Urban Art: Surviving the White Wash

I realize it's been a while... but this weekend I had some great encounters with great urban art around Boston.  So... here are a few...

 

 

Urban Art: Surviving the Whitewash

And so the random encounters with the anonymous creatures continues.  Ahhh... beautiful.

Urban Art: Surviving the Whitewash

Boston is a hub of urban art.  No coincidence! It is a full-grown metropolis (the largest of New England), the college capital of the world, and a Fung Wah bus ride away from NYC... there is a constant influx of creativity.


I heard via word-of-mouth about the X-Men mural and, to my dismay, I found it already gone.  Given, many residents don't really appreciate any of the tagging, especially in areas like Back Bay and the South End. Understandable.  Yet, is it a sign of an ever-growing generational gap?  A matter of taste?


In honor of the now gone Sentinel, I've decided to pay tribute to the few surviving stencils and tags I found on my way there... Urban artists!!! Keep on 'rad-i-fying' the city... 

Shepard Fairey | "Supply and Demand"

                                                             
This time the ICA went all out: they legitimized urban art, rather disliked by many, by transferring it to their museum walls. Shepard Fairey's exhibition Supply and Demand was one of the more controversial ones this spring-fall, largely because Fairey was arrested at the doors of his very own opening show. Now, putting that minor, yet very important, detail to the side, the show well deserved to turn faces because of the artwork.

Supply and Demand was Fairey's first complete survey, covering work from his early skateboard designs to his latest murals. "Hope", the unofficial poster for the Democratic campaign, received the greatest attention from the public.  I find it amusing some have argued this iconic image was the reason for Obama's victory; I leave that up to you to decide...

                          

Unfortunately, the show was brought down mid-August and, of course, Fairey left with a bam. He closed the cycle with a great dancing party within ICA premises, giving the masses a little taste of his spinnin skills, along with Z-Trip and Chuck D.  You can still listen to Fairey spinnin, just make sure to check out the Phoenix's video covering Fairey's night of debauchery.

SHEPARD FAIREY

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