Adidas TV Commercial - Street Art Hackney

This commercial was shot in Hackney Wick and to be fair Adidas has been shooting commercials in Hackney for years. I remember seeing the worlds top footballers shooting an ad in Hackney Marshes.
Firstly we know what sharks companies of this size really are and we don't want our blog closed down by some hotshot lawyer pricks.  So even though you may be wearing a pair of 3 stripes at this very moment, its important to remember that most of these labels use countries where certain laws are relaxed and forced child labor is normal practice.  Countries that have already suffered massive economic disruption by folks called Economic Hitmen...

In this energy packed TV Commercial you'll find street art and graffiti created by the likes of Busk, Xenz, Chu and many others. Sadly the real heroes of the tv commercial did not get paid...

 

Graffiti - From Tags to Riches - Documentary

Graffiti is Dead 2006 - Documentary

K-Guy Art Installation - Get Involved

A message from our friend and leading artist K-Guy;

A while back I was asked to submit a proposal to produce a piece of
work which if selected, would be included for the 'No Holds Barred'
special project at Art Amsterdam 2010. I have attached a link below
of my proposal and a short 3D flythrough model for an installation
called 'No Blood On Your Hands' which amazingly has been selected by
an independent panel of judges from 89 other artists to be worthy of
inclusion in the exhibition.

http://www.k-guy.co.uk/pages/installation.php

Now here's the but.... my only problem with producing this properly
and to a high spec is to somehow get some additional funding. Over
the last couple of weeks I have been getting quotes together and it
is working out at about £5K which I just don't have rattling around
in my bank account. I've got about £2k sorted but definitely need
more. I am currently wading through the arts council funding
application which is very painful and have considered corporate
sponsors/companies/brands but my feeling is that the content of the
material will make them run a mile. Having said that, if there is
such a benefactor I have no problem with branding the exterior of the
installation i.e. sponsored by........for example.

If anyone out there knows someone with deep pockets willing to throw
some cash into an art project that will be seen by about 23,000
people and 130 galleries worldwide, please push them in my direction.
I would be massively appreciative of any ideas, thoughts etc.

Cheers. K.

Spiral Tribe - LSD Writers

Spiral Tribe - Old, Old Skool

'Key members of Spiral Tribe will be contributing regularly to LSD and adding yet another twist to our DNA'

Interview in Guardian Newspaper (July) Here

Kings of Concrete - Ireland 2009

Lo-Down from Kings of Concrete...Organisers

Skateboarding, Blading, BMXing and breakdancing are all evolving urban sports that have established themselves as favoured youth activities on every continent across the globe. For a variety of reasons this faction of youth culture has remained largely unsupported and underdeveloped in Ireland. For too long we have had to find street spots off our own bat just to participate in the sports we are most passionate about. These spots typically have been unofficial and illegal. All too often security have removed skaters abruptly calling to a halt an otherwise perfect day. Subsequently we have had to become more resourceful and find new and interesting places to play. Most of these sites were privately owned buildings, centres of commerce and government offices. As we identified new spots the security grew in both presence and voracity.

Dark days for Irish youth culture ensued! If the security didn't prevent skateboarding the permanent skate stopping architecture did and to top it all off insurance for Irish skate parks has been near impossible to secure. Thankfully those dark days will soon be behind us. Due to the efforts of progressive politicians, active skate lobbyists (check out our links page) and some modern thinking in local authorities there has been a revolutionary breakthrough elevating the status of these activities to their rightful place in Irelands alternative sports portfolio. In 2006 the Irish government allocated E2million to develop 21 concrete skate parks around the country. These facilities will allow skaters / bladers / BMX'ers to develop and fine tune their skills. It will foster up and coming talent and give people the opportunity to become as good as their contemporaries anywhere in the world.

Kings of concrete is a celebration of this recent transformation. We hope to help build and sustain a platform to promote the wonderful variety of activities available for youth culture in Ireland today such as skating, inline blading, BMX, break dancing and graffiti amongst others.

Kings of Concrete MySpace

Kings of Concrete - Ireland

Kings Of Concrete 2008 (video)

The Reverse Graffiti Project - Video

Reverse Graffiti (What's That?)

That's exactly what i said when first told of such a thing called reverse graffiti but its actually very clever. The legality of doing the act is still in question though regardless if any paint goes onto the wall itself. I wonder if anyone has been arrested for this type of graffiti? Anyway, we're chasing them for an LSD interview...

Banksy - Guardian Interview (July)

LSD Magazine - East End CD Placements

LSD Magazine - CD Placement

Thanks to Sonia for sending us these shots of our CD placements on July 1st. To mark the launch of LSD Magazine we produced 500 CDROMs containing the magazine and placed them around East London (mostly). We couldn't publish a magazine about street art and not place some on the streets. We got sent some Doco Banksy branded Di Faced Tenners so we added most of them to the packs. This guaranteed the CDROMs would be picked up as the illusion of a ten pound note held their attention. There were placed on many different surfaces including industrial dustbins, shop windows, bus stops, street art, lampposts, benches, and canal locks. It took around 3 hours to blitz Hackney, Shoreditch, Brick Lane, and Hackney Wick. Graf-Shops in the USA, France, Italy and Holland produced their own CDROMs and were giving them to customers. Big Love to those stores and to everyone thats helping spread the word...

LSD CD Placments

Banksy found in the Old Country July 2009

Banksy in Africa (Mali?)

Photographs recently appeared on the Banksy website showing scenes of an African nature in Africa. Some are saying its Mali but official sources have not yet confirmed. Whispers have been circulating on the art-vine that Banksy actually uses a team of people who put stencils up for him. Personally speaking we don't care if Banksy puts them up or a street team we're happy to see street art touching those far away places in the way this work has touched us. Its only when the worlds press speak of Banksy as if he were the only artist alive that artists get their back up. However, this cant be blamed on the man himself, neither can the monetary value of his work. In the next issue we'll be speaking with various bodies that seem to represent the artist and find out the process for authenticating Banksy art.

Banksy in Africa Shots

Cartrain v Hirst

Cartrain Steals Damien Hirst's Art (Update)

16 year old graffiti artist Cartrain walked in to the Tate Briton (London) early last week and removed a packet of pencils from one of Damien Hirsts exhibits. Damien Hirst and Cartrain have a long standing rocky history. Earlier this year Hirst targeted the young graffiti artist Cartrain using Design and Artists Copyright Society (DAC's) for copyright infringement on his latest series of artworks being sold on 100artworks.com.

Cartrain is a 16 year artist whose work can be found mostly in backstreets of East London's Brick Lane and Old Street. Cartrain's left wing stencils and collages often contain recognisable figures such as George Bush and the Queen.

The box of very rare "FABER CASTELL dated 1990 Mongol 482 series" pencils were removed from Damien Hirst's "PHARMACY installation" by Cartrain on Thursday, July 2nd, around 4pm. Not long after the pencils were removed from the installation a fake police "appeal for assistance" posters appeared around London.

This is the latest in a string of events surrounding the feud between the two artists. It began when Damien Hirst contracted the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DAC's) to send a string of legal letters to Cartrain's artdealer Tom Cuthbert at 100artworks.com in regards to Cartrain's series of artworks 'For the Love of God'. The online gallery surrendered the artworks to Damien Hirst with a verbal apology.

UPDATE: July 11, 2009

From Cartrain's gallery representatives, Cartrain's Demands...

"For the safe return of Damien Hirsts pencils I would like my artworks back that Dacs and Hirst took off me in November. Its not a large demand he can have his pencils back when I get my artwork back. Dacs are now not taking any notice of my emails and I have asked nicely more than five times to try and resolve this matter. Hirst has until the end of this month to resolve this or on 31st of July the pencils will be sharpened. He has been warned."

Original Source: Clancco

LSD will be contacting Cartrain to get his side of the story for a future issue...

Tate Police Poster

Brownies - K-Guy Style

Brown Stuff @ Parliament - K-Guy on the Prowl

The ever increasing steel corridor around Westminster usually scares the pants off street artist who for no other reason than not wanting terrorism charges on their police record. Nobody told that to artist K-Guy, and what did he look like, strolling causally down the Embankment with a rack of loo seats underarm. K-Guy is class and features in our next issue...

K-Guy Website

Brown Stuff - K-Guy

Pop Crime - SheOne and Crash

7 August - 31 August 2009 

Opus is proud to present an exhibition of new paintings by SHEONE and CRASH.

SHEONE has a unique brand of abstract art that is rooted in the new wave graffiti era of early 80s New York, but his trademark expressive strokes put him firmly in the present – with an of-the-moment style that has caused fashion brands such as KSwiss to collaborate with the artist. SHEONE’s paintings are splattered and sprayed, but with a deliberate story behind the spills on the canvas. The works display a personal shorthand, relaying years of careful mark making. As well as his canvas works, SHEONE has a reputation for creating complex installation paintings – often in very large and unruly spaces. 

CRASH was born in New York’s Bronx. As part of the city’s prolific graffiti movement, CRASH was discovered through the murals that he painted on subway cars, basketball courts, and walls of New York buildings. The artist’s bright, bold work – markedly influenced by Lichtenstein – has decorated guitars belonging to the likes of Eric Clapton, as well as formed the basis for international advertising campaigns – such as Absolut Vodka. His work has become symbolic of New York street culture, and manages to capture and convey the energy of this urban movement.

Opus Web
Opus Blog
Crash on Opus
SHEONE on Opus

For further information, please contact enquiries@opus-art.com

Sheone Work

Crash Works