5Pointz: “The Institute of Higher Burnin’” or the 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center, Inc. is an outdoor art exhibit space in Long Island City, New York, considered to be the world’s premiere “graffiti Mecca”, where aerosol artists from around the globe paint colorful pieces on the walls of a 200,000-square-foot factory building.

The complex owned by Long Island developer Jerry Wolkoff houses the Crane Street Studios in which 200 artists pay below market rents for studio space. In 2009 a 450-square-foot studio was listed as renting for $600/month.

The name 5Pointz signifies the five boroughs coming together as one but, because of its reputation as an epicenter of the graffiti scene, the industrial complex has actually united aerosol artists from across the world. Legendary writers from Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, and all over the United States have painted on the building walls, including Stay High 149, Tracy 168, Cope2, Part, and Tats Cru.

It was announced in March 2011 that Wolkoff plans to redevelop the property to build high-rise residential towers, putting the future of 5Pointz in jeopardy. Over the past five years they say real estate has gone up from $60 to $100 a square foot, making the real 5Pointz’s 200,000 square metres potentially worth $20m.

David Wolkoff, Jerry’s son, says their plans to build rental apartments in the space would include a street artist programme at ground level. He says that the demolition of the building is “unlikely to be this year”, but would be soon. Wolkoff, who has promised to retain a wall for artists to use, said “when the time comes” he would approach Meres to see if they might be able to work on something together.

“I know they’re upset that the building is coming down, and we are really appreciative of all the artists’ work there,” he said. “But the world changes.”

More articles on this issue:

• Queens Graffiti Landmark 5 Pointz is Set to be Demolished in 2013
• 5Pointz: New Yorkers prepare to say goodbye to a slice of hip-hop history
• New Yorkers Might Lose An Integral Piece Of Street Art And Hip-Hop History

• Currently 2.9/5 Stars.
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Alexandre Le Grand, who rediscovered the recipe for the famous Benedictine liqueur in 1863, had a passion for the arts in all its forms but especially contemporary art, since it was he who called upon artists from his generation to sublimate his liqueur.

The links between art and the Benedictine still exist today: as Alexander Le Grand set out to do then, the Palais Benedictine continues today by offering visitors contemporary art shows. As part of this program, the Palais opens its doors to Jace, a renowned graffiti artist.

Jace’s artistic talent has amused the island of the Reunion for more than 20 years through his mascot “gouzou”, a little round inexpressive egg-headed character. Jace builds his own non-conformist universe by diverting daily elements in unexpected places.

The modest 80′s artist is considered today as the absolute must in Ultramarine Street Art. His passion for travelling has brought him to the creation of an original project based on human values: donation, respect, openness and sharing.

Therefore, he has decided to give life to his “gouzous” by spray painting them on Madagascan pirogue sails. He also uses local pigments and tar, traditionally used by the local fishermen on their sails. A pure alchemy for the fishermen and their families.

Finished in January this year, this great project is being exhibited at the Flamboyant Palais as well as the artist’s latest works on canvas which characterise the wide range of his art.

Her name is TIMOI. She became active in 1995; although drawing had always been part of her life it wasn’t until she moved to Los Angeles from Guatemala in 1990 that I was introduced to Graffiti art. She couldn’t keep her eyes from the art on the freeways, windows, poles, billboards, letters and characters telling stories.

Ayer LTS defined graffiti for her. She didn’t grow up on graffiti magazines or books so she based everything on what she saw on her daily commute in LA. Growing up in LA county she was really inspired by crews like LTS, KOG, TKO, MSK, AWR, WCA, RTN and artists like Tribe, Zes, Retna, Gkae, Chaka, Oiler, Cre8, Mear, Verse, Aybon, Atlas, Klean and Revok.

Other artists in the graffiti realm she admires are Banksy, Saber, Lady Pink, Jerk, Jel, Aroe Msk, Cope2, Indie184, Craola, Rime, ROID, Kween, Askew, Ezra, Chor Boogie, Augor, Apex, Risk, Seak, Os Gemeos, Nina, Vulcan, Chaka, Charlie DTK, Dream DTK and many others. The reason why she likes these artists as well is because they define graffiti and spray can art to her. As simple or intricate these artists are passionate about what they do/did.

Photos taken by Pep Williams.
Website: timoi.com

TIMOI quotes

• I believe the tag is a seed that can one day become a beautiful fruitful tree if given the opportunity.
• I love Graffiti and there is no doubt or fear about it. Graffiti is my life and being a female is like the ‘a la mode’ on an apple pie.
• I do not allow myself to be limited by what others might consider good or bad ‘for a girl’. Such comments usually come from ignorant individuals who just don’t know any better.

Instead of criminalizing graffiti artists, we should be given scholarships and grants to grow.

• I love Graffiti and there is no doubt or fear about it. Graffiti is my life and being a female is like the ‘a la mode’ on an apple pie.
• As corporations profit from the commercialization of graffiti, the ones who are practitioners of the art who profit from their own culture are seldom.

When Paintball meets Street Art the end result can only be amazing! These Paintballing legends turn the graffiti world on its head using their paintball guns to create awesome street art images.

Inspired by Mountain Dew these street artists carve rolling vistas of colour with their paintball guns in a space, and a world usually reserved for Graffiti Kings.

(via stencil.ro)

I feel sorry for the guy that did this, but how can he not know about Banksy? :-S

(via The Guardian)

With the help of a new pie chart stencil by interactive media artist Golan Levin, creating politically charged graffiti just got a bit easier. The fully customizable “Infoviz Graffiti” toolkit allows users to quickly swap out the numbers and letters and adjust the slice of the pie.

The stencil design is available as a PDF on Levin’s blog. There is also a documentation available.

If you’d like to make one for yourself, you’ll need:

• 1/8″ (3 mm) thick sheet material, suitable for lasercutting.
• a one-inch 1/4″-20 bolt, wing-nut and suitable pair of washers.
• scotch tape or masking tape (to hold the letter in the stencil)
• a bag (for storing the letters)
• Spray paint
• A laser cutter!

London-based artist INSA, just finished his largest gif-itti piece to date in Newcastle, England for Unit 44′s White Walls Project. The piece took over three days to complete, and re-painting the wall four times yielded eye-popping results. Tongue-in-cheek in nature, INSA’s work makes a statement about how a majority of street art is currently looked at online.

INSA said:

The beauty of INSA’s GIF-itti is that it only truly lives when viewed online, where these days most street art ends up being viewed, and it exaggerates the ephemeral nature of graffiti as each layer is painted instantly over the last. Mixing retro internet technology and labour intensive painting, INSA creates slices of infinite un-reality, cutting edge art for the Tumblr generation.

It’s a first for us here – 3 days in the sun re-painting this monster wall 4 times to give us this completely original result.

Watch the time-lapse video to get an idea of the scale and labor that goes into 600 pixels.

(via PSFK)

De cativa ani buni graffitiul este utilizat (LEGAL!) pentru decorarea arhitecturala. Demonstratia este facuta de un tip din Hanovra.
Multumim MTN pe aceasta cale pentru material.

Un alt articol pe aceeasi tema puteti vedea aici.

Some city councils get it, others don’t. Tapping the creative talents of street artists, illustrators and graphic designers is an effective and cool way to make bland public spaces, old buildings, bridges and car parks new again, and to freshen up the concrete jungle.

It is also an effective way of keeping graffiti away. Plus it draws attention to the building or structure as “potential” not as something to be hated. Maybe it will even bring a buyer, a new occupant or additional creative ideas about how to revitalize the building? Anything but the current dilapidated state of abandoned spaces!

Why the hate? In late March, Adidas decided to paint over a wall surrounding a horse racing track in a southern part of Warsaw, considered a legendary space for Polish graffiti artists – with its own advertising. And it did this illegally, according to local press reports. Like a graffiti artist, you might say. (via Wall Street Journal)

The wall surrounding Warsaw Horse Racing Track in S?u?ewiec is a mecca of the Warsaw graffiti scene, nearly 1.5 km of the living canvas covered with colorful graffiti. It has always been a very important place for the Polish hip-hop culture. A place where artists from around the world and Poland made unforgettable work and where a lot of hip-hop clips were filmed. Once full of splendor, yet declined. But still it does not change the fact that every self-respecting Polish graffiti writer knows this place. You just had to be there and leave at least one work.

Recently something really shameful has taken there place. One of the companies claiming of being a brand supporting hip-hop culture, using graffiti as printed designs on their products, identifying itself with that culture, is trying today to destroy something that is a living history and a heritage of many generations of graffiti artists, people creating and actively supporting promotion of hip-hop culture.

The company Adidas decided to replace our “Urban Gallery” filling almost the entire width of wall with a place for their advertisement! This clearly shows us all what Adidas thinks about us. They do not care about our work and history.

Therefore, we announce general boycott of Adidas products. We are not going to apply ourselves to kill this place which is a part of our history. The place where artists from around the world came to create their works for their own money. Let us show Adidas that this what is happening in front of our eyes is poorly perceived by us and our friends! Make them know they are doing wrong.

adisucks!

The wall before Adidas’ action

The wall while painted over

More on adisucks Facebook group.

The winning entry will be announced on GOOD.is on March 31, featured on their homepage, and printed in the next issue of GOOD. They’ll also send a GOOD T-shirt and a free subscription (or gift subscription) to the winner.

We wish you all good luck!

Here’s the official announcement.

the THEME

Street art’s unexpected beauty and ingenuity has long captured our attention at GOOD. But recently the renegade art movement seems to have seeped into the mainstream, with the help of Google’s new street art mapping project, Banksy’s Oscar nomination for his documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, and JR’s TED Prize. It seems like street art is everywhere these days, and we want to separate the just OK from the mindblowing.

the OBJECTIVE

Street art has the power to transform everyday surroundings into thought-provoking scenes and fantastical landscapes. The latest GOOD Project wants to know: What’s your favorite piece of street art where you live?

the REQUIREMENTS

Submit your entry here.

Please include the following pieces of information with your photo:

• Your name
• Where you found the art work
• The title of the piece – whether its an official title or a name you gave it
• The artist’s name (if known)
• Up to 40 words on the significance of the piece

Your photo can be in any image format, but it should be high enough resolution that it can be printed at 300 dpi. We’ll take submissions now through Monday, March 21. Then we’ll publish a Picture Show with a selection of the submissions.

Once we receive the images, we will turn to you, the GOOD community, to choose the winning submission by voting. The winning entry will be announced on GOOD.is on March 31, featured on our homepage, and printed in the next issue of GOOD. We’ll also send a GOOD T-shirt and a free subscription (or gift subscription) to the winner.

(via GOOD)