Hasta La Ideas

Images from Treehugger

Last week four new Banksy creations found at the Regent’s Canal lit up the blogosphere. One of the pieces (seen above) was of a man painting over graffiti. As Treehugger points out Banksy painted over a fellow artist’s work, a sprayer by the name of King Robbo. Robbo’s piece had been standing unharmed since 1985. In response King Robbo covered up Banksy’s work with 3 foot high silver letters spelling his name.

Original King Robbo piece:

Banksy cover-up:

King Robbo strikes back:

From Timesonline:
According to graffiti folklore this spat is not the first disagreement between Banksy and King Robbo. The 1980s pioneering vandal recounted a story in London Handstyles, a book on graffiti published in 2009, in which he claimed to have confronted the now-famous artist.

“I was out one night with a load of old writers and got introduced to Banksy,” King Robbo said. “He asked what I wrote and I told him, he cockily replied ”never heard of you” so I slapped him and said, ”You may not of heard of me but you will never forget me.’”

Dig this Van Gogh mural by artist David Heatwole that uses plastic jar lids to compose this 8 foot by 15 foot interpretation. For more on the mural and the process behind the development of it go here.

If you like this you might like these:
Why Graffiti is a Good Thing
A Living Portrait
Yarn Bombing
Mural Capital of the World
Recycling, Philly Style

Volkswagen converted a set of stairs at the Odenplan subway station in Stockholm into a functioning set of piano keys in an effort to get people to take the stairs.

This promotion is just one stunt that appears on the carmaker’s “Theory of Fun” website, which showcases efforts to get people to change by simply making things more fun.

At the end of the day their installation persuaded 66% more people to take the stairs versus the escalator.

Thanks Chris for the heads-up.

Banksy the UK-based graffiti artist sits down (face to face)? with LA-based graffiti artist Shepard Fairey and shares a few words on his art, his anonymity and much more. We’ve included an excerpt from the interview published by Swindle Magazine.

How long are you going to remain anonymous, working through the medium itself and through your agent as a voice for you?

B: I have no interest in ever coming out. I figure there are enough self-opinionated assholes trying to get their ugly little faces in front of you as it is. You ask a lot of kids today what they want to be when they grow up, and they say, “I want to be famous.” You ask them for what reason and they don’t know or care. I think Andy Warhol got it wrong: in the future, so many people are going to become famous that one day everybody will end up being anonymous for 15 minutes….

Go here to read the full interview.

The people over at Halogenlife introduced us to a provocative interview they conducted with Oakland-based artist Favianna Rodriguez. She is the co-founder of East Side Arts Alliance, which has grown into an artistic sanctuary for the local community. In the piece Rodriguez explains “Why Graffiti is a Good Thing”

We’ve included an excerpt from the interview below. To read it in full go here.

Art is a tool with which to organize and inspire. I think we really have to do this, especially as a woman artist and as a woman of color. The stories we experience are universal. Things are happening all over the world. We ghettoize and see them as happening only to us. But in reality that’s our being resilient and determined and surviving within negative experiences. It’s a celebration of humanity. What happens in Oakland is happening in many cities around the world. We can inspire people.