'Art, Urban
Official cause of death
Smothering, malnutrition, exposure, aggravated by delusions of grandeur, paranoia, malignant narcissistic personality disorder and a Napoleon Complex,
Coroners note
it never really had a chance and was doomed from day one due to these serious mental delusions meaning its whole miserable life was about control and money, cronyism, censorship hypocrisy and cliches.
Arguments are currently underway about what to do with the corpse, as apparently many people have not yet realised it IS a corpse and many of those that have wish to prop it up and parade it around a little longer to keep stocks level and avoid risking a crash, and cover the putrescent smell with garlic, but friends of the deceased have pointed out that it's aversion to garlic due to its vampirical life as an unapologetic parasite may be seen as cruel and unusual and are suggesting a whitethorn stake to the heart to avoid any future disturbance.'
Some rabid dogs dragged the corpse out onto the street the other day and were seen fighting over the remnants of the dried worn putrid flesh hoping to find something edible, leaving just well worn bones behind.
And so it came to pass, the street took back the graf, raised a weary middle finger to the hapless cunts who had tried to take what they never understood. While the hipster street artists, realised their one idea now no longer needed the street, just the 'idea' of the street, a crooked gallery, a tired garage art fair, a total lack of anything worth even fucking looking at. Just a sad bunch of useless sticker collecting, penile dysfunctioning men boys, continually comparing their dwindling investment portfolio's and looking on in bemusement at Banksy's secretive money foraging strategies.
Amen.
jokes and bile aside, are you ready for something honest and direct and relevant to replace the graffiti that got you through you miserable teenage and early adult years? You're grown up now, right, you cant really walk that graff talk into your 30's can you? at some point youre going to have to join the human race and face the same trials and tribulations that the rest of humanity suffers, you know, some job and wife and kids action. that's what we're here to do, everything else is foreplay. Once you accept the yoke of responsibility, then your conversational patterns switch to accommodate adult communication. Thats why all your favorite bands suck after the third record (there are awesome exceptions). I truly appreciate and support everything this blog has done till this moment, and even when im getting the stick its justifiable, but you need to pick a lane and go forward. You dont have to cosign on the work that im doing, in fact, if youre angry enough im hoping you deliver something better that I can rip off, oops i mean, be inspired by. As you've declared and reiterated; street art is dead. nothing to see here, keep it moving. and make it MOVING
ReplyDeleteyours in relevancy
ESPO ICY
Dont get dylan to speak for you, speak for yourself. better than that, stop talking about what other writers have done, apply a medium to a surface and let that speak for you. you see what i do, its not perfect but its forward motion. do something and lets discuss
ReplyDeleteI think there's a few people on here who do art of various kinds too Steve. That doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about other artists though, especially if they're doing some weak sell-out shit. A bit of critique is a healthy thing, and sometimes people need to get called out. Most street art blogs seem to be all about ass-kissing, so this is the place for a bit of reality to balance things out.
ReplyDeleteJust on the point you mentioned that you're going forward...personally I thought some of your older stuff was a lot more interesting than what you're doing now. I don't really see vintage 1920's/30's (or whatever era they are) typefaces as much of a progression. Yeah sure, you might have combined those with ironic slogans and that gives it a slightly modern twist, but it's not really like the world is short of irony and desperately crying out for some is it? This is not meant as a diss by the way. I've got nothing against your work, but I just can't really see how it's taking things forward. It feels like a bit twee and stagnant to be honest, like you got stuck in a cul-de-sac and are now going around in circles.
http://www.firstandfifteenth.net/daves-story/
ReplyDeleteirony? no, none, zero. font? that is as new as gotham which is from this decade and old as sign-painters gothic which emerged in the 30's. the font in the above link was on the building we painted is from the 60s. so im going for timeless more than old timey. and twee? Ok, im guilty of that. you got me there art cop!
But the above link will show how im taking it forward. Thats Chino's (BYI) story painted in black rustoleum paint. whos story it is isnt really important (it does get +3 graff points) whats important that a real story is being told. As the dylan fan pointed out, its not new, its old as time, but its forward. I know i used to be cooler, but Im relevant to the communities im working in, which i never was before, so thats progress.
surely he's moving forward by taking his work out to communities and empowering people so they can move forward too. that's evolution. to only see the vintage advertising element of the work is to only see surface, to only see the jpeg for the three seconds it takes you to read the slogan. which means you're not spending any time to engage your brain, engage with the work, and think of it as a part of the world, rather than just the latest print release must-have. and if this is as much as you can engage with any art form then you're not part of the story of evolution.
ReplyDeletestreet art is dead because no one can look deeper than the hype, and because most of the artists have nothing more to give than hype.
what street art has done though has helped to get people interested in creativity and craft, and that is a good thing. working with your hands, getting dirty, failing, trying, learning, solving problems - these are all essential things to human survival and evolution. getting more people involved in the creative process (and one that isn't involving commerce) is a positive thing for human life on this planet.
when the zombie attack comes your iPhone and stash of Banksy prints won't save you. knowing how to repair a bicycle, climb a wall, build a weapon, cook food, fish a river, draw a map, and all the other human skills of old might save you though...
For fucks sake. I didn't come on here to read this shit. Get back to what you are good at.
ReplyDeleteGrafter sucks his mothers cock.
Steve... Ok, fair enough. I can see what you're trying to do. I admit that I'm not familiar with the totality of your styles, so I was thinking more of the vintage looking stuff. Trying to help the communities is an admirable aim, but somehow I can't help thinking that by beautifying the ghettos you're just papering over the cracks. Like re-plastering a wall when the whole structure is rotten. It has a slight feel of government propaganda, exhorting the people to endure their conditions. To be honest, some of the stuff I've seen feels a bit reactionary in both form and content. A nice pretty window dressing to mask the brutal reality of capitalism, which in a perverse way even perpetuates the issues you're probably trying to address. This is why I assumed it must be at least partly ironic, because otherwise it just feels too earnest, naive and somewhat trite. In a way I think I'd probably feel a bit patronised and insulted if I were living in a shitty ghetto situation with no hope and suddenly I saw a nicely painted slogan appears in my neighbourhood in a good old fashioned homely font that's designed to make me feel better about my life. I could even go as far as saying that it's a form of colonising other people's misery and oppression in the same way that Shepard Fairey likes to do, though in a less obvious and intrusive fashion than his stuff. Then again, maybe I'm completely wrong and you're enriching and nourishing communities with positivity. I suppose there are a range of opinions on it.
ReplyDeleteDave... I did see beyond those elements you mentioned. The fact that I happened to mention the visual style doesn't mean that's all that I ever think about. You're the one with the knee-jerk reactions here, as usual. I agree with you about the hype, but your second and third paragraphs see you revert to your preacher/guru role yet again, with alarmingly simplistic and generalised pronouncements. Maybe you could write a few happy-clappy slogans for Steve if he even runs short of them. I don't own any Banksy prints or an iphone by the way, and have no desire to do so.
you're right, you are completely wrong. I'm translating conversation with communities into visual communication to communities. so if you lived in a shitty ghetto and woke up and saw what i painted you'd say "thats what im saying". That's why its a win when a lot of street art is losing. im not forcing my opinion, im reinforcing the community's opinion. oh and black and white isn't beautiful, its booming.
ReplyDeleteOk, but I see only fairly inoffensive messages. If you're having genuine conversations with those communities and honestly reflecting what they are saying then where is all the anger against the police, government etc? Or maybe that kind of thing wouldn't go down too well the people who are funding your projects?
ReplyDeletenobody needs to be reminded of the bad in a neighborhood. providing that in the message would be exactly " a form of colonising other peoples misery" that you harped on two posts ago and macy's had problems with the content, but understood the final word of the content belonged to the community and they let it happen. But feel free to point out any other flaws, but my best advice is to work on your own.
ReplyDeleteWell, I harped on about that before you told me that you are reflecting what those communities are actually saying to you. Though now it appears that you're editing those 'conversations' to only present part of the story.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice. I'll keep it in mind.
steve powers rocks, i have banksy prints but no i phone, i'm going for some chinese ribs.
ReplyDeleteHey Steve, I'm a fat bastard British street artist. Would you consider doing a collaboration piece on the theme of horse rape?
ReplyDeleteI tell five stories about Chino on that building, they all have light and dark elements that match the black and white paint. Not too crazy, but not too sweet. Together its a accurate depiction of one guys life. Gus Powell made a film for the new yorker ipad edition of me painting and the soundtrack is exclusively the voice of a guy trying to get someone to go in a store and look at a phone so he'd get a 2 dollar commission "and I need that 2 dollars". come on downtown, see what I'm saying, what brooklyn is saying and recognize game. and yeah, grafter im down to collaborate on a piss take, anytime!
ReplyDeleteI live in London, but thanks for the offer anyway.
ReplyDeleteI always wear riding gear when I paint and I mix all of my pigments with horse cum. I'm not very good at lettering, so I'm looking for somebody to tell my story in typography about how I roam the fields at night looking for donkey vagina.
ReplyDeleteFunky, please can you start a label section on Stik? I think his art is wonderful and I would really appreciate an area on your blog to discuss his work. He produces street pieces that are so simple and pure yet creates so much emotion. This is an artist that truley respects his fans, releasing a print each month shows how much love he has to give (Banksy take note). I think I spotted Steve Lazarides at his last show. Stik has it in him to become the saviour of Urban Art. Thanks,
ReplyDeleteI agree, Brad Spit and Anjelica Jolly collect his shit too dont they?.
ReplyDeleteStik = Nob.
Much as i love Stik as a friend I dont for one minute that he could be the saviour of urban art, and Laz is a lottery winner on am extended holiday
ReplyDeleteHow silly of me, a Stik thread was created earlier in the year. Funky you are awesome x
ReplyDeletedriving a cab seems to make you very negative.
ReplyDeleteif a positive idea put forward by someone makes you label them as a preacher/guru, which I would assume means you then ignore anything the comment has to offer, then you really do have the lack of ability to think about things for more than three seconds. beauty can be seen in anything if you give it your time and attention.
actually, considering a lot of the shit Funky posts, I don't mean "anything" to include the majority of street art! there's more beauty in dog shit (I saw a very nice coloured, glistening one today in fact. it made me think of you, so I thought I'd come back here to look you up)
p.s. Mr Powers has made you look a bit stupid, you whiney little bitch
xxx
Feeling depressed again are you Dave? Or maybe you can't stand getting called out for being a presumptuous arrogant judgmental droning bore who always thinks he knows it all. We all know your type mate, I bet you mentally bully your girlfriend into agreeing with every word you say until she's a nervous wreck. That type of cuntish behaviour won't work here though.
ReplyDeleteNobody made me look stupid, I told Steve honestly what I thought about his work, he responded without being too confrontational about it, and so I left it at that, because I'd already said what I wanted to say. You on the other hand decided to jump in the middle of someone else's conversation and make yourself look a absolute mug as always by going off on one of your irrelevant idiotic rants about Banksy prints and iphones. You're the only one looking stupid here Dave, but you seem to make a habit of that. I suppose you can't help it though, you've obviously got some kind of mental illness, probably small-man syndrome, or a resentment that you never quite made it in the world of street art.
Not surprised that you think dog shit is beautiful, considering the weak kiddy wank you produce. Somebody needs to grind your face into that dogshit to make you wake up to the fact that you're a talentless, clueless nobody who will never progress beyond childish cartoon shit, because you have neither the skill or the imagination. You even had to try to big yourself up by copying Dface's skateboard idea...that shows what a pathetic desperate attention seeker you are, with no ideas of his own. It's fucking sad really. I feel embarrassed for you.
Your best hope now is to look for a job cleaning toilets or something. I'm actually doing you a favour by telling you this, as your friends are probably too polite to let you know. I know that you'll probably get so angry after reading this that you'll be tempted to beat up your woman, but I sincerely think the best thing for you would be if you were to kill yourself instead. Thanks for the kisses by the way...the fact that you added those just perfectly illustrated what a passive aggressive bitter little prick you are.
Does anyone want to buy my Stik print? I've had a change of heart.
ReplyDeleteBanksy's just dropped off a piece at the St. Paul's occupation site. It's so poor I thought it was K-Guy or T.wat at first. Still...any excuse for a bit of good old self promotion eh? These street artists really are evil fucking leeches. They'll parasite off of anything as long as the media are there. Over the last few days we've had K-Guy, Peter Kennard, Dr D. and now Banksy all leaving their stuff at the protest camps. Who's going to be the next one to join the queue for a bit of cheap publicity?
ReplyDeleteI will, i got some change from my pint of bitter.
ReplyDelete