the best alley in Wicker Park vol. VIII

It's time once again to witness the carnage wrought by repeated bombing runs down the best alley in Wicker Park.  Scope out our flickr set to view for yourself what has changed since we last posted pics of the alley back in October.

MARKS & STENCILS Private View

For those who were unable to attend, Butterfly has posted a wonderful video of the opening of the Pictures On Walls pop up show 'Marks & Stencils' in London.  For those who were there, try to spot yourself in the queue...

Rogue Santa: Fugscreens winter art show

We are pleased to be co-sponsoring the winter art show at Fugscreens Studios on Friday, December 3rd.  There will be prints, beverages, gift bags, music from Ornery Little Darlings, an appearance by Santa, and general yuletide merriment for all who attend. We'll see you at Fugscreens Studios (1735 N. Ashland Ave) starting at 7pm for this one-night-only event.

"You and your friends are all invited to come and show your support for the most wonderful time of the year along with our best group yet of Chicago-based screen printers! In keeping with the bustling holiday spirit, the shop will be filled with fun sights and activities. We'll have live, personal button-making, raffles, a mystery poster bin, newly designed t-shirts, and a goodie bag for all!  With a myriad of things to do and fantastic work to look at, you definitely don't want to miss this!"

new print from Banksy

It's official: a new Banksy print is going to drop in December.  A test print (or unique variant) of the image is hanging on the wall at the Pictures On Walls pop up show 'Marks and Stencils' in London, and the print appears in the new POW Winter Catalog and on their website.  There is no confirmation yet as to whether the release will be handled by a lottery (like the release for 'donuts') or some combination of in-store and online mayhem (like 'No Ball Games').  Time to practice masking your disappointment as your chances of actually nabbing this print are nearly non existant.

Keep an eye on the POW website for details of all the new print releases that are happening in conjunction with 'Marks and Stencils'.

FAILE & BAST together again in the street

(photo via  plaztikmag)

Last weekend BAST and FAILE got together to do an outdoor piece for the Factory Fresh All City Street Art Block Party in Brooklyn.  Reminiscent of the FAILE wall that used to exist across the street from the FAILE studio, the work immediately caught the attention of street art fans and practitioners alike.  Jaime Rojo from Brooklyn Street Art caught the amazing scene below: that's Futura sitting on the top of his car to get a shot of the finished gate.

photo © Jaime Rojo (via Brooklyn Street Art)

PLAZTIKMAG and BROOKLYN STREET ART were both present for the evening's activities and each has posted amazing behind the scenes pics of the the entire happening on their blog.  Thanks for sharing!

is this the face of Banksy...again?

Keiran Argo is the Animation Programme manager for the nearly unknown British cinematic celebration called 'The Encounters International Film Festival'. Normally we wouldn't pay any mind to the Bristol based fest, but this year Ms. Argo promised the addition of something compelling to the program: footage of Banksy painting a street piece.

According to Argo:
What Banksy didn't bargain for when recently stencilling the back wall of Aardman's new building was the discrete CCTV system they had installed allowing us, for the first time, to put a face to the name.  All will be revealed in the programme...


Well, as it turns out all that was revealed was that Argo is full of shit.  Evidently she claims she got confused and the piece of footage in question is actually animated.  Its easy to understand how one can confuse reality with an animated short film.  In college we once made the same mistake with an episode of Ren and Stimpy.

Thanks to ukstreetart for keeping on top of this.

Barry McGee retrospective

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has recently awarded a $100,000 grant for a Barry McGee retrospective exhibition.  The yet unnamed retrospective will take place in 2012 through The University of California's Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.  

See you later giant eyeball...

Tony Tassett's massive outdoor sculpture installation 'Eye and Cardinals' has finally come down.  Despite the project's official ending in October, the giant eyeball was allowed to remain in it's summer home in Pritzker Park for an additional month.  As much as we enjoyed the sculpture in situ, we were equally enamored by the surreal tableaux created by it's pieces secured on trailers and trucks driving up State Street.

Art In The Streets

Jeffrey Deitch's massive street art extravaganza at the Los Angeles Museum of Art is getting closer, and details are starting to come out.  We recently found out that there is going to be a companion book 'Art In The Streets' that will be published by Rizzoli in conjunction with the show.  We're loving the Twist mural on the book's cover.


This landmark exhibition traces the birth and dissemination of styles through "writers" and street artists around the world—including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Blu, Martha Cooper, Shepard Fairey, Stelios Faitakis, Futura, Phil Frost, Os Gemeos, Keith Haring, Todd James (REAS), Margaret Kilgallen, Lady Pink, Barry McGee (Twist), Steve Powers (ESPO), Lee Quinones, Retna, Kenny Scharf, Swoon, and Ed Templeton, among many others—focusing on New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, as well as international locations. Highlighting the connection between graffiti and street art and other vibrant subcultures, such as those that developed around Hip Hop in the Bronx and skateboarding in Southern California, Art in the Streets explores parallel movements in dance and music. A selection of new works created for the show is presented alongside the historical survey of approximately 30 of the most important artists seminal to the genre.   (via Rizzoli)


The book will be published on April 12, 2011 and is available for pre-order through Rizzoli.

FAILE's Bedtime Stories

The new FAILE show officially debuts tomorrow night at Perry Rubenstein Gallery in New York.  The Faile boys have set up a sneak peek of the work (which includes the sublime fashion chimps pictured above). In addition new FAILE stencil pieces have popped up on the street in Brooklyn (thanks to Sabeth for photographing the pieces).

'Bedtime Stories' opens tomorrow night at Perry Rubenstein Gallery and runs until December 23, 2010.

Die Antwoord video included in exhibit at the Guggenheim

Evidently the Guggenheim Museum rocks far harder than we ever suspected.  Die Antwoord's video 'Zef Side' was chosen to be included in the museum's show 'You Tube Play'.  Part interview, part performance and completely off the chain, the two and a half minute long viral video was last year's introduction to the strange and compelling world of the South African rap group Die Antwoord.  The video is one of 25 that were chosen by a jury whose members included Animal Collective and were presented at the Guggenheim Museums in New York, Bilbao, Venice and Berlin from October 22-24.

The show has come and gone, but you can still see the all the finalist's videos on the Guggenheim's website.