UPDATE:
All art lovers will love
Artsy.net.
Their mission is to make all of the world's art accessible to anyone
with an internet connection—and what a site it is—all the museums,
galleries, fairs, auctions, shows (by city
Miami),
and artists you love, plus a magazine, and more! Their
Art Basel page,
for example, includes over 1000 artworks from exhibitors, artist
info, and editorial content surrounding the fair. Their
Artsy iPhone app
even includes a personalized visitor's guide.
They host an invitation-only preview each year: Design Miami/Basel 2018.
During Art Basel at the end of 2012, I spent
a half day in
the Wynwood area
on foot admiring and photographing
graffiti. After seeing so much great art up close, the overwhelming prevalence and staying power of
graffiti-inspired images in all areas of graphic design finally hit home with me, and I was
enthralled. Graffiti has ceased to be a separate art form and become an art
'movement'. We can no longer categorize graffiti as anything but
art. I
took over 300 photos that day! (View the
complete album.) This is just a sample of what is there . .
.


Moving Art off the canvas and out of doors
is immeasurably
impactful. So is the impermanence of the effort. Scale and detail
are as important as color and subject. The idea that you could plan
what you are going to create, but then expand it because the wall
you end up painting it on is big enough, is so cool! No more being
limited by a smaller canvas. It was hard to
tell sometimes where one painting ended and another began, or if the
same artist did all the elements of one wall, like this one:

Some
paintings played with the elements of the wall, or building, and its
surroundings.


The collaborative element on composition extended to
whole blocks. There are rooms upon outdoor rooms with such a mix of
styles, some of it random, some of it seeming intentional in
placement.

It was hard to leave because it was so otherworldly. Sure the
buildings were in disrepair and there was lots of trash. Somehow it
all fits. Even the trash looked like art. No surface escaped.

It makes a statement about the sustaining nature of humanity
despite its mortality. "The candle that burns twice as bright burns
half as long" came to mind because while there are famous paintings
that have hung indoors and hung around for centuries, these works of
art know no such constraints and therefore are free to 'shine' out
in the world until time or vandalism dulls their brilliance. (The
wall below was defaced.)

The risk that someone could come along and ruin what might have
taken days or weeks to complete is part of the rush I would imagine,
as well as doing something that was once considered a crime of
defacement. Now, however, it is so prevalent that its influence is everywhere:
from clothing to music, to furniture, to a lifestyle. It made me
wonder about how the artists travel from city to city. Have paint
will travel. Oh to be young again!

The concept of inspiration extended to a wall or building as a blank
canvas is so appealing to me. It screams "I'm alive!" "I was here."
"This is me." More like you add the piece to who you are than you
leave a piece of you behind.
The fact is that not only has art gone outside,
so has advertising. Of course, there is guerilla marketing .
. .

. . . but beyond the concept of a clever
placement, big brands are just posting outside, period, on subway
cars and walls, even sidewalks.





Even high fashion is incorporating graffiti and
grunge to great effect:



It all began for me with the 2011 Ford F150
truck ads and the laying of images and textures. The whole
collage-like beat-up look started appearing everywhere, even in places that didn't
imply 'muddy truck'.

As Detroit crumbled,
beautiful images came out of its state of decay. Suddenly, every background seemed to be dirty
and/or have layers. Grunge was the new white space. There was
even a new brand of makeup "Urban
Decay".



And then,
just as I was completely enthralled with graffiti, in January 2013 Wired magazine had this clever cover mix with
robotics. (They already do great things with the
collage/layering look.)
Up until this WIRED cover and article, I felt like
this Svedka Vodka ad was

the only robotic image in
mass circulation, but now it's popping up everywhere. I think we'll see much more of robotic
images, so be on the lookout for it. I don't think it's
something you can incorporate into everything, but, like graffiti,
it will sure look cooler if you can.
|
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