"The Hollow Earth" – Thom Yorke x Banksy

OBEY X DILLA

Obey’s Shepard Fairey, with B+, has created a print of J. Dilla based on B+’s 2003 Jaylib photograph. The 400 prints (18 in x 24 in) will release at obeygiant.com on February 20th for $55 USD. 50 prints will be sold at the Timeless event “Suite for Ma Dukes” on Sunday Feb. 22.

SHEPARD FAIREY:
“J Dilla was a great music producer who died of lupus. Now his mom has lupus and needs help with her medical bills. This collaborative poster with B+ will benefit Dilla’s mom ‘Ma Dukes.’ There is a benefit concert as well. Info below. Please support ‘Ma Dukes.’”

B+:
The photo used in the making of this poster was made in 2003 in Detroit at Dilla’s home/studio. I had been commissioned by Stones Throw to photograph him for the Jaylib record. Eric Coleman and myself were chuffed to tell him about how much love there was for him in the city of Angels. We had met Dilla several times before and he always had the same humble slightly withdrawn demeanor. He wasn’t entirely happy to have his photograph taken but it was understandable as the illness was beginning to wreak havoc on his body. Dilla meant so much to anyone who watched hiphop slowly decline as the 90s wore on. He stood for soul and jazz and musicianship in the music. His beats saved many lives, inspired many and he carried a heavy weight into the early millennium. He continued to elevate the music when many fell to the demands of a mainstream only interested in excess, hyper-commodification and violence.

All through his illness Dilla leaned heavily on his mother Maureen Yancey (fondly known to him as Ma Dukes). She was his 24-hour nurse, she patiently sat as he programmed beats. She even pushed his wheelchair on a European tour at the end of 05. Her complete commitment to him was inspiring. She too suffers from Lupus, the illness that took him. Early in 09 we received word that Ma Dukes illness had gotten worse. She was struggling away in Detroit and had hit some financial difficulties. I reached out to Shep through Ernesto to see if he would be interested in doing something for her. As always Shepherd got on it with the quickness. The proceeds from this sale will go to her. What you see here is a unique and great collaboration for someone who has brought much joy and love into many lives. Long live Dilla. Ma Dukes we love you.

KAWS on CBS

 

“I just started simply through graffiti and drawing on my skateboard and painting on walls and getting that small recognition,” - KAWS

MTA Crew arrested

  

LA TIMES

By Richard Winton
January 29, 2009

In the macho, braggart, narcissistic world of Los Angeles tagging, no one can match the Metro Transit Assassins crew.

Authorities said the group is responsible for some of the city’s most notorious acts of vandalism, most notably L.A.’s largest tag: the giant, half-mile-long “MTA” scrawl that appeared last year along the concrete banks of the Los Angeles River near downtown.

But on Wednesday, authorities said they finally had arrested the MTA crew, including “Smear,” a well-known “graffiti artist” whose work has been sold in some downtown L.A. art galleries.

These are not kids from the streets.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said one of the suspects drives a $60,000 BMW while another wore a diamond-and-ruby-encrusted Metro logo pendant valued at $27,000.

“These individuals are responsible for tags not only in Los Angeles, but Las Vegas and San Francisco,” said sheriff’s Cmdr. Dan Finkelstein, chief of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police.

Authorities have long been frustrated by MTA, which they said is responsible for thousands of tags on businesses and public spaces, as well as transit buses and trains, which has been the taggers’ particular target.

The crew allegedly also defaced freeway overpasses and signs as motorists whizzed by below them.

During raids Wednesday morning, Finkelstein said, investigators found customized, high-pressure fire extinguishers that, when filled with paint, allow taggers to shoot paint on the underside of a freeway overpass and produce tags.

But officials said the taggers outdid themselves when they hit the concrete banks of the Los Angeles River in downtown’s industrial district.

Authorities estimate that it took about 400 gallons of paint — 300 gallons of white and 100 gallons of black — to create three block letters that cover a three-story-high wall and run the length of several blocks between the 4th Street and 1st Street bridges.

The tag has been an eyesore visible from downtown high-rises and freeways for months. But removing it is proving difficult — and costly.

The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that removing the MTA tag from the river alone will cost $3.7 million because hazardous materials crews must create an elaborate dam to capture all the paint and runoff water so it doesn’t get into the riverbed.

On Wednesday, deputies arrested Smear, whose real name is Cristian Gheorghiu, 32, at his home in the east Hollywood area, said sheriff’s Sgt. Augie Pando.

Authorities also arrested Shaun Alexander, 27; Sergio Ayala, 25; Eduin Miramontes, 23; Nicholas Rem, 28; Juan Rocha, 22; and Ryan Swenson, 27, at their homes in the Los Angeles area.

Roger Gastman, author of several graffiti books who is working on a history of graffiti, said MTA — also known as Melting Toys Away and Must Take All — has been generating buzz in the graffiti art world for several years.

Smear in particular was able to sell “street art” to collectors.

“There is so much demand for street art right now,” Gastman said.

He said the L.A. River tag is the taggers’ calling card.

“It is definitely a statement,” Gastman said. “To do something that big and bold it takes organization. . . . They were working on a slant and they got all the proportions right.”

Dripping with KRink

Craig “KR” Costello, an independent artist/entrepreneur from Queens NY, earned a reputation in the 90’s for writing graffiti in his signature drippy silver ink nicknamed “Krink.” Never imagining an illegal form of self-expression could become a profitable business, Costello’s homemade “Krink” has since become a cultural phenomenon and Costello’s primary source of income. This pod by vc2 producer Dan Bruun and Jason Schneider will expore the appropriation of KR’s style and ink by the art world.

view: http://current.com/items/89633870/dripping_with_krink.htm