Could this be the most important idea in living memory? www.robinhoodtax.org.uk

Teddy Baden lets one dog out

Teddy Baden climbs to the summit of Cordy House to stencil ‘Fetcher’ the flying Collie dog. See more of his work at The Foundry this Thursday 25th March. (Alongside works by dr.d, The Krah, Milo Tchais, Zadok and more).

As you can see we’ve had the painters in – Teddy took the top spot with this fine fine stencil…

…Pure Evil’s euro-chums The Fantastic 4 = Grems (Paris), 3TT (Lille/Madrid), Zbiok and Remed sprayed their style all over the roof too…

…best big ups to our visiting friends and long live the dogs of Baden! And here’s The Krah’s Foundry show poster, with Mutate favourites Teddy Baden, Dr D, Zadok and Milo Tchais – see you there…

Chile Estyle: New Film on Chilean Street Art coming from Pablo Aravena

News from Dr. Rod Palmer in earthquake-struck Chile just in:

CHILE ESTYLE

Pablo Aravena, of Next: a Primer on Urban Art (Canada / France 2007), is planning to make another full-length documentary film: on the booming graffiti scene in his native Chile.  The 10 minute demo of Chile Estyle can be seen on the webpage www.chileestyle.com which is launched today. Check out the interviews with many of Chile´s finest.  The demo was filmed in LA in December, and in Santiago de Chile and Valparaíso in January, i.e. pre the 27 February earthquake.

FUERZA CHILE

Graffiti in Chile is not quaked.  Last week, in Santiago´s Plaza Italia, Guztok of Nadie Crew (Nobody Crew) popped up with ´FUERZA CHILE´ :

Santiago locals liked the girly ´C` and quaking cityscape of the ´L´ in C-H-I-L-E:

Dan Hillier wins

Yes Dan Hillier! This amination is excellence! And big ups to Losers + Riz MC & Envy – Riz, you’re big in the club (sandwich) bro! Love it.

Dan did the art, and Tom Werber did the animationing and directerizing. And they did it proper. The boss track ‘Flush’ is out on 5th April on Distiller Records… and Dan has just released a set of prints which I suggest you buy before you spend it.

Chu’s 3D piece begins the roof top sessions

Chu Chu, there is an train coming.

HIT+RUN London Launch party

When – 11th March / 8pm-2am
Where – The Book Club 100 Leonard street, EC2A 4RH

RSVP ESSENTIAL Email – hugo@thehitandrun.com

HIT+RUN was created in 2005 by Southern California artists Brandy Flower and Mike Crivello. Inspired by the contagious enthusiasm from small screenprinting parties in their homes, friend’s studios and local gallery
spaces. Working with a constantly  evolving network of designers and artists

HIT+RUN’s live screenprinting crew can now be seen at music festivals, parties, launches, exhibitions, events and happenings around the world. At each HIT+RUN event a collection of exclusive single-color silkscreen designs are available for guests to personally select their own combination and placement of the designs.

featuring artwork to select from artists including…

SHEONE / OTWO / CHARLIE SHAZER / MARK WARD / ALFA

Music and vibes provided by

DJS FROSTY (DUBLAB) / CHEERYSTONES / Y&P / SESSION &  VERY SPECIAL GUESTS FROM LA (Not to
be missed)

www.thehitandrun.com

Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop – a review

You have to give the man credit, he’s stretched himself again and delivered a film that’s funny, well paced and will appeal to a wider audience than me and the rest of the London questionable haircut crew. The Cordy House Obey Giant was in there twice at the start… but we painted over it the other day to make way for new work.

In terms of its construction as a film it’s better than of 90% of the documentaries released by ‘serious’ film makers, so well done Banksy, you’ve cut a great and even important film from an insane pile of tapes built up by the film’s lead character: Thierry ‘Mr Brainwash’ Guetta.

Guetta is the cousin of Invader and a tirelessly chirpy screwball Frenchman with a video camera, nothing more. At this point in time he’s not a film maker and he’s not an artist. Like I said, he’s a likeable screwball Frenchman with a video camera – and a big fat PR machine. But hey, maybe that’s what art is now. The film certainly doesn’t deny it, but it does show the ridiculousness of it all. It’s up to you to draw your own conclusions.

Thanks to his cousin Guetta finds himself immersed in the worlds of artists like Shephard Fairey and Banksy at the peak of their game – and to validate his presence alongside them he shoots everything, all the time. But when asked to make a film he manages ‘Life Remote Control’ which, as Banksy says, is shit.

So then Banksy takes the reigns as tubby little Thierry starts to launch his very own Street Art career. At this point Banksy and Shephard Fairey have to hold up their hands and claim prominent roles in the creation of Mr Brainwash (as Shephard does in the film). Mr Brainwash could never have existed without using their promotion and contacts – which he used to launch his show ‘Life is Beautiful’ in LA in 2008. The only thing Brainwash brings creatively is energy, there’s zero new thought or style in his work, but he has buckets of projected self-believe which works wonders in LA. He, and an army of helpers, make hundreds of canvases of celebrities in a pop street art manner. All are devoid of originality. Thierry’s influential supporters then mug the shallow LA art scene with this bullshit work – and it works! Sick genius, if a bit depressing.

So what we end up with is the opportunity to watch, and I hope understand, the brutal reality of how feeble ‘artists’ can become successful purely as a result of effective PR. It really is incredible what the press are prepared to publish and what the people are prepared to believe.