Street Art/graffiti has taken on a whole new level of creativity and brilliance. I can't get enough. There was the original hip hop era of graffiti, which eventually progressed to thought-provoking commentary from the likes of Banksy, Shepard Fairy and Margaret Kilgallen. I don't even know how you would classify this new wave of expression: it's an explosion of color, visual stimuli and immense creativity that is eminently outside the box. How far we have come from the age of stylized lettering, which still holds a place dear to my heart... nonetheless, street art is evolving in all the right ways. It can be simple and endearing, political, environmental or social commentary, colorful and playful, vintage or high art, or just plain hilarious. As a Leo, the colorful crochet really gets me- although the pieces that incorporate the urban landscape itself- a silo turned into a gnome, a plumping pipe becoming a straw into a thirsty face, or lego bricks built into gaps on a red brick wall- are most impressive, simply because someone looked at something and saw something else within it. It's fascinating how a lot of this art is moving into museums and galleries all over the world- a tough dichotomy for street artists originally intending to be deviant and covert. I had to resist the urge to post about one hundred photos here, but I've included a few favorites, as well as some links to some street art sites and resources I frequent often. I am most inspired by this work, and by the way it exposes, enlivens, beautifies and plays with our urban and natural landscapes in alluring, accessible and provocative ways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_Losers_(film)
The OG: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084904/
http://www.streetartutopia.com/
Probably the most well-known: http://www.banksy.co.uk/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/aug/08/margaret-kilgallen-art-graffiti
http://unurth.com/
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