Rocketship of love

The flowers are beginning to bloom, grass is greening, and celestial love is in the air and on the streets. Photo courtesy of Olive, our bicycle-bound, street art hunting gal about town.

Spring drip

Spring, slowly--cannot come fast enough.

Finally got out on a photo walk/art hunt last weekend. More to come. This painting/mural is a permanent feature on the bike path near the Atwood neighborhood's community gardens.

Northside graffiti crackdown

Looks like the MPD is "cracking down" on graffiti in the city, especially on the north side. They've gone so far as to release a summary police report on 8 recent arrests.

The report also trumpets "Graffiti is a 'quality of life' crime the MPD will continue to focus on. It is hoped these arrests will serve as a deterrent to others."

Read the full report here.

Thing is, I'm actually against the stupid, scrawled tagging style of graffiti (the stuff that any joker with a paint pen or permanent marker could make). My take is that they're pointless, obnoxious, ugly, and give a bad name to the kind of street art we should be encouraging--ie: the kind of stuff I try to post here.

If we want to make real progress in convincing the crotchety official types to allow for more public art space, one of the things we have to do is make some effort to cut down on tagging that actually damages property. There are a lot of negative, misinformed attitudes to overcome, and we need all the high ground possible to do that.

At least, I think so. Feel free to argue a different point. And be sure to stay alert while you're out there, kids. The MPD is on the we've-totally-got-our-priorities-in-the-right-place prowl.


(photo by Sean Future on Flickr)

Here's lookin' at you

Even in the midst of so much snow and ice, street art connoisseurs are out looking for new work to admire. Tipster A. sent in this shot of a stencil found at North Webster and E. Dayton. He was also kind enough to send along word of several other art sightings, and I'm hoping to hit the pavement soon to search out some of them on my own.

Stop showing us up, Chi-town

While areas just north of Madison are currently getting hammered by a snowstorm, those of us in the city are sitting through a very early thunderstorm. It's a little eerie, because it seems premature and could easily turn into crazy bad ice later on - but it also gets me to thinking about spring.

You see, I'm going a little bit stir crazy, wanting to get out into the world for some serious biking and general wandering. It's a good way to find hidden street art gems, and Madison is usually pretty rife with artsy stuff during the warmer months.

Winter can be somewhat barren, though. And that's why I'm a little jealous of Chicago right now, as they keep having cool (indoor) street art related events.

The flier you see up there is for something called "Artist in the Window" and is coming up this Saturday. If you're in the neighborhood, you should definitely stop by to check it out. Seems like a fairly straight-forward instance of "true" street art.

Tipster Q had this to say about it: "'Artist in the Window' is truly street art, involving not just display but also creation of art on the street. Furthermore, it's street art beyond the reach of various 'authorities,' like politicians and cops, who self-righteously disdain and seek to destroy street art."

Right on right on.

Shepard Fairey arrested for old art

This isn't directly related to Madison, but I find it interesting and relevant to what this blog is all about: Shepard Fairey was arrested in Boston while on the way to his art opening, based on warrants issued for old street art he'd allegedly put up.

Fairey is the artist behind the blue and red Obama "Hope" poster, among other things. He's also currently dealing with the AP's (pretty ridiculous, IMHO) suit against him for alleged copyright infringement. He based aforementioned poster off an AP photo, but as far as I can tell, this is pretty clearly an instance of fair use, not infringement.

It ain't easy being an artist.

What do you think? Is this a case of someone being targeting simply for becoming a more prominent figure, or do these people have legitimate greviences against him?

We live here

Even under all of the snow and ice, a little insectile color shines through. Now that the days are slowly getting longer, too, I may have more time to wander the side streets with my camera, looking for hidden art. Well then, happy Imbolc!

And thanks to tipster A.S. for taking the photo and sending it in.