Graffiti
Design story…
“Sprite invited four Brazilian artists to create a new limited edition of cans, as part of its “Refresh your ideas” project.”
Press Play…
Broken Fingaz -Graffiti Stop Motion from Broken Fingaz on Vimeo.
ooohhh we do like a bit of stop motion graffiti! This one is from Tant and Unga of the Broken Fingaz Crew, Isreal. Enjoy x
I Prefer You Hate Me Than Ignore Me #2
WHOA, WHOA, WHOOOOOAAAAA! This stopped me DEAD in my tracks people. Pixadores (Brazilian equivalent of taggers), have struck a mural in Sao Paulo - arguably the street art capital of the world - and done their thing atop work by graffiti legends such as Os Gemeos, Nina, Nunca et al according to Animal. The mural was part of The Biennial Exhibit which was commisioned by the city of Sao Paulo. As such the mural reads, “R$ 200,000 in makeup, and the city is in calamity,” (That converts to around £66,000 or $111,000.), which is an obvious attack on the choice to commission art when eleven million people ‘live’ (I use the term loosely) in slums on the city’s perimeter.
Now normally tagging over peices would cause serious beefage but this is a different breed of agro. Not your ego-fuelled aggression like what goes down in NYC, but real political statement. Having spent some time in Sao Paulo personally, and discovering what a hideously unjust place Brazil really is, you can’t help but feel remorse. Not for the mural per se, but the ghastly conditions that spawn the need for such demonstrations.
Seriously, Pixação (the tagging style) is fascinating, romantic and heartbreaking. Please, please, PLEASE check the clips I’ve posted. Below is an incredible trailer (check that sounddddd!) for a documentary on Pixação - don’t worry if you don’t understand what’s being said - Y’all vibe with it, I know you will!
And this interview (in English (!)) is with journalist and creator of the above doc, Joao Wainer. He explains brilliantly who the Pixadores are and why they do what they do. In fact, many established street artists feel the plight of the Pixadores so I guess it’s unlikey there will be too much resentment over the defacing of their work. T’is a “Don’t hate the player, hate the game” type-scenario methinks.
“How many artists do you know that risk their life to make art?”
That question just gets to me soooo bad.
God, I miss that place…(: (
(Sasha)
Art: Miss Bugs
More breasts today then it seems. Yes well, this time they come via Miss Bugs with a kind of Pop art/street art twiiiiiist. According to Change the Thought, “Miss Bugs is actually a team of two comprised of one girl and one boy. There mishmash work combines imagery from popular culture with references to street culture and graffiti. They approach their imagery graphically, using collage, stencil, silk-screen and anything else they can get their hands on. The two artists are originally from Bristol and Wales but moved to London in 2001 where they have slowly emerged as heavy hitters in the street art and graffiti scene.”. Fabooblicious! (sorry). Christ, I’ll be writing about vulva necklaces next if I’m not careful…
Beijos (Sasha)
Interview: Waleska
What makes graffiti in South America, and in particular Brazil, and even more specifically Sao Paulo as good as it is,could be down to the fact that as street art or graffiti, it really does stand out as being the most non-aggressive form of the genre you’ll ever be likely to encounter. Whether it constitutes as graffiti is certainly an issue for writers from NYC, who consider that ‘graffiti’ as a definitive term works within strict parameters and attitudes, but In true Brazilian style, Brazilians have thrown off any adhererance to structures and the streets of Sao Paulo have blossomed into some of the most mesmerising sights you’re likely to see anywhere. Amongst the artists who make Brazilian graffiti what it is, is Waleska Tudo Nomura a stand out artist by all accounts and graffiti royalty here in Brazil (her brother Tinho was one of the original SP writers, and her husbad Adam Neate is highly acclaimed for his work). Her ideal is to “Spread Love And Positive Energies To The World’, which kind of spits in the face of old skool atitoods and aggression - cherry-blossom flavoured love-spit of course…
First of all can you tell me what it was like growing up in Sao Paulo (the people, the area, the politics)
Sao Paulo is a very crazy city to grow up in. Is one of the biggest cities in the world! And one of the most populated as well but the people are very friendly and happy and they know how to enjoy themselves no matter what life throws at them.
The grafitti in South America, particularly Brasil is - in my opinion - is the best in the world - what do you think makes the grafitti there so unique?
Since graffiti started in Brazil, we didn’t have that much exposure to the american and european styles, so, Brazilian graffiti kind of evolved in its own direction, thanks to the pioneering Brazilian graffiti artists like Tinho who decided to change his style from the traditional New Yprk wildstyle and pieces.
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Interview countdown: Waleska
Coming soon, exclusive interview with the gorgeous Sao Paulo graffiti artist by the name of Waleska as per featured in Thames and Hudson’s Graffiti Woman, on what its like to be able to go out onto the meanest streets of South America and spread a little love - as seen doing here with in collaboration with graff artist husband Adam Neate…
Graffiti: Jardin Botanical, Rio (Part II)
Right, as my life is being dominated by wisedom toothache and English grammar- oh My God, that is even more depressing when in written form, Im posting a partcularly dark selection of graffiti handpicked from the CLFmag Botanical Garden Graffiti Archive (dontchaknow) to lure you all into my world of pain, discomfort and the blues…
Ofcourse this is all to do with my new job of teaching English to executive types, and having to re-teach myself riveting stuff like “The Gerund form”. Like what? Like why call it that?
the Ger-uuuund.
Like “Hi, my name’s Sasha, I live in Rio and somehow the sun has well and truly set on all the fun stuff and I’m now I’m living alone, without a laptop, sleeping on foam and learning about The Gerund.”
With toothache.
Dark days indeed…
Beijos? (Sasha)
Graffiti: Botanical Jardin, Rio De Janeiro (Part I)
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY PEOPLE! It’s ‘Dio Dos Namoranados’ here in Brazil which literally translates to ‘Day Of Boyfriends’ according to my translation skillzzz so sending you all lots of dancing samba kisses your way! And to celebrate I’m finally going to start uploading this monumental backlog of graffiti pictures I have stashed here! How … romantic ?!! These images were taken near to the gorgeous Botanical Gardens here in Rio and I’m particularly smitten with the above image; the exquisite use of colour and delicate paintwork presented on this here fat parrot. And speaking of fat parrots I’d like to dedicate this special Valentines Day post to Miss Vien Le Wood - who is neither fat, nor a parrot - but she is exquisite and colourful and I hope she’ll be my Valentine!
Ohhh, I miss so you my feeder-friendling!
Loads more pics apres le jump so go enjoy!
EXTRA BEIJOOOS EVERYONE! (Sasha)
Event: Raizes Do Movimento (Rio De Janeiro)
So, in contention for my personal best day-out in Rio ever, I would like to give praise and thanks to Raizes De Movimento – a social awareness faction based in Rio’s Most Dangerous Favela TM* ; Complexo Do Alemao. Amongst many other socially conscious projects, Raizes were responsible for the gathering up of a whole host of national and international graff artist for a day long jam in the favela last weekend! Beleeeeze! Absolutely amazing to witness, seriously. Im gonna report more on the function Of Raizes Do Movimento, who basically operate in a similar tenet to Afroreggae; encouraging and motivating young ‘uns through artists expression. That is as soon as I can translate the email they sent me! But whilst Im doing this please enjoy the photographic evidence of some of the marvellous happenings and there’s more to come so stay posted!
Oh, yeah. I might as well tell you that ever single favela has a reputation for being ‘Rio’s Most Dangerous Favela TM’; a tag which does little to remove the stigma of favela living, (although neither does posting the image of a shoot-out but whatever – aaaawesome canvas painting!). You see, apparently I live in Rio’s Most dangerous favela, (Vidigal) but then so is Rochina, and City Of God. So I’m referencing some British Corporal in Iraq who when commenting on the Green Mile being the ‘Most Dangerous Road In The World’ said; “The most dangerous road in the world is the one the bus runs you over on.”
Touche, Corporal!
Loads more pics apres le jump…
Beijos! (Sasha)
Art: Whip Interview countdown
Ok, so I kind of know this is lazy journalism but given that we are fundamentally an art based site I’m not gonna beat myself up to much about it - on the contrary I’m actually gonna give myself a hearty back pat for thinking up such a wonderous scheme… So, if I were you I’d be asking what the hell am I blabbering on about. Well the thing is my dear friendlings, I’m currently sat here drizzley el Rio, under a phenomenal work load - like stuff keeps happening (interviews, events, gigs, blah,blah,blah) quicker than I can process it in meaningful way for the magazine - but that’s what I’m working on. The flipside of this means I don’t have much time to research new stuff out there, however, what I have right here is too good to sit on any longer so I’m just gonna keep posting various artist works I have archived until the interviews and articles go live. That way you get to see the goods, the site looks awesome with minimal effort and everyone is a winner! So here’s little more from the lovely Sao Paulo artist Whip whose interview will be up here within the next week which should also satisfy my amaaaazing lady Fe’s (Girl responsible for best blog posts EVER TM) fetish for all things Easy-peasy Japanesey!
Beijos! (Sasha)
