Complex Blog » Street Art

Human Street Art Really Piles It On

jerwin — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:50:17 +0000

Every once in a while here at the Complex HQ, when running the media empire gets a little heated, we like to take a break and jump on each other to create human rock piles… Okay, we’ve never actually done that, but after checking out these body sculptures from Austria, we’ll think about it when we do our next Model Spectacular.

On the streets of Vienna, art director Willi Dorner and photographer Lisa Rastl stacked humans on top of each other to create some unusual body sculptures for two projects: “Hangende Garten” and “Bodies In Urban Spaces”. See a gallery of images from both, as well as a behind the scenes video, below.

[Willi Dorner via DesignBoom]

Mysterious Manhattan Artist Shames Litterbugs

jerwin — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:35:22 +0000

Trash on the streets of New York City? No, not since Giuliani, right?! Sorry Virginia, but even though there is a Santa Claus and a Disney Store in Times Square and you can now go to Alphabet City without getting jumped for your BK Knights, the Big Apple still has a pretty severe litter problem. But now it seems one anonymous street artist is doing something to bring Gothamites’ attention to it.

Yesterday, a series of seven display cases appeared near the Complex offices, attached by cables to trees on 23rd Street just west of 6th Avenue. Inside the cases are various pieces of NYC detritus: bottle caps, parking receipts, guitar picks, matchbooks, pigeon feathers, green Tic Tacs, pens, and the filters from Black N Milds, among other objects. At the bottom of each frame is the simple caption: “THE ITEMS DISPLAYED IN THIS BOX WERE COLLECTED FROM THE TREE WELL BELOW ON JULY 11TH AND 25TH, 2008.” And of course, this being New York, two of the cases had been ripped off by this afternoon. See close-up images of the five remaining cases below.

[Click on an image to view full size]

San Francisco Street Murals Are On A Mission

jerwin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:29:25 +0000

There are literally dozens of things that make San Francisco one of our favorite cities. Of course there’s the ill shopping spots and the world’s best burritos, but when it comes to cost effective (read: free) attractions, it gets no better than the Mission District’s murals.

For years the Mexican-turned-hipster neighborhood’s alleys have been home to some of the dopest street art in the world. The latest (above) was thrown up recently by Chor Boogie and Max Ehrman. Check out a gallery of some of the Mission’s other gems below.

[Juxtapoz]

The Street Signs Of Spring

bfred — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:48:54 +0000

Sure, the Spring season technically started on March 20th, but we still haven’t seen any flowers popping up. And with the arrival of Mark Jenkins‘ “Flower Signs,” who need 'em? These clever little traffic sign add-ons have recently started adding a light-hearted touch to the Washington, DC streets. Check out more signs after the jump.

[Wooster Collective]

Street Artist Brings Plastic Bags To Life

Joe — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:00:07 +0000

An NYC-based street artist is turning garbage into gold with these old discarded bags that transform into plastic animals with the thrust of a subway car passing. The guerrilla artist ties the bag to the subway ventilation grate and as subway lines pass through the animal begins to take shape. Check this dog come to life after the jump.

[Wooster Collective]

Street Artists for Obama

complex — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:30:13 +0000

Photo: Vitostreet

With a renegade reverend like Jeremiah Wright running his mouth and scaring away all the guilt-laden white people'which doesn’t help Barack Obama’s cause'it’s good to know that at least the streets have his back. We spotted this ‘Obama Street Art’ group on Flickr urging people to post stickers, stencils, and posters of the presidential hopeful. And although some people just lazily posted the Shepard Fairey posters that we don’t endorse, there was a lot of other unique designs and images promoting Obama. With the contemporary artists like the Date Farmers and The Mac backing him too, it looks like he’s got the creative community pretty much sewn up. Too bad none of them are superdelegates. On to Pennsylvania.