Graffiti by Kabrit

Graffiti by Kabrit
Originally uploaded by Sugarpoppy

Sirdab's latest street art photo shoot in the city of Beirut

Hoody man

Banksy
Originally uploaded by Romanywg

A graffiti by Banksy at the Cans Festival, past May in London. Love that one, reminds me of another I love too, by French stencil artist Blek le Rat..
Will post it in a sec...

The Cans Festival

"Graffiti belongs to everyone and no one. On a section of a condemned wall, I put up a graffito. . . (A) bank director stopped the construction work, had my carving cut out as a fresco and inlayed it in the wall of his apartment."
- Pablo Picasso

Art is Art & Street Art is Art plus

Modern graffiti has its roots in 1970s African-American hip-hop culture, in which graffiti "tags" the term for the heavily stylised signatures and symbols that compose a lot of graffiti, were a form of vandalism and protest, a declaration of personal and cultural identity, and a way to reclaim neglected spaces.
Now practiced as much by white skate-punks as by black youth, some graffiti has achieved remarkable beauty and skill—even making it into art galleries—while remaining vandalism in most places.

The Cans Festival, a stencil art street battle, took place last month in the Leake Street of London, where a line-up of renowned graffiti artists made the street explode with colours and powerful social messages. The event dubbed the Cans Festival, which took place in the UK, grabbed the attention of a wide audience.
The disused road tunnel, in South London, was turned into a giant exhibition space, for some of the world's graffiti artists who dabbled with their paints in front of an enchanted enthusiastic audience. The in a half-mile stretch of the tunnel in Leake Street, Waterloo was transformed from a dark forgotten corner to a cutting edge exhibition space, with stencil graffiti on the walls and 3D art installations. Artists who took part are the reference in their field. To name a few, Blek le Rat, Pure Evil, Jef Aerosol, Banksy, Logan Hicks, Eelus, as well as members of the public, who were also invited to join. The pictures featured in this page speak loud the kind of atmosphere that prevailed at this major street art event.

McMurder

McMurder
Originally uploaded by Idiot The Wise ~ AkA: INSPIRE

Another design aimed at shooting the M...
Great!

muah..

muah..
Originally uploaded by Mohamed Eissa (Graphics)

Love the colours of this bus of Love...Arriving on a red carpet...
Sweet light feel springs out from this visual...
Vroom Vroom... Let's Go Sweet Light on the Bus of Love...

The Tate Innovates...

Design by Edel Rodriguez

THE TATE MODERN'S STREET ART EXHIBITION

The label Street Art has been used since the late Seventies, and the work, by its very nature, is in constant flux and hard to categorise. Broadly speaking the term has come to define the more visual and engaging urban art as opposed to text-based graffiti and tagging.
Today & for the first time ever, the Tate Modern --The Tate Modern in London is Britain's national museum of international modern art-- has commissioned artists to paint the facade of its building along the Thames, signaling the project as the first major public museum display of Street Art in London.

Street Art at Tate Modern brings to the fore an important aspect of current art practice and one that has influenced acclaimed artists, including Basquiat and Picasso.
So finally, street art gets a major recognition by an institution that could hardly be topped, in terms of established art: The Tate Modern of London. The works of six internationally acclaimed artists will be presented to tag the museum's façade.
The artists are: Blu from Bologna, Italy; the artist collective Faile from New York, USA; JR from Paris, France; Nunca and Os Gemeos, both from Sao Paulo, Brazil and Sixeart from Barcelona, Spain. All six artists are represented in major collections around the world and regularly shown in gallery exhibitions and biennales; but their work began in public urban spaces and remains indebted to Street Art and graffiti traditions.

Street Art at Tate Modern opened at the same time as Tate Modern’s four day festival of art and performance, where 'The Street Art Walking Tour,' an urban tour of specific art sites around the city is scheduled and presented by a group of five Madrid-based artists: 3TTMan, Spok, Nano 4814, El Tono and Nuria.
In addition to that unexpected yet eclectic & formidable happening at Tate, an interactive evening with experimental New York artists, Graffiti Research Lab, is set to reface the Tate Modern with graffiti light projections. Street Art at Tate Modern running through 23 May-August 25th 2008 at Tate Modern, Bankside London SE1 9TG.

Exclusive photos by Sirdab correspondent: Gina Mansour

A1one in Abu Ghraib

A1one in VISUAL SLANG 2008
Originally uploaded by LoisInWonderland

So Sad...So True...A1one again...
Ingenious Iranian Street Artist!! Am charmed...Totally charmed...
A1one in Beirut, anytime soon??

Shoot d M

A10ne again from Tehran - in Bull's eye!!

A1one in VISUAL SLANG 2008
Originally uploaded by LoisInWonderland

Posted on Flickr by M_I_R_I

On a wall in Berlin, another artist subverting the giant corporation's logo that goes under the letter M & that seems to bother each & everyone because of its size; but mostly, there is nothing greater than the M to represent capitalism; an M stronger than the definition of capitalism itself!!

to Talk Show call

to Talk Show call
Originally uploaded by wackystuff

Indeed, Enjoy & much more!!

ROCK REGGAE OBAMA

Obama rocks reggae - a remix of Shepard Fairey's Progress poster of Barack Obama, by sugarpop -
Rock on OBY!! Fairey you rock as well; you're a communication giant, keep us rockin'!!
For more, click here

Blek Le Rat: Getting Through the Walls

An inspiring piece by French stencil artist Blek le Rat

Pure Evil new SHOW

In 1990, PURE EVIL left the Poll Tax Riots of London behind and went to live in California where he spent 10 years ingesting weapons grade psychedelics, thinking about stuff, making electronic music and printing t-shirts. Inspired by skateboard culture and the west coast character graffiti of Twist, he returned to London and inexplicably picked up a spraycan and started painting weird fanged vampire bunnies everywhere. After having spent the past year working on new canvasses and prints inspired by 'the wreckage of utopian dreams and an apocalyptic vision of the end of time' , PE is now launching his vision of darkness on an unsuspecting world, trying to look at the BIG PICTURE... asking some tricky questions like :

*'what does evil look like?'
*'why do humans seem to like conflict and explosions so much?'

"To understand a bit about the artist PURE EVIL it is illuminating to know that he is a descendant of Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor who wrote the controversial work Utopia and who was later beheaded by King Henry VIII. With this busy background (Sir Thomas was later canonised) it is only natural that Pure Evil should explore the darker side of the wreckage of Utopian dreams and the myth of the Apocalypse, a belief in the life-changing event that brings history with all its conflicts to an end. Using dark humour and twisting symbolism to create new forms, Pure Evil new show looks at what lurks around the corner on the secret streets of London and sheds light on the things under our noses that we never take the time to notice - as we hurtle forwards into the future... Take a look at this extraordinary new street artist's new originals prints on display this July at Ink_d gallery in London, and prepare to be challenged, amused and delighted." Read more here....or here.

Clean Beirut

Arofish, a stencil artist living in the UK, has tagged our funky town Beirut. Here is the Sukleen man he drew; he explains how he got inspired for this stencil graffiti. More of his work in Beirut here.

"These Syrian guys who tirelessly clean the streets here are the true heroes of the city if you ask me. I filled in the cracks on this wall and painted it white one fine morning in front of half the Lebanese army and a crowd of protesters. Tony Blair was in town for a spot of hypocritical mumbling and the city became even more of a militarized zone for the day. Martyrs Square and most of central Beirut was off limits.
Another great day for democracy. I went back home covered in crap, put on the TV and there was Caiomhe Butterly (whom I'd said goodbye to in Aita al-Shaab the day before) inside the conference hall. She was unfurling a banner about Israeli apartheid while security bustled around her and Tony stood behind, guiltily fumbling his fingers and trying to look unruffled. Next day, I did a dawn assault on the wall as I'd been clocked by a few plain clothes guys with radios the day before. Thanks go to May for writing the Arabic and for negotiating so skillfully with the roaming security guards."

Wear It with Pride

Wear It With Pride [WIWP] Presents "Now Showing"
Exploring the Lost "Art" of the Film Poster
@ COSH Gallery - Soho, London
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40+ Creatives were given the task of creating their own interpretation of a Cult, Classic or Obscure film poster from the past, whether it be a literal or abstract solution.
The result is Now Showing, an Art exhibition paying homage to more than 70 years of film, through the form of Prints, One Off Screen Prints and Sculptures.

P.S: If interested in buying original print of these posters or any other from the 40+ on show, click on image for price info and credit card submission to own one of the limited edition of these film posters.

Tehran street art "alive & kickin'"

Believe it or not...
Tehran street Art scene is quite buzzing & surprisingly up & running in such an authoritarian environment and troubling times; a definitely interesting pool to delve into.
Iranian street artist, nicknamed 'Alone', scribbled as 'A1one' has designed this poster for his own solo-Spray Art exhibition that took place past April in the Iranian capital.

"Maybe i am a Vandal or Anarchist, but i am glad to introduce my self as one. At least, i stand for my right. I am not about politics . But i am interested in social Subjects. I express through Graffiti , wall painting, stencil spray , wheatpastes and Stickers in streets of Tehran and other places i will pass in the world! Stencil , Schablone , pochoir, stampino , arte della via, Straße kunst, iranian art de rue... "

Check it all on his blog or throughout his Flickr pool

The Art of Politics

Posters are frequently proclaimed to be the democratic medium that holds a particular attraction for the designer. Despite the many claims of various new media as being the dominant forces in contemporary communication, the poster continues to thrive and prosper.
The poster is described as a persuasive and positive educational force that provides social and aesthetic frameworks.
As Polish poster designer Roman Cieslewicz has said, “posters need powerful occasions and significant subjects.”
Here is a sample of artwork from Art of Politics site that exemplifies the poster as a modern medium to appeal to the most modern of phenomena, the masses, and proves to be the favoured medium for propaganda, used as a psychological weapon with striking messages, delivering direct and simple communication and struggling for hearts and minds.
For more thoughtful posters from Art of Politics, click here.

Project Mulsaq

The Khatt Foundation and the trend-setting company Mosaiques, in collaboration with Dubai-based design gallery Traffic, are launching a wall stickers competition dubbed 'MULSAQ' [in Arabic, stickers] aiming at reflecting the multifaceted Middle Eastern identity.
The design competition is set to provide a platform for talented Khatt Network members to reach out to wider audiences, within and outside the design world of Dubai, the Middle East and beyond.
Design Submission Deadline: 1 August 2008
Out of all submissions, 20 designs will be selected for a limited edition of 50 numbered pieces. The 20 designs will be produced and marketed under the label “Khatt Design Collection, a Limited Edition of Vinyls by Mosaiques,” and will be exhibited at Traffic on November 13th.

For further details click here and read more on how to reinvent your space & bring the Middle East home.

Agent under fire

To celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the birth of Ian Lancaster Fleming [born May 28, 1908], creator of spy novels James Bond 007, Penguin publishing house commissioned British born, San Francisco artist/illustrator Michael Gillette to paint the iconic covers--adapted to movies-- of 14 James Bond stories.

Take a look at the images above of just a few of the women, who have graced the world of James Bond 007 and see for yourself: the result is as sexy as the James Bond Girls themselves, who have become as famous as Agent 007 himself.

With exotic and far out names like Honey, Kissy, Pussy, Plenty, Tilly, Holly, Stacy, Tracy, Aki, Rosie, Bibi, Lupe, Magda, Pola, Kara, and Jinx – it’s no wonder!
Gillette's sexy interpretation of eye-candy Fleming Bond Girls, with a striking minimal colour palette overlaid with interlocking 60's inspire type treatments, are so good they're sure to bounce off the shelf. You can check out more of Gillette's paintings madness, while taking a look at his blog Pencil Squeezing.

Click here to read an interview done with Michael Gillette by MI6, the home of James Bond.

These beautiful pieces were made available on May 29 if you wanna purchase any;
however, the good news is that a limited edition of 25 signed Giclée prints (50x70) of each of the covers have been made for sale (£145.00 each) by Cosh.

Also, if you're in London over the next few months some of the work will be on display at BOND BOUND: IAN FLEMING AND THE ART OF COVER DESIGN: 22nd April - 28th June 2008 @ The Fleming Collection 13 Berkeley Street London W1J 8DU.

Moreover, it would be noteworthy mentioning that the James Bond films have grossed over US$4 billion (nearly $11 billion when adjusted for inflation) worldwide, making it the second highest grossing film series ever after Harry Potter when not adjusting for inflation.{source Wikipidia}

On another level, and for the little story, in 1960, Fleming was commissioned by the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) to write a book on the country and its oil industry. The typescript is titled State of Excitement: Impressions of Kuwait was never published, due to the Kuwaiti government disapproval.
According to Fleming: "The Oil Company expressed approval of the book but felt it's their duty to submit the typescript to members of the Kuwait Government for their approval. The Sheikhs concerned found unpalatable certain mild comments and criticisms and particularly the passages referring to the adventurous past of the country, which now wishes to be 'civilised' in every respect and forget its romantic origins."