Art A History of HAZE Collaborations

Tonight, Eric Haze opens ‘NEW ABSTRACTS AND ICONS’, a three week exhibition of new works
at the LEVEL 2 Gallery at 812 Broadway (@11th Street), in New York City. If you’re around, go check it out. A-Trak and Neil Armstrong will be spinning, and the work is guaranteed fresh.

HAZE’s ability to stay ahead and on top of the ever-changing mediums of artistic expression over the last 30 years has allowed the native New Yorker’s creative impact to reach far beyond the City subway yards and skate ramps of the ’70s. From his early work with Def Jam to starting his own clothing label, HAZE was a predecessor of streetwear, being “big in Japan”, and getting down with Stüssy. Through the years, big brands have gained plenty from a HAZE co-sign, but in return the big homie got exposure and renown. Hit the jump for a history of HAZE’s work in corporate culture, from early logotypes to decking out Nike Dunks and Lotuses…

Art 10 Graffiti Artists Who Could Have Saved Chris Brown’s Cover

The artwork for Chris Brown’s post-beatdown album Graffiti was released earlier this week (pictured above), and it looks like we might have spoken too soon with the Worst Album Covers Of The Year post we did a few months ago.

The cover is kinda reminiscent of something Prince might do, but since the album is entitled Graffiti, and it features Chris Breezy using an aerosol can, it might have behooved him to hire an actual graffiti writer to help illustrate his cover. In fact, big names from the graf world have been designing album art since the dawn of hip-hop. Check out 10 artists who could have helped Chris Brown’s Graffiti look less corny…

Style Daily Style & Design News: October 21, 2009

All City Writers, a comprehensive book on graffiti’s progression from NYC to various European cities in the ’80s, will be released next month. The hardbound includes 620 articles coevering the culture as well as over a thousand pictures. [Slamxhype]

Masa adds various colors and patterns to the once boring winter must-have, neck gators. Made of soft fleece, they come in cool drawstring pouches. [Rad Collector]

Apple’s new Magic Mouse has no visible buttons, but the Multi-Touch area handles everything from double-clicking to scrolling. [Marcus Troy]

So it is true, our favorite TV mom Marge Simpson has posed for the November issue of Playboy. Oh, bee-hive, Marge. [Freshness Mag]

Alife is relocating their warehouse, and they are having a clearance sale (50% to 80% off) starting this week to move some of their old inventory. [Streetlevel]

Art Jose Parla Opens ‘Adaptation/Translation’ Show

Photos by www.wallkandy.net

New York City may not look like the colorful graffiti version of the ’80s, but luckily we still have legends like EASE to remind us of the work that the old school put in. Despite being rasied in Miami, EASE a.k.a. José Parlá came up like most of today’s crossover stars from graf’s golden era (HAZE, REAS), bringing his signature overlapping calligraphy style from the streets to fine art galleries worldwide. Last week, he finally took his work overseas for his first London exhibit “Adaptation/Translation.”

On display through November 8 at Elms Lesters Painting Rooms, a British gallery known for featuring installations from KAWS, Futura, and STASH, “Adaptation/Translation” finds Parlá using ruined walls as his canvas. The gallery is also commemorating the occasion by publishing 1,000 copies of a book that features Parlá’s work. See more images from the exhibit below…

Art Cheers To Andy Uprock’s Cup Art

What do you get when you mix one artist, a fence, and thousands of cups? Some amazing shit, apparently. While walls are the standard medium for most street artists, Andy Uprock uses fences as his canvas, where he places a series of spray painted cups to create his geometric-shaped pieces. The result, a temporary graffiti project with the easiest cleanup possible'recycling.

Since pioneering the trend that he calls “cuprocking,” the Australian native is leaving his mark in cities from Barcelona to New York on a world tour that would make Banksy blush. Also, for the first time, Uprock’s work speaks to the blind through a special braile pattern he makes in some of his pieces. See more examples of cuprocking, and watch a video interview with Andy below.

Art Hunting Down Shanghai’s Graffiti Scene

In the West, we have a tendency to view China as a society so oppressive that no one would dare spray paint on a wall for fear of being shot dead in the streets by Communist authorities. But apparently, this isn’t quite true'judging from a series of photos recently taken by Juxtapoz on the streets of Shanghai, the country’s graffiti scene is alive and well.

The flicks were taken in the area surrounding Moganshan Road, which makes up the city’s art district. From quirky characters to politically conscious messages, it seems like they’re experimenting with a variety of different styles. Check out a few more flicks below.

Video Games WiiSpray Can Shakes Up Gamer Graffiti

From the quirky Dreamcast favorite Jet Grind Radio to Marc Ecko’s Getting Up, the ability to write graffiti seems to keep popping up in video games. Things could be getting a lot more precise with the invention of WiiSpray, a virtual aerosol paint can prototype that was developed by German student Martin Lihs for his final thesis at Bauhaus University.

According to an article in the May 08 issue of De:Bug Magazine, the can plugs into your Wii controller and simulates real life spraying with different caps and colors. With an internet connection, it may even give you the ability to collaborate on a piece with someone across the globe. No word yet on the commercial production, but these types of custom controller add-ons seem like they might be the future. Check out a few more pictures below.

Art Blu’s MUTO Puts Animation On The Wall

Italian artist Blu is already world-renowned for his massive wall murals, but now he’s finally brought them to life. For his new project MUTO, Blu made an increadibly ellaborate stop-motion animation video using only wall paintings in Buenos Aires and Baden. The result is a seven minute artistic epic where a surreal cast of characters move all around a series of walls, even interacting with objects on the ground. No description really does it justice, so watch it for your self below.

Art Graffiti Coloring Book Fills In Scandinavia

It already seems like the average graf writer gets started when they’re 11 years old, but the new Graffiti Coloring Book, edited by Swedish writer Uzi, could get 'em started even younger.

The collection features 63 black and white sketches from many of Scandanavia’s prominent writers, including Nug, Disey, Egs, Bates, Ador and Que. The idea here is to give folks a chance to practice their fill-in skills while getting educated on some of the big names from the region. The book will be out next week on May 20th, so if you can’t find it stateside, try The Last Gasp. See some sketches from the book after the jump.

Art Adidas Launches Anti-Graffiti ZeroTAG Campaign

As a creative way to promote adidas‘ new sneaker with graffiti writer Cope 2 in Australia, marketing firm Lifelounge has created a covert marketing campaign known as “Zero Tolerance Against Graffiti,” or “ZeroTAG” for short. The tongue-in-cheek anti-graffiti task force goes around putting tape and notices over adidas ads around Sydney and Melbourne, claiming that the graffiti-inspired sneaker appears on their “banned items” list (see shots of the covered ads here).

The fictional movement also features a fairly straight-faced website, where they outline their mission to prevent “all forms of graffiti” and to protect “the innocence of our communities.” After the break, watch a short documentary to see ZeroTAG in action.