Graffiti/Street Art
Shepard Fairey is probably one of the most popular graphic designers in the world out there right now, with a pretty popular clothing line called "Obey" launched in the last few years and a worldwide following which is growing all the time. Fairey has been a prominent figure in street art since the late 80s and early 90s with his 'Obey' sticker and mass production of Andre The Giant being stuck all around the world and iconic within skate and counter-culture. He really took off in the wider public eye with his Obama poster - an iconic symbol of the Obama '08 presidential campaign and a piece of design/llustration I really admire. It's been copied and spoofed probably thousands of times. Although now he's not just regarded as a 'street artist', his work still remains closely related to street art, with his wide use of stencils, layers and often pasting up his work on walls as giant murals. As a lot of street art is. His works grown from straight up street art to a wider more graphic design led approach, but with the same street sensibilities from before.
“I think that initially, I wasn’t interested in the art world because it’s such a narrow conversation. It’s more the spillover to the rest of culture that I’ve been impressed by….On the street, it’s more likeBeavis and Butt-head. Either people like something or they don’t. It’s like, ‘Heh-heh, that’s cool,’ or ‘Heh-heh, that’s wack.’ It’s very democratic.”
"I've never had an original thought in my life...and there's tons of people on the internet happy to tell me just that."
“I think that initially, I wasn’t interested in the art world because it’s such a narrow conversation. It’s more the spillover to the rest of culture that I’ve been impressed by….On the street, it’s more likeBeavis and Butt-head. Either people like something or they don’t. It’s like, ‘Heh-heh, that’s cool,’ or ‘Heh-heh, that’s wack.’ It’s very democratic.”
"I've never had an original thought in my life...and there's tons of people on the internet happy to tell me just that."
123 Klan
http://www.123klan.com/
123 Klan was actually starting out as a graffiti crew back in 1989 by artists Scien and Klor. Recently though they've turned their hands to illustration and design. They've had many prominent clients such as Nike and Stussy. This is an example of street artists turning to more commercial and mass produced art.
"We are stupid like Ghandi, funny like Public Enemy, handsome like Stephen Hawking, clever like David Hasselhof, Hot like Jackie Stallone,
http://www.123klan.com/
123 Klan was actually starting out as a graffiti crew back in 1989 by artists Scien and Klor. Recently though they've turned their hands to illustration and design. They've had many prominent clients such as Nike and Stussy. This is an example of street artists turning to more commercial and mass produced art.
"We are stupid like Ghandi, funny like Public Enemy, handsome like Stephen Hawking, clever like David Hasselhof, Hot like Jackie Stallone,
dead like yoda, cooler than LL COOL J, smart like Sarah Palin, selfish like the Dalai Lama, lying like a marketing manager, skilled like Snooki,
dangerous like E.T. and least not last free like Arnold Shwarzenegger."
"Don't live your dream, dream your life!"
"We don't do marketing, we are free like the soup dragons, we don't care about your needs, we lie all the time, we are lazy, stubborn,
super confident, arrogant but unfortunately super talented, we'll tell you bullshit to make you feel confident, we'll maybe work for you
if you have enough money but drunk, we don't care about the opportunities you will give us to work for you even if you own a big brand
because you need our skills to look young and fresh.
So if we decide to work for you, you are the lucky bastard."
Banksy is probably the most famous street artist of the last 20 years, or, ever. I think recently he's started to delve more into a graphic design field with his work. Examples of this are his Kate Moss print, in the style of Andy Warhol and the Princess Diana notes he made and actually circulated. His work often has a social commentary and these examples are no different, different people take different concepts away from it but I often see themes of celebrity, pop culture and commercialisation in his work.
“A wall is a very big weapon. It's one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with.”
“I like to think I have the guts to stand up anonymously in a western democracy and call for things no-one else believes in - like peace and justice and freedom.”
“Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a fucking sharp knife to it.”
Nico 189
Nico is an italian graphic designer and graphic writer. Looking at his work it's quite clear to see the synthesis between graphic design and graffiti. With the lettering on publications, t-shirts, prints often in the style commonly associated with street art. He works quite frequently with typography. He seems to apply graphic design sensibilities to graffiti art, I think the pantone spray-cans are a good example of this with the use of CMYK associated with graphic design and design for print, and relating them to the common spray can which comes in an assortment of colours.
No comments:
Post a Comment