Graffiti Artists MIRF Create Limited Edition Fragrance Bottle For NY Yankees.

The official fragrance of the NY Yankees has just released their limited edition men’s bottle with exclusive design and artwork done by none other than NYC graffiti legends Mint&Serf aka MIRF.




Mint&Serf's distinctive drippy MIRF, which is featured on both the front and back of the bottle (above) , conveys their enthusiasm for New York, yet also expresses their understanding of the overall brand of the city. "People who know us can tell you that we are both diehard New Yorkers. From Astoria, Queens to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn to East Tremont Ave in the Bronx to Victoria Blvd in Staten Island, graffiti opened us up to almost every neighborhood in New York City. We live and breathe New York City," said Mint&Serf. "When it comes to the symbol of New York, there is nothing more iconic and recognizable than the New York Yankees; to think that graffiti we created on the streets of New York will be immortalized alongside the New York Yankees logo is an honor.”

MIRF's distinctive drip graffiti found around New York:




Tagged with #MIRF4Yanks, posters have begun appearing around the city:

above: instagram photo by Chicozen


above: instagram photo by Jposorio

The multimedia artists Mint&Serf were born Mikhail Sokovikov and Jason Aaron Wall. Mint&Serf, collaboratively known as MIRF, produces sculptures, graffiti, photography, public and private installations, curatorial work, commercial partnerships, publications and nightlife experiences. While Mint&Serf’s creativity was originally born on walls of their beloved concrete jungle, the duo’s illegal art morphed into conceptual art theory and commissions for some of the world’s most recognizable brands including Nike, Red Bull, Marc Jacobs and ACE Hotel.

The New York Yankees™ fragrance captures a sporty and confident attitude, creating a timeless, masculine scent that contains fresh wood tones, an invigorating blend of sparkling bergamot, coriander and cool blue sage. The fragrance also evolves to reveal a fusion of crisp ivy leaves, orange flower and geranium, enhanced with rich earthy patchouli, smooth sandalwood and suede.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to work with the New York Yankees, Major League Baseball Properties and now with Mint&Serf on this fragrance,” said Thomas Butkiewicz, CEO of Cloudbreak. “Mint&Serf’s artistic creativity and unique knowledge of New York City will bring an unparalleled freshness to the fragrance industry.”

The New York Yankees™ Limited Edition Graffiti EDT is available now online at at  NYYankeesFragrance.com and at Macy’s, Lord & Taylor and Belk.
200ml/6.7oz bottle for $85.

This cutting edge project introduces a new conceptualization for beauty brands; the NY Yankees limited edition men’s fragrance promises to be on every guy’s radar through and beyond Major League Baseball season.

5 New Limited Edition Artist Cans by Montana To Kick Off 2013

Montana Colors has begun the new year with an exclusive release: 5 new limited edition cans featuring Belin, Mistery, How & Nosm, Kofie and Roid MSK.  As always presented in its individually designed wooden box stamped with the artists personal seal, and limited to only 500 units in total.

BELIN
Originally from Linares (Jaen, Andalucia), Belin reached a worldwide fame as hyper realism master, gaining the respect of both graffiti and contemporary art audience. In his portfolio a plenty of collaboration with famous fashion brands such as Carhartt, Ed Hardy and Levi’s and a couple of cameos at ‘L.A. Ink‘, where he painted the backstage of Kat Von D’s TV show.


HOW & NOSM
How and Nosm are identical twin brothers known for their large scale graffiti based murals that adorn city walls around the world. The red, black and white-based imagery is instantly recognizable and commands attention through the impressive size and intricate detail. Initially their color palette was limited for practicality but has now become a distinct calling card and formal choice that has allowed them to push spray paint to a new level.


MISTERY
Mistery has been one of Australia’s most long-standing and influential writers. Starting out as a B-boy in the early 1980’s he continues to represent the Hip Hop culture through Breakin, Graff & as an Emcee. Although known for his signature B-boy characters Mistery still maintains that graff is about letterforms, and accordingly continues to perfect his style. Painting in every corner of the globe Mistery has definitely made his mark. A B-boy, Martial Artist, Christian Minister, Emcee & Writer, Mistery is an enigma.


KOFIE
Growing up in Los Angeles and very active in the West LA Graffiti scene since 1993, Kofie, as he became to be known, is a skillful and well respected mixed media and street artist. Drawing on his early craft of Graffiti lettering he has developed an abstraction of his earlier works that goes beyond the traditional 3 dimensions of our known world into a crafted compositions that build upon themselves. He has the innate ability to combine appreciation of the past and his vision of a developed future both in his murals as well as his studio, being an original contributor of the ‘Graffuturism’ movement.


ROID MSK
Born in 82, London based artist Roid began painting the late 90’s spending the last ten years building a solid international reputation for innovation and technical skill. His constant evolution of the conventions of New York Subway graffiti has never stayed still and neither has he. After his sellout debut solo show in summer 2012 he is now working as a fine artist and creative director from his south London studio, continuing to influence and change the way people think about graffiti.

Not available for purchase in Montana's online store, you have to ask your local Montana Paints dealer.  The four below, howver, are still available for purchase from their online store:

PART ONE
In the pedigree of our culture, Part One and TDS have their own branch. Their pieces covered continuously the lines 1, 2 and 5 during the last years of the late 70’s and early 80’s in New York. Part One, a champion of wildstyle, has shown and proved his mastery under several names: Roam, Rio, Fudge 357, 2worm, Wepa, Ultra2, Rique… This time, one of his mythical pieces decorates one of our limited editions.



PEZ
If you ever walked through Barcelona since 1999, for sure you saw some of those happy fishes with enormous smiles full of teeth. El Pez, a icon of our streets, creator of the Happy style, could not be missing in the line of names in our line of limited edition, since we more or less grew up together.



SENTO
Very few legends are still here to tell their story and make it stay alive to prevent it from fading away. In graffiti this might be said about Sento (TFP, DAMAGE INC), a unique writer whose personal style of letters has inspired writers all over the globe. The king of swing couldn't have been left out of our collection of limited editions. It wouldn't have been complete.



MARE 139
A lot can be said about Mare 139. We could talk about his metal sculptures, ‘Street Play‘ by Martha Cooperand of course his part of the New York graffiti kingdom, but we choose to hold on to the memory of ‘Style Wars‘, where he had to repeat his name at the writer’s bench, spelling it. He seemed a little uncomfortable with the situation, not realizing at that time his name would be forever engraved in our lives. We are lucky to have his limited edition based on this mythical image of the writer, captured by Martha Cooper.



$28 each, Buy them here

Calvin Klein's ck one Shock Street Edition Bottles by Graffiti Artists Fabel and Miss163

As well as a brand new fragrance, Calvin Klein's ck one shock Street Edition features distinctive new bottle designs created by legendary New York graffiti artist Jorge "FABEL" Pabon for the men's fragrance and by Miss163, one of a new generation of New York graffiti artists, for the women's fragrance



The men's scent:
The sparkling oriental of ck one shock for him opens with juicy clementine, pulsates with the smooth spice of black basil, and finishes with a masculine tobacco musk for a long-lasting signature.
top notes: cucumber, clementine, purple lavender
mid notes: osmanthus absolute, black pepper, cardamom, black basil
base notes: tobacco absolute, ambreine, musk, patchoul



The women's scent:
The juicy floriental of ck one shock for her opens with a fierce bouquet of passionflower, intensifies with a drizzle of liquid chocolate accord, and warms into a second skin musk for an addictive signature.

top notes: passionflower, pink peony, poppy flower
mid notes: liquid chocolate accord, blackberry, narcisse, jasmine
base notes: vanillin, patchouli, ambers, skin musk

Drunk With Talent. The Fin Bec Winery Invites 8 Artists To Paint Special Labels.

On a beautiful sunny day in Sion, the wine region of southern Switzerland, the following eight graffiti and street artists from all over the world gathered for a fun project:
• Faith 47 (South Africa)
• Askew 1 (New Zealand)
• Mode 2 (United Kingdom)
• Revok 1 (United States)
• Deter (Switzerland-Geneva)
• Demes (Switzerland-Sion)
• Esow (Japon)
• Jasm (Switzerland-Lausanne)


above: the eight artists with gallery owner Yvo Mathier

Each artist was given a “canvas” made up of 84 wooden wine cases and asked to create an artful interpretation of any wine out of the myFINBEC collection. The final images produced by each of the eight artists are featured on the label of the bottles of their choosing which are sold by the half-case (ordering info at the very end of the post).





PICS OF THE PROCESS:







THE FINAL 8 ARTWORKS:









THE GALLERY SHOW
Yvo Mathier (below), art lover and owner of the Cave Fin-Bec winery, instigated the project with the creative help of Lausanne-based writer JASM.




10 MINUTE DOCUMENTARY OF THE PROCESS
The winery commissioned by Chris Courtney of Rebild.tv to document the project in a 10 minute video which comes on a DVD with your purchase. Alice Dison assisted Chris in the making of the following:



ORDERING INFO

myFINBEC Limited Edition 2012:
Châtroz - Bio Domaine Fin Bec blanc - CHF 256.- by Faith 47 (South Africa)
Châtroz - Bio Domaine Fin Bec blanc - CHF 256.- by Askew 1 (New Zealand)
Châtroz - Bio Domaine Fin Bec rouge - CHF 256.- by Mode 2 (England)
Châtroz - Bio Domaine Fin Bec rouge - CHF 256.- by Revok (USA)
Boutesse - Johannisberg - CHF 256.- by Demes (Swiss - Sion)
Lentine - Petite Arvine - CHF 256.- by Esow (Japan)
Corbassière - Cornalin - CHF 256.- by Deter (Swiss - Genf)
Follie - Pinot Noir - CHF 256.- by Jasm (Swiss - Lausanne)

The special 2012 limited edition is only available by the half-case (6 bottles) which comes in genuine cases painted by the artists and is delivered with a CD of "the making of." Reserve yours here.

images courtesy of Fin-Bec Winery and Amateur Magazine

Tag, You're It! Graffiti Is Appearing Everywhere And On Everything.

Graffiti: Etymology: Italian, plural of graffito [scribbling; graffito, a scratch]: usually unauthorized writing or drawing on a public surface.
(source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)


above: Graffiti by tagger 'sweet'

Graffiti, once synonymous with vandalism, reached an art form several decades ago. It was way back in 1972 that Hugo Martinez founded the UGA- United Graffiti Artists. It didn't take long to permeate the skater and surfer scene, where it lay for a long time. But in recent years it's crept from edgy to mainstream.

As an art form, Graffiti has reached such a level of status that it is frequently referred to as 'street art' or 'urban art' as opposed to vandalism, tagging and graffiti. And many artists have traded in walls for canvases. Even selling prints and gicleés on ebay and in surf and skateboard shops. Right now, street artist Banksy is setting the art world afire fetching prices on par with paintings by Renaissance masters.


Above: Artist José Parla at work.

Above: Banksy's Tesco Flag

Above: Banksy's Flower Chucker on canvas.

The combination of street graffiti and luxury was a huge hit when Marc Jacobs thought to combine Stephen Sprouse graffiti with Louis Vuitton bags in 2001. The collection sold like hotcakes and is still in great demand today.



Above: the Stephen Sprouse Collection for Louis Vuitton.

Several designers have taken the urban art form and made into actual furniture. Industrial designer and former tagger, Luis Alicandu from Caracas, Venezuela, now living in London, has designed and created the following pieces. Unfortunately they are not mass produced and are not available for purchase.







To learn more about Luis Alicandu a.k.a. CacoUno (his Graffiti tag nickname), or to help him produce these great pieces, go here.

Another furniture line inspired by graffiti is one from the design duo Jimmie and Martin of Jimmie Martin Ltd. By adding graffiti and unusual paint finishes to traditional furniture, they've created a unique niche for the aesthetically trendy. I will be doing a major post on Jimmie Martin in the near future so you can see all of their great work.

Here are some pieces from their Graffiti series:




Jimmie Martin Ltd

Verona and Romeo and Juliet have been inspired by Anna James's visits to Juliet's house in Verona, Italy. She is totally captivated by the graffiti covering the walls at the archway entrance, all of it being declarations of love by visiting lovers, of all ages, from all over the world. The colours, and the messages create completely unique images.



Anna devised a process to replicate the walls on furniture, by taking a series of digital images, which she then transposed onto her carefully prepared period pieces. Because messages are constantly being added to the walls, Anna's design for her Verona furniture is unique to a particular moment in time, and gives each piece it's own individual artwork and identity.


Love Anna James

Angel Ortiz was a New York street artist whose collaboration with other well-known 1980s artist such as Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf, brought him recognition. The pieces below were assembled with a venturesome commitment to emerging artists. L.A. II. In 2006, these great looking pieces by tagger Angel Ortiz were sold at an art auction:


Above: Angel Ortiz, L.A. II, Birch armoire with two doors and three drawers decorated with graffiti designs in black and silver marker. Signed and tagged throughout. 72" x 32" x 17" Sold for $3,000.00


Above: Angel Ortiz, L.A. II, Birch plywood six-drawer dresser decorated with graffiti designs in black and silver marker. Signed and tagged throughout. 30" x 48" x 16 1/2" Sold for $2,640.00
Angel Ortiz


Above: Angel Ortiz, L.A. II, Glass vase decorated with silver paint pen. Accompanied by a letter of authenticity from the artist. Signed and tagged throughout. 13 3/4" x 12", sold for $600.00

Is Graffiti the next plaid?

Now it's not only left the walls and subway trains to jump to canvases and rebel galleries, but graffiti has found it's way onto everything from apparel to housewares. There are graffiti lamps, belts, pillows, bath towels, jewelry, and much, much more. In several instances it's even offered as a pattern choice. Solids, stripes or graffiti?

Even athletic shoe company, New Balance, had just released Graffiti kicks in two color variations, joining Converse who already offers a Graffiti hi-top. And street artists, Stash and Sket One are designing custom area rugs.


Above: limited edition wool rugs by tagger Stash.

Above: limited edition wool rugs by tagger Sket.

More than one company has produced dinnerware in graffiti styles and now, with Furniture Graphics, you can have a graffiti sideboard to store it in.


Above: Cabinets by brothers Niclas Collen and Jesper Zacco of Furniture Graphics.

25-year-old, Toronto-based graffitist Matthieu Missiaen even makes custom 'graffiti' shoes under the label Ndeur:


You can buy Ndeur's custom fabulous shoes here on etsy
Ndeur's site

There are so many more items on the market and below are some examples. Just click on each image to be taken to a place for more information and a link to purchase.

There are graffiti coloring books, how to books, typefaces or fonts, wall stickers, the Graffiti Creator, an online graffiti text generator, laptop skins, even Dell computer collaborated with artist Mike Ming to design 2 limited edition laptops.


See the Mike Ming edition Dell laptops here.

Dell is not the only large company to collaborate with street and graffiti artists to sell products. Adidas had a great project named End 2 End where they hired 7 street artists to decorate shoes.

See the End 2 End sneaks here.

Coming soon from Boost Mobile is a collaboration with artists MINT and SERF (from the East Coast) and MAINFRAME (from the West Coast) to produce the desktop speakers seen below.


You can pre-order the speakers here.

Beverage Company AriZona has release a graffiti-themed energy drink named All City NRG in appropriately graffiti-decorated cans:

Originating in Brooklyn, AriZona pays tribute to all cities with a colorful energy drink featured in 3 limited edition subway series cans. This bold NON-CARBONATED drink combines pomegranate flavor, green tea and a high energy performance blend. Buy it here.

Alison Nelson's Chocolate Bar of NY makes Graffiti chocolate bars, each decorated by a different graffiti artist with a portion of the proceeds benefiting The All Stars Project:


Also available in a gift box as a set of ten:

Buy the chocolate bars here.

Graffiti Taxonomy is an ongoing project by Evan Roth which presents isolated letters from various graffiti tags, reproduced in similar scales and at close proximity. The intent of these studies is to show the diversity of styles as expressed in a single character.



Above: The 'S' is reproduced from photographs of tags taken in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He is currently seeking any leads for funding or from publications that would allow me to complete each letter of the alphabet from tags found throughout New York City. Please send any leads to Evan at fi5e@ni9e.com.


You can buy prints of his Graffiti Taxonomy here.

My Lord! You can even buy a religious Graffiti sticker:

Get the Graffiti Jesus sticker or magnet here.

And yes, the trend has even hit the baby demographic.

 
Above: personalized baby sleepsuit from Stardust.
Above: graffiti rockin' blocks available on etsy

There are graffiti inspired blocks, custom personalized onesies and even custom graffiti hats and clothes for toddlers. Timberland even makes Nubuck graffiti boots for toddlers!

Buy them here (and they are on sale now).

And for your canine companions, you can get Graffiti collars and leads!:

Buy them here.

And jackets:

Buy them here.



Above: You can download a fun coloring book of unadorned graffiti settings (drawn as line art) of dumpsters, subway trains, mailboxes and more to practice your street art upon from Fake Corporation of America.



Above: bombings by Sweet Uno

A brief history of Graffiti:

In America around the late 1960s, graffiti was used as a form of expression by political activists, and also by gangs such as the Savage Skulls, La Familia, and Savage Nomads to mark territory. Towards the end of the 1960s, the signatures (called 'tags')of Philadelphia graffiti writers Top Cat, Cool Earl and Cornbread started to appear.

Around 1970-71, the center of graffiti innovation moved to New York City where writers following in the wake of TAKI 183 and Tracy 168 would add their street number to their nickname, "bomb" a train with their work, and let the subway take it—and their fame, if it was impressive, or simply pervasive, enough—"all city". Bubble lettering held sway initially among writers from the Bronx, though the elaborate Brooklyn style Tracy 168 dubbed "wildstyle" would come to define the art.[8][10] The early trendsetters were joined in the 70s by artists like Dondi, Futura 2000, Daze, Blade, Lee, Zephyr, Rammellzee, Crash, Kel, NOC 167 and Lady Pink.

By 1971 tags began to take on their signature calligraphic appearance because, due to the huge number of artists, each graffiti artist needed a way to distinguish themselves. Aside from the growing complexity and creativity, tags also began to grow in size and scale – for example, many artists had begun to increase letter size and line thickness, as well as outlining their tags. This gave birth to the so-called 'masterpiece' or 'piece' in 1972. Super Kool 223 is credited as being the first to do these pieces. (source: Wikipedia).

Links about graffiti:
Graffiti as defined by Wikipedia Tons of info, resources and links
History Of Graffiti (UCL, London's Global University)
Graffiti Art & Crime (UC Berkeley)
Time Magazines archive of Graffiti articles
The National Alliance Of Gang Investigator's Associations (how they define gang graffiti).
Graffiti News- a blog for graffiti writers
Fatcap - a worldwide graffiti blog
Graffiti Research Lab
Art Crimes: Best Graffiti Sites list
Graff Inc (Graffiti supplies, stores and pictures)
Tags Are Known (Giant archive of photos of graffiti and links)
Known Gallery
Arkitip
12oz prophet (online graffiti community)
Graff City (supplies)
Worldwide Writers Graffiti site (online community and more)


Above: "Cereal Killers' wall by Stet One.
Links To Some Interesting Street & Urban Artists' Sites:
Alexone
Boris Hoppek
Beautiful Decay
Sket One
Shepard Fairey's Obey Giant
Bansky
Faille
José Parla
Jersey Joe
Krink
Art Crimes' Featured Artists (graffiti.org)
The Savager
Pure Graffiti
Guerilla One
Stash's Recon store
Superfreshdesign
Siloette
Wooster Collective's Graffiti Archives
Zephyr Graffiti


Above: the Santa Ana Police Department uses the above poster to help parents to determine whether or not their child is a tagger. Hilarious.
TAGGER LANGUAGE: (as defined by NAGIA)

Battle: A contest between crews, judged on hits.
Bomb: Multicolored tag in large bubble letters.
Buff: To remove graffiti
Crew: Group of individuals that tag together.
Caps: (Fat/skinny) Spray can nozzles used to vary the style and width of paint.
Fade: To blend colors.
Fresh: Really good graffiti.
Get Up: To put up a large amount of graffiti tags.
Graf: Graffiti
Heavens: Hard to reach high areas such as freeway signs and the tops/upper floors of buildings.
Hit/Hit Up: To tag.
Landmarks: A prime location where graffiti won't quickly be erased.
Mob: A whole crew doing graffiti on a wall at the same time.
Piece Book: A tagger's sketch book.
Rack: To steal from off the store rack.
Streak: Short for mean streak, solid paint stick that looks like chalk and is used on dark surfaces.
Tag Banging: To use violence to defend a tag.
Toy: A new, inexperienced writer.
Throw Up: One layer of spray paint filling in bubble letters that are outlined in another color.
Wild style: A complicated piece constructed with interlocking letters.
Yard/Train Yard: Gathering place.
Zine: Short for magazines.

Wish you could be a tagger but you're too old? Too conservative? Too safe? Well, here are ways to get the thrill without the criminal record. See more graffiti inspired items you can buy on my Tag, you're it! Graffiti inspired items list at ThisNext.