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The British Beach That's Always Full of Men
We don't usually go to Britain for the beaches, but we've just discovered we want to try out Crosby Beach on the coast north of Liverpool. It's got a bit of everything: art, controversy, and even sex.
So what's so special about Crosby Beach? It's home to a major art installation called Another Place, a set of sculptures by artist Antony Gormley. There basically are 100 cast iron people who are standing along a two-mile stretch of beach, all staring out to sea.
The controversy came when the exhibition should've been moved to New York a couple of years back. A group of advocates pressed the local council to allow the statues to stay, and despite concerns about them being a danger to watersports participants and being pornographic because the statues have real male body parts, they stayed.
More and more tourists are starting to turn up at Crosby Beach to check out the hundred iron men. Just make sure you get your timing right--at high tide nearly all the statues are submerged under water.
Related Stories:
· British Holidaymakers Ignorant of Home Gems [Telegraph]
· The British Seaside: Ocean Paradise, or Dirty Old Whore Who Smells of Fish? [Jaunted]
· Britain Travel Guide [Jaunted]
[Photo: Mr Po]
Tags: Public Art / Design Travel / Art / → All Tags
Yes We Can Edition
New York's economy could use a boost from another giant waterfall-style public art exhibit. And while this one might not quite bring in the billions, it's still pretty awesome.
Now on display at the World Financial Center, Canstruction is a competition from the Society for Design Administration, which invited architectural firms to create massive, Legoland-like exhibits, all made entirely from canned goods.
The 40 pieces, from a can Mona Lisa to the AlasCAN Bridge to Nowhere, are on exhibit through December 8. And don't worry about waste; after the show, all the cans get donated to the hungry.
Related Stories:
· Canstruction [Official Site]
· Canstruction Exhibit in New York City [Serious Eats]
· Design Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Canstruction]
Tags: Street Art / Art / Public Art / → All Tags
Paul Richard's Declared Art
Street art turns cities into ever-changing museums that anyone can enjoy free of charge, but perhaps no one takes the literal idea of museum more seriously than Paul Richard. The Boston- and New York-based artist has been declaring various urban scenes and street fixtures artwork since at least 1997.
Richard creates little plaques, the same kind you would find describing an artwork in a reputable museum, and attaches them to things on city streets. So far, Richard has designated tree stumps, fire hydrants, lamp posts and patches of "grass, sticks, bugs & stuff" as art. And we can report that his work still heavily adorns the streets of Greenpoint, Brookyn, as seen here. Take a wander around, and don't be surprised if you find his "art" everywhere.
Related Stories:
· Paul Richard [Official Site]
· 1000 Manhattan Avenue [Brooklyn Rail]
· Greenpoint Street Art Going for 145K [Gothamist]
· Street Art coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Meltdownomics / Public Art / → All Tags
Financial Meltdown Travel: NYC's Ode To The Economy
Ahhh, the economy. Up and down, bull and bear, such an adventure! Yeah right.
To commemorate Black Friday, one of the US economy's darkest days, a duo of artists created a giant ice sculpture in downtown Manhattan. It's a 1500 pound rendition of the word "Economy", and will sit outside until it melts down to a puddle of water. Get it?
It's a very obvious commentary maybe, but at least it can inject some fun into an otherwise dire situation. As the sculpture went up yesterday, it's probably already gone--but you could still go see the spot where this iced up economy once stood.
Related Stories:
· Using Ice Sculptures as Social Commentary [Trend Hunter]
· History of Black Friday [Answers.com]
· Recession Restaurants coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Street Art / Art / Public Art / → All Tags
Europe's Feeling Blu
If you don't know about street artist and animator Blu, you should get familiar. The Italian's work is highly stylized and complex, featuring massive scale pieces which are often made up of many small details, like hundreds of humanoid figures or bananas making up a larger creature.
He also creates creepy animations that move across rooms and down streets, taking on a myriad of forms while moving through space. This one, shot in Buenos Aires, has racked up more than 3 million YouTube views.
Related Stories: [Photo: Blu]
· Blu [Official Site]
· Blu Photo
Group [Flickr]
· Street Art coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Street Art / Australia Travel / Public Art / Graffiti / → All Tags
Aerosol Arabic in Melbourne
Melbourne is big on covering the walls of its laneways with street art. We like that. But apparently lots of Melbournites think that the latest decorations of Spark Lane off Flinders Street are taking things too far.
As part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival, a British graffiti artist with the less-than-original name of Mohammed Ali--aka Aerosol Arabic--has been flown in to cover Spark Lane with a mix of street art and Islamic calligraphy.
We’re more than happy to wander Melbourne’s sidestreets to check out this kind of art, but apparently there’s a group called Graffiti Hurts Australia who think otherwise--and are sure the festival will only lead to more vandalism.
Check out Spark Lane when you’re next in Melbourne and see what you think--we're pretty sure that this graffiti is totally not hurting Australia.
--AmandaK
Related Stories:
· Imported Street Artist Cops a Spray [Herald Sun]
· Free Stuff in Melbourne: Street Art is All Around [Jaunted]
· Melbourne Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Aerosol Arabic]
Tags: Street Art / Art / Public Art / → All Tags
Street Art Travel: C215 First to Bomb India?
C215 is a talented street artist from Paris. His code name references his real name--and possibly the number of a jail cell he spent time in. He primarily creates evocative portraits of people he encounters on the streets in remote and downtrodden neighborhoods.
He recently took a trip to the Karol Bagh District of New Delhi to create a series of street portraits. C215 may be the first street/stencil artist ever to paint on the streets of India. It was a challenging endeavor, he says, as he was occasionally threatened and usually drew large crowds who wanted to watch the action.
Related Stories:
· C215: India [Flickr]
· C215 [Flickr]
· Street Art coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Street Art / Art / Public Art / → All Tags
Berlin Street Art: Bronco Season One
There's not a whole lot of information out there on the street artist known as Bronco. We do know that he harnesses the simple power of words to get a point across instead of using or remixing imagery.
Operating out of Berlin, Bronco uses wheat pasted posters, stencils and even old school plastic labeling tape to drop messages into the public domain.
The work is almost like a minimalist subversive advertising campaign with slogans like: "Time is on my side," "Who stole my George Bush lovedoll?" and of course the old classic "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a bulimic stripshow robot targeting minor audiences? Don't Cha?"
Related Stories:
· A Guy Called Bronco [Flickr]
· Bronco [today and tomorrow]
· Street Art coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Art / Public Art / Street Art / Meltdownomics / → All Tags
More London Street Art: In Loving Memory of the Boom Economy
Rest in peace... Economy. Street artist K-Guy installed this touching roadside memorial-style collage at one of the last known spots where big money was alive. Titled "In Loving Memory of the Boom Economy," the piece consists of dozens of bouquets of flowers and messages from fictional well-wishers.
It sits outside outside the Bank of England in Central London, and you can find more pictures of the installation on Flickr.
Related Stories:
· K-Guy [Official Site]
· In Loving Memory of the Boom Economy [Spareroom]
· Slinkachu's Little People in London [Jaunted]
[Photo: nolionsinengland]
Tags: Street Art / Art / Public Art / → All Tags
Street Art Travel: Slinkachu's Little People
Slinkachu has been making unusual street art installations around London, and if you blink, you'll miss them. The artist creates a micro-world that exists along side ours. A man hunts flies, a woman jogs and life goes on in a scale model of reality.
Slinkachu hand paints and deposits his figurines, documenting the displays with close up camera work. The miniatures are almost too small to see with the naked eye--but that doesn't mean they don't eventually disappear.
We've rounded up some of the coolest in a slideshow:
Related Stories:
· Little People [Official Site]
· Street Art Coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Street Art / Art / Public Art / → All Tags
London Street Art: JR Takes Over Soho
Paris-based photographer and street artist JR thinks bigger than most of his peers. His black-and-white wheat-pasted images are gargantuan in scale, taking over entire faces of buildings and extending to the rooftops.
His work is often subtly socially conscious. JR takes evocative photographs of marginalized people from around the world and blows them up to massive proportions. Towering over you, it's difficult to escape thinking about who these people are, and what their stories are.
One of his latest projects is located in Soho in London. It depicts residents from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and was installed to coincide with his solo show at the Lazarides Gallery
Related Stories:
· JR Art [Official Site]
· JR Goes Massive in Soho [Supertouch]
· Street Art coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Supertouch]
Tags: Public Art / Fall Travel / Fall Festival / Art / → All Tags
Fall Arts Travel: Under the Bridge in DUMBO
Summer's end doesn't mean New York's done with free festivals. In fact, one of the city's most unique art festivals gets going this weekend.
The 12th annual DUMBO Arts Under the Bridge Festival will take over more or less an entire Brooklyn neighborhood this Friday through Sunday, with hundreds of public art projects and open studios.
As you might expect if you've ever been to über-artsy DUMBO, you won't catch many painting or photography exhibits here. Art in this case is more along the lines of interactive exhibits like Politaoke, which lets you karaoke along to your favorite political speeches; and a "borderless installation" that has something to do with eating a pile of potatoes.
Related Stories:
· DUMBO Arts Under the Bridge Festival [Official Site]
· Public Art coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: innuendo]
