5bis rue du Verneuil is the home of Serge Gainsbourg in Paris. This short film peels off the layers of graffiti left on the wall there.
posted by creeky on Nov 22, 2009 - 12 comments

"The EyeWriter project is an ongoing collaborative research effort to empower people, who are suffering from ALS, with creative technologies." [more inside]
posted by brundlefly on Nov 13, 2009 - 5 comments

COMBO - a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis. Made at Fame Festival 2009.
posted by Matthias Rascher on Sep 24, 2009 - 3 comments

Animals isolated in dystopian tableaux.
posted by tellurian on Aug 17, 2009 - 23 comments

Noted street artist Shepard Fairey wants his "brick unadorned". When a local blogger posts about Fairey's building being sandblasted, and covered with an anti-graffiti coating, Fairey responds.
posted by lilnemo on Aug 14, 2009 - 53 comments

...a very long time ago, a calendar came into my possession, a kitten calendar. It was placed on my wall as it was so offensively sickly I found it funny. But then, the graffiti started. And one by one the kittens had things added... creating... kitti graffiti!
posted by martinX's bellbottoms on Jul 31, 2009 - 27 comments

Sometimes, bathroom graffiti can make you do more than grin/grimace. A short round-up of some of the more moving and/or thought-provoking bits of bathroom graffiti out there.
posted by jasonsmall on Jul 30, 2009 - 89 comments

"This is the first show I've ever done where taxpayers' money is being used to hang my pictures up rather than scrape them off."
posted by shoesfullofdust on Jun 12, 2009 - 49 comments

On April 25th, 2009, over 50 artists and 26 whitewashers spread out over lower Manhattan as part Jordan Seiler's "New York Street Advertising Takeover". Over 120 illegal billboards were whitewashed, then turned into "personal pieces of art." One person was arrested. More pictures. via
posted by logicpunk on May 4, 2009 - 15 comments

We Don't Want Ads, We Want Art!
posted by BuddhaInABucket on Apr 27, 2009 - 49 comments

Graffiti Project in Kenya Slums — more than a year after he took the original pictures, French photo artist JR has returned to Kibera, Kenya. He was reunited with the women who had accepted to be part of his WOMEN project at the end of 2007 (previously). 2000 square meters of Kibera slum rooftops have been covered with photos of their eyes and faces. Most of the women will have their own photos on their own rooftop and the material used is water resistant so that the photo itself will protect the fragile houses in the heavy rain season. They are on view from the railway line that passes above them, and will be visible for Google Earth. (via Africa.Visual_Media)
posted by netbros on Apr 8, 2009 - 11 comments

For €30, a Palestinian artist will tag the West Bank wall for you.
posted by Fiasco da Gama on Feb 25, 2009 - 36 comments

Meet the new star of street art - 10yr old Solveig. She's painted the Berlin Wall, designed tattoos, and even has her own little female possee, the All Girl Crew.
posted by mippy on Feb 24, 2009 - 39 comments

[NSFW] The Bathroom Graffiti Project | The Writing's on the Stall [previously] | The Writing is on the Wall | And the Words of the Prophets Were Written on the Bathroom Stalls | It's All in the Head | Microsoft Bathroom Graffiti | Documentary: In Search of Bathroom Graffiti | The Flickr Bathroom Graffiti Pool
posted by not_on_display on Nov 9, 2008 - 14 comments

The Art of Politics. The 2008 election, regardless of the winner, has created opportunities for so many new stakeholders to take part in our national dialogue and be heard be seen. With only weeks left, let us pause to gaze upon the mainstream embrace of political street art. At least we have Bush to thank for something.
posted by MiltonRandKalman on Oct 17, 2008 - 8 comments

Three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the gulf, London street artist Banksy travels to New Orleans to put up some commemorative pieces, saying the city's levee wall offered "the best painting surface in the state of Louisiana." Some of the pieces are statements on the clean up effort, and some are protests against Fred Radtke, New Orleans' Grey Ghost, who has been described as a street artist and an anti-street art crusader.

Like him or hate him, expect more of the same from Bansky: propaganda, magical realism, cartoon rats, a lot of technical finesse and a complete lack of subtlety. See the pictures on his site with irreverent/poignant commentary and then go to the flickr pool to see it from a few local perspectives.
posted by elr on Aug 31, 2008 - 74 comments

10 Amazing Light Graffiti Artists and Photographers: From Light Writing to Extreme Exposures. [Possibly NSFW]
posted by homunculus on Jul 15, 2008 - 15 comments

English newspaper Mail on Sunday claims to have uncovered the identity of artist Banksy claiming his name is Robin Gunningham: "People who know Gunningham are now unable to say what has become of him. His father Peter, who lives in Kingsdown, Bristol, denied that the man in the photograph was his son, and his mother Pamela was surprised by the picture, then denied she even had a son, let alone one called Robin." More information in a report from CBC. If you don't know who Banksy is visit a Flickr pool with over 7000 pictures of his work in situ or check out previous MetaFilter posts about Banksy.
posted by Kattullus on Jul 13, 2008 - 60 comments

Montreal Graffiti/Street artist Roadsworth, who was arrested in 2005 and faced up to 250 000$ in fines, is back on the streets, this time with a permit and a commission. Interestingly, the title of the new piece (which stretches across multiple intersections on downtown Sainte-Catherine street) is "Défense d'Afficher", which means "No Postering". It seems as though he's commenting on the role of art and advertisement in public space, but maybe that's just my take. Thoughts? For a more in-depth discussion, read the Torontoist's article on graffiti), and for more examples, check out Vandalist, the same blog's photostream of T.O. street art, Streetsy, a great photoblog showing off various street art from around the world, and, of course, Flickr's STREETART pool.
posted by rssaddict on Jul 3, 2008 - 20 comments

... I served my time I can speak on it. Fuck this War. American soldiers' latrine graffiti in Kuwait and Afghanistan. A photo essay. [Note: most text and one drawing NSFW]
posted by amyms on Apr 15, 2008 - 30 comments

Tony Silver, the director of the groundbreaking hip-hop documentary Style Wars passed last night. He was a family friend of mine, and had been sick for several years with a irreversible brain condition. Style Wars is considered by some to be the best hip-hop film ever made, and by everyone to be the first. It was shot at the very start of the 1980s, when graffiti was still hip-hop's dominant form, and the idea of graffiti as art was brand new. I recommend checking out the deluxe DVD edition of the film Tony put together a few years ago after many years where it was only available as an expensive educational-only VHS, but you can also check out the 1hr 10m version on Google Video.
posted by YoungAmerican on Feb 2, 2008 - 15 comments

FillCell is a sort of graffiti wall of mini-posters drawn with very simple tools (to impressive effect, in some cases). Flash - drag the background to see more of the wall.
posted by Wolfdog on Jan 4, 2008 - 1 comment

In his own words (YouTube). In the 1980s and 90s, Washington, DC had a mayor-for-life who liked to smoke crack, a murder problem so bad that even the basketball team was renamed, and one exceptionally prolific graffiti writer named 'Cool "Disco" Dan', whose simple graffito with quotes appeared everywhere in the DC area. Now, most of his "work" has been painted over, torn down, or ripped off. Some locals wonder... which one will be the last tag standing?
posted by toxic on Nov 5, 2007 - 15 comments

Reverse Graffiti. Alexandre Orion makes it for a cause and sometimes gets caught [YouTube]. "Moose" of Symbollix makes it for fun and profit. [more inside]
posted by brain_drain on Oct 17, 2007 - 11 comments

If these walls could speak
posted by rottytooth on Sep 25, 2007 - 16 comments

Sewer openings turned into street art by São Paolo duo 6emeia. [via FunForever]
posted by mediareport on Sep 18, 2007 - 17 comments

Light Graffiti. Wacky Japanese kids use glow sticks and time lapse to make a pretty sweet (embedded) video.
posted by Ufez Jones on Aug 10, 2007 - 20 comments

The Splasher: Caught? (bugmenot) The Splasher(s?) has defaced graffiti in NYC for the last seven months, focussing on graffiti artists who have found commercial success often posting pieces of a growing Manifesto. The Manifesto calls for a new radicalism in graffiti and art in general, apparently inspired by Jeanette Winterson, Guy Debord, and Sixties anarchists. Is Cooper the Splasher? Now that he's caught, is this the end, or is there more yet to come?
posted by rottytooth on Jun 29, 2007 - 30 comments

'Graffiti' even a grandma could love. (flickr flash slide show link). (Same flickr set, regular view.) Even if it isn't Pablo Picasso, my own flashlight 'drawings' never came out this well.
posted by From Bklyn on Jun 28, 2007 - 25 comments

Iran Graffiti and Urban Art Report
posted by carsonb on Jun 15, 2007 - 9 comments

Decorate a bus with paint, stencils, and other graffiti. (Click the big red button, and then the paint bucket to get started. You'll figure out the drawing controls. Click the "All-around view" icon in the upper right to return from drawing and OK! to save it, if you like - give it a name, and you'll get a linkable URL.) Here's a gallery of designs.
posted by Wolfdog on Jun 14, 2007 - 7 comments

Beneath the Neon is a book-length account of author Matt O'Brien's exploration of most of the 400+ miles of flood-control tunnels underneath the glitzy lights of Las Vegas. This excerpt contains an interview with one of the hundreds of people who manage to live in these tunnels, despite the lethal floodwaters that sometimes wash through. Here's another excerpt, and there's also a Flickr gallery of images from the book's photographer, including graffiti galleries, enterprising inhabitants, and rarely seen perspectives of the Strip.
posted by crazymonk on Jun 2, 2007 - 10 comments

Total Grafitti Awareness
posted by geos on May 30, 2007 - 53 comments

Pinning down the elusive Banksy. "The art world is the biggest joke going," he has said. "It’s a rest home for the overprivileged, the pretentious, and the weak." Yet the stencilist/graffiti writer's pieces regularly sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds at places like Sotheby's--not bad for a man who still remains cloaked in complete anonymity. The New Yorker gets a rare e-mail interview. [Previously: 1, 2, 3]
posted by dead_ on May 15, 2007 - 33 comments

Graffiti en route: Evolution in graffiti form. Animated graffiti at Etterbeek train station by Bonom & Lork.
posted by nickyskye on May 14, 2007 - 16 comments

Projection Bombing, via Code & Form. Outdoor digital projection in urban environments is a method for getting your content up big before the eyes and in the minds of your fellow city inhabitants.
posted by signal on Apr 12, 2007 - 11 comments

Graffiti murals seen in the Ukraine.
posted by Burhanistan on Mar 27, 2007 - 11 comments

Fuck SCRaps, RON N CANDY, BIG Baby Jesus, Rivise Your ideas, WE'RE ALWAYS WILLING TO GIVE SOMEBODY A CHANCE BUT, FUCK THE NEDS, SOCIALISM IN OUR LIFETIME, READ THE TESTOSTERONE FILES, I love my Mom, PASTRAMI DOT.COMMI, You too deserve HAPPINESS!, ZAPPA WAS OUR Beethoven, Aug 2, 1943, Paul is a weasal, LED ZEPPELIN RULES, FUCK YUO...
posted by serazin on Mar 27, 2007 - 24 comments

Language in Common thinks about quitting_[pdf]. Or starting a new job at your old job_[pdf]. Or becoming a better lover_[pdf]. At work. And they notice that others are thinking too.
posted by mendel on Mar 14, 2007 - 2 comments

Japanese packaging design: snack characters. From the awesome Pingmag (previously 1, 2, 3). Via AT Chicago. Also recently in Pingmag: First Generation Graffiti in Iran.
posted by jokeefe on Feb 12, 2007 - 9 comments

Light Criticism is the newest project by Graffiti Research Lab and the Anti-Advertising Agency.
posted by fandango_matt on Jan 25, 2007 - 23 comments

(flickr slideshow), subject of a documentary by Chris Marker. Enigmatic expression of Paris youth. Symbol of..? Les chats with copyright symbols have meaning for me. Flickr pool here.
posted by CCBC on Dec 26, 2006 - 7 comments

Albert Reyes is an artist who saw a chicken in spilled water. He told the New York Times Magazine, "I could do that." The result? Spit art.
posted by landedjentry on Dec 17, 2006 - 21 comments

Barcelona Street Art. Most places consider graffiti a form of vandalism, but in Barcelona, street art is embraced. The result is a city with public walls like giant canvases of modern art.
posted by Gamblor on Dec 4, 2006 - 9 comments

Graffiti on Girls (NSFW)
posted by srboisvert on Sep 19, 2006 - 116 comments

Radiating Places. Twenty years after the Chernobyl disaster, seven artists from Moscow, Minsk, and Berlin travelled to the desolate, restricted area to commemorate the catastrophe.
posted by Gamblor on May 22, 2006 - 17 comments

In May 1968 a general strike broke out across France. The strike started at the University of Nanterre and spread to the streets as 80,000 students, teachers and workers demanded the fall of Charles de Gaulle's government, and they were joined by many other people protesting the brutality of the police. Timeline. Reports shown in cinemas. An eyewitness account from Solidarity. This revolt also gave rise to some amazing posters, printed by the 'Popular Workshop' at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Also of note was the graffiti sprayed about the city, many taken from Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle and the Situationalist International. 1968, it seems, was an interesting time to be around. Boredom is counterrevolutionary.
posted by Zack_Replica on May 3, 2006 - 17 comments

Graffiti by Nobumasa Takahashi. Some shots of him working.{teefed from artdorks}
posted by dobbs on Apr 22, 2006 - 25 comments

Virtual Tresspassing is yet another Google maps mashup, but one of the minority (at least that I have found) that let you add markers of your own that are persistent and visible to others. Is it at all useful? Who cares, I was a cute kid and I don't have to risk PMITA prison like a common street tagger - I can be leet and from da streetz while remaining a pasty-faced geek.
posted by phearlez on Apr 19, 2006 - 10 comments

StillFree. - Graffiti artist Marc Ecko tags Air Force One at andrews air force base.
posted by jba on Apr 18, 2006 - 65 comments