If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives): graffiti art

Showing posts with label graffiti art. Show all posts

And What Remains is Art. Artist Alexandre Farto, aka Vhils, Scratches The Surface.

In a similar manner as Michelangelo's removing the excess from the block of marble allowing the figure to emerge, artist Alexandre Farto creates portraits by removing plaster, brick, wood and cement from surfaces.

As part of a partnership with VistaJet & Bombardier Aerospace, 31 year old Los Angeles street artist RETNA has hand-painted a unique artwork on the tail of a VistaJet Global Express XRS as part of his Hallelujah World Tour.

Those familiar with RETNA's work will recognize the iconic styled heiroglyphics which he uses in much of his art, as shown in the multiple examples of his work below:

This $60,000,000 luxury aircraft will be the star of VistaJet’s fleet of 31 private jets. Drawing from a wide array of influences including the Old English style of gang graffiti writings, Asian calligraphy, Incan & Egyptian hieroglyphics, Hebrew and Arabic, RETNA’s vision manifests as an international visual language all his own.

At EBACE 2011, the premier aviation show in Geneva, May 17 - 19, RETNA will officially launch his artistic vocabulary over 50,000 feet above ground.

VistaJet and RETNA is a new partnership that begun with VistaJet’s and Bombardier’s sponsorship of RETNA’s “Hallelujah World Tour,” presented by Andy Valmorbida and Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, which launched in New York in February and will continue throughout the year in cities including London and Hong Kong.

Retna, whose real name is Marquis Lewis, comes from a graffiti background. The nom de plume – derived from a Raekwon song – was originally given to a friend. “I gave him a sketch, and he went and battled some dude and he lost,” Retna said previously in an interview with Upper Playground. “He wasn’t even supposed to battle anyone anyway with my sketch that I gave him. And on top of that he lost, so that really pissed me off, so I took the name back.”

Over the past few years, Retna has been known less for his graffiti pieces than a unique written language derived from various ancient scripts.

“It draws on Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Mayan glyphs, as well as Mexican and pre-Columbian heritage,” Jeffrey Deitch, director of MoCA in Los Angeles, said. “He filters those traditions through the tradition of tagging and graffiti that has been seen in Los Angeles since the 1970s. Within these traditions, he has come up with something entirely his own.”

The New York exhibition, The Hallelujah World Tour (Venice and London are the two other stops) is Retna’s biggest show to date.

Images courtesy of Bombardier and RETNA

Mario Bros. Comes Alive as Graffiti on a Sidewalk (and how it was done).

This video was part of Andreas Heikaus' Bachelor thesis at the University of Applied science and art in Hannover, Germany. In his project, the Super Mario Bros. game, released on the Nintendo Entertainment System, is no longer bound to the television screen and becomes interactive in a new environment. The emphasis of Andreas' thesis was on the process of matching CG elements into live-action footage.

How he did it:

Andreas Heikhaus:

The talented young compositor is looking for a job. Interested? Contact him here.

5 Artists Design Helmets For Pirates Design

Thanks to Dalzin.com via freshbump, I discovered this new wonderful line of artist designed helmets named Pirates Design. Olivier Maucorps, a motorcycle enthusiast, decided to start a new line of creative helmets with illustrator FAKIR, who designed one of the helmets as well as the company's logo. They then enlisted four other artists to design the following helmets:

FAKIR
Graphic artist, toy designer and illustrator FAKIR designed the logo as well the FAKIR Helmet:

NANAN
French sculptor and toy designer Gaël Brienne (aka NANAN1) designed the following helmet:

GRAPHEART
French graphic design, illustration and toy design studio Grapheart, designed the following helmet:

KATRE
French Graffiti and street artist Katre, designed the following helmet:

LADY SHOVE
Freelance graphic designer Lady Shove (aka Julie Chauville)

The helmets are being exhibited at Star Motors in Paris from March 25- April 30th and can actually be purchased online.

Shop for the Pirates Design helmets here.

The Banksy Directed Opening Sequence for The Simpsons.

above image courtesy of Banksy

above image courtesy of Fox

Street artist and director Banksy continues to show his love for Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa by storyboarding and directing the 1:44 second opening sequence for Fox's The Simpsons October 10th episode "MoneyBart." In case you missed it, below is the opening, in which lies a nod to his film Exit Through the Gift Shop. Courtesy of Banksy films.

20th Century Fox has removed the video, so for the next 55 days, here's the only place you can see it.