Cool Hunting
In the past few weeks many graffiti based topics have popped into my life, so I thought that I would let you know about them.
Four hands, one heart and one brain:
Hailing from San Paulo, identical twins and graffiti artists, Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo are called Os Gemeos (pronounced "ose zhe'-mee-ose" -- the twins in Portuguese). Using a kind of twin mental telepathy and a need to express themselves, Os Gemeos create amazing art filled with folkloric figures. Most of their work can be seen on the streets of San Paulo. Luckily for us Os Gemeos are having their first solo show in the NYC, Cavaleiro Marginal at Deitch Projects (76 Grand Street) through April 2nd. You won’t believe that the majority of the painting is done with spray paint – the lines are so fine.
Writer’s choice:
Montana Colors, otherwise known as MTNMTN, caters to the graffiti community with their large color palette -- 174 colors! Kapi and Mookie, two writers from Barcelona couldn’t find the colors that they wanted. So they approached Jordi, who was working at a paint company at that time and together they started Montana. The paint comes in two sizes: alien a smaller, low-pressure can which is used for details and the larger can, hardcore which offers more coverage.
The graffiti site:
12ozProphet started out in 1993 as a self-published zine, reflecting who and where the publishers were at the time. In 1996 12ozprophet went digital and has become the main stay for the international graffiti community. Its “forums” bring graffiti writers from all over the world together. People discuss styles, tags, paints and whatever else. The rule is that you aren’t supposed to self-promote. If you are lucky other people post flicks of fresh work and then, your peeps give props. If your work is good, it may end up on the site.
The writer’s book:
Although it came out last year, Peter Sutherland’s book, Autograf is still a who’s who’s of the NYC graffiti scene. A pictorial essay, it puts the face, or at least to part of a face to the tag. Sutherland took photos of each of the artists in the book and then had them tag their photo, giving their seal of approval.
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The new project from Roger Gastman, Caleb Neelon and Anthony Smyrski, Street World: Urban Art and Culture from Five Continents, clocks in at nearly 400 pages of full-color images of all the street culture we knew we loved (graffiti, fashion, skateboarding, and so on) with plenty of more esoteric global happenings. Think pigeon keeping, protests, activism, drum lines, urban exploration, signage and plenty of...
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In the past year, it has been almost impossible to pick up a magazine without reading about Brazilian graffiti superstars Os Gemeos (Portuguese for 'the twins'). “Graffiti Brasil,” a wide survey of Brazilian graffiti, introduces some of Os Gemeos’ São Paulo crew: Nina, Nunca, Ise, and Koyo, as well as lots of other interesting writers from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Olinda, Belo...
The-Glade....
Banksy, one of the world's most aggressive and imaginative street (and museum, and livstock) artists, released a new book last month. It's called Cut It Out, and is available from picturesonwalls.com....
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