. It turns out some things that are too good to be true can actually be true. An anonymous group of guerrilla artists rappelled down the wall back in September to paint this environmentally conscious, large-scale mark on the 200 foot Matilija Dam in Ventura County.

Remember the (crocheted) Alamo

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:31:10 +0000

Previously spotted covering the Wall Street Bull, Olek created buzz once again by wrapping another iconic New York City sculpture, Tony Rosenthal's Astor Place Cube with her trademark pink and purple camouflage yarn, as seen in the picture above. Here's a video of her in action installing this piece over the cube, or the "Alamo" as it's officially named. If you walk around New York City long enough you'll eventually stumble upon her smaller, guerrilla pieces like...

Mobile graffiti van

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:19:28 +0000

Art collective Everfresh Studio built this tongue-in-cheek service van outfitted with all the gear and material, such as spray paint, masks, ropes, wire cutters necessary for a team to infiltrate and graffiti bomb a neighborhood. The van is also outfitted with a boombox to provide the accompanying soundtrack. [Via]

Old Keith Haring profile

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:22:18 +0000

From the annals of street and graffiti art history is this old 8-minute video profile of artist Keith Haring during his pop culture ascendancy, including interviews with the artist and his dealer Tony Shafrazi (along with representing countless other artists, he also incidentally gained infamy for once spray painting in an act of protest “Kill [...]

Needles out: grandma graffiti on the rise

Perrin Drumm — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:20:17 +0000

Crochet artist Olek, from New York Magazine's story on Home Design

Street art has taken a dramatically more domestic turn of late with the recent influx of yarn bombing: knitters who take their hobby outside of the home and to the sidewalks and lampposts in cities all over the world. Also called grandma graffiti, yarn bombers take their needles to the streets under the cover of nightfall to wrap public property in their colorful crocheted creations. Technically, it's still considered vandalism, but most yarn bombers say police "are more likely to laugh at them than issue a summons."

Death Cab video by Shepard Fairey

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:45:44 +0000

Death Cab for Cutie bassist Nick Harmer reached out to the now-notable street artist and designer Shepard Fairey about creating a music video for their song “Home is a Fire.” The video piece above is the result, which unsurprisingly utilizes the artistic medium for which Shep is most well known for, and he explains the [...]

New Hanksy spotted

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:50:50 +0000

Wooster Collective spotted this second send-up spoof in NYC’s Soho of Tom Hanks and Banksy’s (previously) iconic “Girl with Red Balloon” street stencil art.

Notes from Chris

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:49:55 +0000

While reading this New York Times piece about a note posted on a pole at the intersection of 43rd and 6th Avenue by a guy named Chris who with apparent sincerity reviews two different coffee carts, I learned via the article’s comments that this note was just one in a series called “Notes from Chris.” [...]

Filling potholes with yarn

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:00:00 +0000

I’ve previously shared (here, here, here, and here) yarn and knit based forms of street art by different artists. Here’s one more for the roster: Juliana Santacruz Herrera does a civic duty by filling in potholes and gaps in the streets of Paris with colorful strands of yarn. [Via]

Banksy x Tom Hanks

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 18:00:45 +0000

Madeleine spotted Hanksy, the bastard child of Banksy and the always affable Tom Hanks on Kenmare & Mott Street in Soho. This reminds me of this hilarious pun around Mr. Hanks’ name that made the rounds on the Internet couple years ago. [Via]

Yarn-bombed Rocky Balboa supports the arts

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:35:33 +0000

The same artist who yarn-bombed seats on the Philadelphia SETPA trains is back (previously) and this time Ishknits stitched a sweater for the Rocky Balboa statue standing triumphantly in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Mysterious tiny doors in San Francisco

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:50:13 +0000

Unexplained, tiny, innocuous, heavily locked, yet non-working doors or “unexplained portals” have begun popping up around San Francisco as part of an ongoing public art installation spearheaded by artist Jeff Waldman. The artist explained this group project in an email to his friend, a professor of sculpture at Yale: The idea is to install small [...]

Bridge & tunnel traps

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:28:05 +0000

From the same people (Jeff Greenspan and Hunter Fine) behind the hipster traps (previously) that created a buzz on the Internet is the latest urban snare aimed this time at the folks who come into the City from New Jersey and Long Island, aka the “bridge and tunnel” crowd. This trap was set up in [...]

Yarn subway art in Philadelphia

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 18:10:40 +0000

Philadelphia blogger Conrad Benner got the call to join an artist as she “yarn bombed” SEPTA trains (three seats on three lines in all). And even while we started on a near empty train by the end it was the beginning of rush hour and the train was packed, all the people on each train [...]

NOLA street art: Before I die…

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:36:05 +0000

Candy Chang created this cool, giant interactive piece of street art in New Orleans that transformed the side of an abandoned house into a chalk board. She explains: It’s also about turning a neglected space into a constructive one where we can learn the hopes and aspirations of the people around us. It turns out [...]

Crochet Banksy

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:56:11 +0000

Facts: I’m an unabashed fan of Banksy. And I love the crochet art of Agata Olek. One of my favorite chroniclers of street art Luna Park recently snapped this picture where Olek adapted her style and paid homage to this famous piece by Banksy on the West Bank barrier wall. Speaking of Banksy, this is [...]

Chuck Norris street art

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:38:50 +0000

Hilarious street art that continues the Chuck Norris meme. [Via]

Artist Marthalicia Matarrita, live at Sundance

Perrin Drumm — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 19:27:42 +0000

Marthalicia Matarrita in the Sundance Channel HQ studio.

Harlem-based artist Marthalicia Matarrita specializes in a very specific medium, one that mixes street art, hip-hop and performance into what can best be described as live painting. She currently represents New York City at ART BATTLES, pioneers of the Live Art Movement. Often called the "Iron Chef" of the art world in that it's a live, timed competition, ART BATTLES pits artists who favor bold, graphic, street-style visuals in theme-based showdowns. In Matarrita's latest battle (which you can see still images from above), the artists were asked to interpret Picasso's "Guernica."

Miranda July. Painting by Marthalicia Matarrita.

But before the next round of battles begin, Matarrita is stopping by Sundance HQ in Park City, UT this week, where she'll create live illustrations of festival-goers who drop in. Whether she's painting on a large canvas backed by loud DJ music at a battle or working on smaller-scale illustrations, Mataritta maintains the same hip-hop-inspired fluidity in all her pieces. In fact, music has been such a major part of her life that she founded M-Squared Art Productions in 2006 with her brothers Tomas aka Atomic and Jorge based on what she calls "the four elements of hip-hop: music, graffiti, art and dance," especially breakdance. "What hip hop does for breakdancers is the same for graffiti-writers and painters. My performances are influenced by it." Performance, or process, is key for Matarrita. "The process in creating the artwork is both therapeutic and meditative. The end result is the satisfaction in my labor of love, my art."

Pixel street art in Soho

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:56:49 +0000

Benjamin Norman snapped these photos of this neat pixilated street installation on Mercer Street in Soho about a month ago.

Exemplary Works by Various Artists

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:26:11 +0000

Titled “Title: Exemplary Works by Various Artists,” this art group (self described as “various artists’ agents for design, speculation and public nuisance”) placed in public spaces mock explanatory labels seen in art galleries thereby “claiming them from the property of the public realm and rebranding them as our own artworks.” I like how this adds [...]

UK street artist comments on Banksy’s Simpsons cameo

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:42:49 +0000

The Internet blew its collective mind at learning that Banksy created an opening-credit scene to a recent episode of The Simpsons. The clip has since been in a cat-and-mouse game on YouTube as it gets pulled for copyright violations, then re-uploaded by someone else. The New York Times posted an interesting interview with Al Jean, [...]

New Banksy

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:34:01 +0000

A slightly saccharine piece by Banksy. View two other brand spankin’ new works by him over at Wooster Collective. Relatedly, last week I came across an interview he gave the Sun and was struck by this quote: “But maybe all art is about just trying to live on for a bit. I mean, they say [...]

Epic Faile

Perrin Drumm — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 19:23:30 +0000

Since its creation in 1999, Faile, the Brooklyn street art collaboration between Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller, has had an overwhelming influence on "low art" and "high art" alike. Beginning with wheatpaste and stencils, the classic tools of the trade, Faile gradually moved onto printmaking, painting, sculpture and multimedia installations, maintaining their signature collage-style throughout. Their ability to branch out in other mediums is what ultimately established them as legitimate artists. Their recent work, which includes "customized Buddhist prayer wheels and an American flag reworked with Pueblo-inspired linework, relies on re-imagining sacred objects on an increasingly grand scale."

Public art: Subway spoiler alert signs

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:00:54 +0000

Newmindspace and Jason Eppink collaborated in installing these “Spoiler Alert” signs around the few New York City subway stations with LED displays as a commentary on their impact on certain commuter habits and behaviors. These LED signs also threaten historical social behaviors, rendering obsolete the time-honored New York tradition of leaning over the platform edge [...]

Chalkboard street art

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:38:51 +0000

Brooklyn real estate-centric blog Brownstoner posted this chalkboard cleverly placed at a construction site on Bond and Degraw. I predict that a genius construction worker will anonymously write the solution to a previously never solved math problem on this chalkboard. How do you like them apples?

Short film: street art seeks romance

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:04:23 +0000

Gabriel Psaltakis created and directed this sweet and funny short Greek film titled THE GIRL ON THE WALL. Mixing live action with stop-motion animation, a bored office man helps a love-struck street art character woo a disinterested girl across the street.

Graffiti art to be displayed in White House?

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:51:19 +0000

There may be street art hanging up inside the White House thanks to the British Prime Minister David Cameron’s gift to President Obama. In his first official visit to the White House, the Prime Minister presented a painting “Twenty First Century City” by Ben Eine, a familiar presence in the London street art and graffiti [...]

Q&A With Artist Robbie Conal

Sundance Channel — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:58:35 +0000

Robbie Conal was born in New York City in 1944. He studied art at San Francisco State University and obtained his MFA at Stanford University before moving to Los Angeles in 1984. It was during this time in the 1980s that he combined his art with his social concerns: politics, power and the abuses of both. Realizing the limited opportunities for art institutions to showcase his work, he transferred his paintings to posters and showcased them on the streets of Los Angeles with the help of his volunteer “guerrilla army.” His books include “Art Attack: The Midnight Politics of A Guerrilla Artist” and “Artburn.” Sundance Channel caught up with Robbie at his studio in California to discuss his background, influences, work, and future projects.

Take a walk in San Diego on a Space Invader tour

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:05:56 +0000

San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art’s new group exhibit “Viva la Revolucion: A Dialogue With The Urban Landscape” features 20 artists from 8 countries recognized for their street art and “work [that] addresses urban issues.” As part of this show, Space Invader is debuting his film “The Space Invader Walk” (view trailer) which takes advantage [...]

Shadow art

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:26:31 +0000

Artist Joe Penrod has cornered the market of painting shadows of objects using the common blue painter’s tape. The effect is pleasing. Penrod’s work also reminds me of this older New York Times article about a Brooklyn artist, Ellis Gallagher, who back in 2005 outlined chalk shadows of “fire hydrants, street signs and bicycles all [...]

KAWS’ first solo museum exhibit

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:45:05 +0000

KAWS, Chum (Red), 2009 Brian Donnelly, better known as KAWS (previously), a Brooklyn street artist gone successfully commercial (without losing that rep) announced on his personal blog that he is having his first solo museum showing at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Connecticut starting June 27 through January 2, 2011. The project will offer [...]

Sandrine Estrade Boulet’s street art

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:14:04 +0000

Sandrine Estrade Boulet creates witty visual puns using the urban environment around her. They remind me of the quick and fun doodling exercises I used to do with friends when I was younger where someone would draw a shape or object and each of us would take turns adding onto it to transform it into [...]

Street advice

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:34:52 +0000

Designer and artist Candy Chang took to the streets of New York City with psych 101 questions stenciled on the pavement. She explains: Pedestrians in the city often find themselves walking in deep thought. A routine trip can prompt reflections on everything from future goals to last night’s dinner conversation. As people sacrifice personal time [...]

Paper airplane art installation

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:53:31 +0000

I really like this paper airplane street art-slash-public installation titled “Avionazo en la Plazuela (Plane Crash in the Square)” by Said Dokins. It’s located in Mexico City’s Plaza del Aguilita, which is next to a squatter camp. Dokins explains: The gardener of the Eagle`s Plaza are one dimensional plane made of metal and fiberglass. This [...]

Stop-motion street art

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:20:58 +0000

Broken Fingaz -Graffiti Stop Motion from Broken Fingaz on Vimeo. Israeli artists Tant and Unga of the “broken fingaz crew” created this stop-motion animated bit of street art set to some aggressive beats. This video is somewhat reminiscent of Blu’s videos (previously). Also, speaking of street art, if you haven’t seen EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT [...]

Subway etiquette public service announcements

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:08:23 +0000

New York City artist Jason Shelowitz hit a collective nerve with his spoof of MTA subway notice signs and using them as a PSA to address the annoying and impolite habits of some of his fellow straphangers. He printed 40 copies of 10 different PSAs. If you spot one, the artist encourages you to take [...]

Shepard Fairey’s new mural in downtown NYC

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:44:58 +0000

Earlier this week on Tuesday night, Shepard Fairey painted a mural in front of a large crowd in downtown Manhattan, on the corner of Houston and Bowery to be exact. You can see the final result in the photo above. I learned about this that night via the MoMA’s twitter which re-tweeted @hrag’s on-the-scene twitpics [...]

New Banksy in LA

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:49:55 +0000

Coincidentally timed with the near-upcoming launch of the highly anticipated (at least by me!) film by Banksy, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP (view trailer), a couple of new pieces by Banksy have been popping up in street corners of Los Angeles, which is predictably sending the Internet and blogosphere abuzz.

TrustoCorp Products

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:42:43 +0000

Previously mentioned culture jammers TrustoCorp hit New York City with these repackaged products which they placed in New York City stores ranging from delis and supermarkets to K-Mart, although I’m not sure if they misspelled bulimia on purpose. Sometimes it’s easy to forget to spell-check when making a social statement. View more here.

Street art of the times

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:40:11 +0000

This street art spotted in Toronto offers some cheeky advice with a sense of humor for these difficult economic times, although I’m not sure if laughter is the best medicine for people whose savings are running on fumes and rent is due. At least in Canada the unemployed don’t have to worry about health insurance.

Altered NYC street signs

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:20:08 +0000

A mysterious (well, aren’t they all?) street artist named TrustoCorp recently culture jammed the street signs of Manhattan and Brooklyn with some awesomely hilarious and topical replacement signs. [Via]

New Banksy

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:00:59 +0000

Flickr user RomanyWG snapped photos of new street art by Banksy “taken along the Regents Canal in Camden Town.” And in related breaking news, art blogger C-Monster found this awesome mash up of Banksy with the Dramatic Chipmunk, a popular Internet meme. [Via]

Skateboard pool art

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:35:43 +0000

Never Crew, an art collective put their artistic stamp on this pool at Lugano Skatepark located in Lugano, Switzerland. View more behind the scenes photos and video here. [Via]

Cardboard animation

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:10:47 +0000

Cardboard creatures roams a foreboding urban landscape in this awesome stop-motion video created by Sjors Vervoort for a student graduation animation project. Well done, kid. The style does remind me of the past work of famous street artist Blu who I previously mentioned. [Via]

Urban camouflage

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:11:42 +0000

LA artist Joshua Callaghan’s comissioned public art project is the inverse of typical street art and graffiti. Rather than painting images that disrupts public spaces, Callaghan takes on unsightly utility boxes littering Los Angeles neighborhoods by covering them with vinyl digital images that resemble their surroundings. The paradoxical result is that these boxes attract more [...]

Green graffiti

Bradford Shellhammer — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:51:28 +0000

As someone who loves and appreciates street art I have to say it is rare these days when graffiti moves me. Maybe it is just living in a city like New York. We’re inundated daily with it on building sides and subway platforms. It’s become part of the city’s landscape. With that said I could [...]

Guerilla video artist plans exhibit at Best Buy

Matthew Rodriguez — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:26:25 +0000

Untitled Video Painting 02 from borna on Vimeo. If you are in New York City on October 8, stop by the Best Buy in Soho to witness Borna Sammak’s takeover of the electronic store’s display televisions to showcase his video installation. Barring the heavy hand of The Man or in this case, yellow shirted store [...]

Interview with Invader

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:24:18 +0000

Parisian street artist Invader’s instantly recognizable colorful mosaics have invaded urban landscapes in over 40 cities from around the world from Bangkok to Kenya to Tokyo. Using the classic 1978 Atari video game Space Invaders as an early point of reference, Invader starting in 1996 began installing pixelized mosaics of Space Invaders as well as [...]

Sniff: Interactive digital dog

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:39:20 +0000

Created by Karolina Sobecka and software design by Jim George, SNIFF is a light projection of a 3D dog that also happens to dynamically interact with the viewer. As you walk down the street you are approached by a dog. He is on his guard trying to discern your intentions. He will follow you and [...]