error101/streetart

truly a serial killer in the new york street-art scene.



Over the last few months, someone has been splashing paint over major streetart works all over the city. The "Splasher", as he's come to be known, has a taste for targeting major pieces by Swoon, Obey, Momo, and others. His trail of paint-dripped terror extends from Williamsburg, to Soho, and back again-- and he's already obliterated dozens of pieces.

he's also known for leaving manifests beside the works he obliterated.

"France's provocateur-at-large and Supertouch ally WK INTERACT has gone back to the motherland for a show of new works at Paris' Adict Galerie. Opening to the public on Friday March 16th with a grand reception for the expat art terrorist, the show's center of attention is likely to be the very suspicious (and convincing) looking "bomb board", a skateboard carrying a set of WK-branded dynamite sticks attached to a digital timer and detonator device in a cut-out center panel of the deck. The ultimate accessory for urban dissenters everywhere, the piece is a must for anyone looking for a thorough cavity search by the local heat. Of course, the deck with a crucifix attached to the bottom (concealing a folded straight razor) and the words "Sex Pistol" carved into it isn't going to score you many points with the moral majority either. We knew there was a reason WK remains one of our favorite artists (imagine if he and Tom Sachs teamed up for a collaboration)."

" Ignorance can be costly in the Banksy exploitation business. Only yesterday it was reported that "bungling workmen painted over a mural by famed street artist Banksy worth £100,000". Last week, 60-year-old Sam Khan, purveyor of luggage and football scarves to the denizens of Tottenham Court Road, London, was inconsolable after flogging a Banksy that had been painted on his stall for £1,000 and discovering that it could be worth £500,000.

These stories pose a number of questions. Were the workmen really bunglers, given they were employed to remove graffiti? Does a transient daubing suddenly become art if it is worth a lot of money? Is Banksy's work really worth half a million and, if so, should we pity stallholder Sam for failing to maximise his accidental revenue? Finally, and most importantly, how do we spot a Banksy?

The sad fact is that most original Banksys have now been removed from the streets. Steve Lazarides, his agent (yes, our anonymous-situationist-anarchist-street artist has come a long way), says: "Ninety per cent of Banksys don't exist any more."

"CutUp are a group of artists linked by a shared desire to reorder the urban landscape through intervention and play. Incorporating film, collage and installation, CutUp's practice focuses largely on the creative potential of the street as a site for interventionist art and disruption."

Between October 2006 and December 2006, the City of New York has removed or obscured 59 illegal banners on sidewalk sheds. In that same period, Citibank was forced to remove all illegal sidewalk projections at branches around Manhattan. And now, years into NYC's crackdown on graffiti writers and protesters, after we've watched our friends be detained, arrested, beat, fined, tried, and given real jail sentences, not a single corporate toy from any ad firm has had to do any time.

This is the first collaboration between the Anti-Advertising Agency and Graffiti Research Lab. Modified from Ji Lee's Abstractor TV. We used black foam core ($10/sheet) cut with a laser cutter - however, this project can be done with an x-acto blade, black construction paper, and duct tape for next to nothing. It can be repeated using any backlit display - bus shelters, display ads, television store windows... dream big, act now.

cardboard box art from the shinjuku station area. these boxes were homes to many street people who actually lived in the station.

these are old photos, since they've all burnt down by the fire in '98. it's rumoured that the fire was intentional due to evacuation purposes.

"TXTual healing uses a cell phone a computer and a projector to create a mobile public performance by posting a person's text messages into speech bubbles that are strategically placed on the facades of buildings."

a little story about roadside hacking...