street level artists

The illusionist?

2007-07-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

So I was browsing artcrimes.com when I saw this artist ODIETH.
Hes from Lisbon, Portugal and he's got some pretty impressive ideas. He calls himself "the illusionist" which to me sounds like some sort of fruity-ass magician, or a bootleg mime. Maybe he's dead on with his chosen persona though, as he might have people fooled that he's actually a real writer.
From a purely artistic standpoint he's got skills. He's using a pretty original 3-D concept of pieces coming off the wall and onto thier surroundings and I'm sure his work will be mimicked pretty quickly. But I guess the question is; is it graff? I mean sure, the letters look like your typical graffiti pieces, with obvious influences from ERNI, DAIM, and SEAK, but it seems like he's missing something that they all have, an overall mastery of a true writer. His handstyle is pretty weak, and I havent seen any throw-ups or dead letters to critique and I can't tell how much of this stuff is illegal, or if any even is.
Anyway, as an artist I can appreciate different forms of art, but as a writer I'm pretty picky about what gets classified as graffiti and about what gets shine in the graffiti world.
To all you young kids into graffiti that are checking this artist out, study your history, know where these styles came from. Dont just hop up in the mix and try to take some short-cut to fame. Practice all the disciplines of writing, start with your tags, perfect your throw-ups, burn your pieces and for the love of god, call yourself a writer, not an illusionist or some other corny ass garbage like that. (Posted to the right is a video of ODIETH in action, although I've been putting this guy on blast, I think he's got talent and it should be seen, I mean it is art, but is it writing?)

your comments are welcome.

-styles ultd.

SASTER: STREETS ARE SAYING THINGS

2007-06-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

So I saw this site some months back and, like the smell of ultra flat black, I've found it quite addictive. It's a site where they post pictures of graffiti (mainly New York City) and anybody that registers can comment on any of the works shown. The comments range from insightful and well thought out, to childish and borderline incoherent. The work that is shown varies from old school pics to the newest of the new(legal and illegal). When hanging with my crew we would bomb on other people's work, talking smack and making up new slang in the process; comments on saster are much of the same.
From people posting pretending to be writers that they are not, to anonymous posters(that get no love), to the actual writers chiming in, there is no lack of shit-talking. The comments range from mother jokes, to homophobic rantings to actual insightful thoughts on the work at hand.
Hopefully interested writers can learn some history here, though it may get lost in the he said/ she said politics of the site and you never know who or what to believe as almost every comment is disputed and (diss)ect(ed). With that said, checking out this site is a must if you're interested in what's going on in the graff world in NYC right now. I love that they post pictures of tags, as that is writing in its basic essence and everything revolves around a good handstyle. Anyway, that's enough from me, check them out here to see for yourself.

sla back and cover "97" (ten year anniversary issue)

2007-04-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

back front

various pieces for "97" (10 year anniversary issue)

2007-04-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

sake opee
frost opee
screw opee

various pieces for "97" (10 year anniversary issue)

2007-04-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

huck task
duo temp
mane shone 237

front page insert and back page insert for "97" (10 year anniversary issue)

2007-04-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

epyk- pen one serk
pays- ceas- rime
minus one ultra

epyk and throwies for "97" (10 year anniversary issue)

2007-04-13T18:21:00.000-07:00

insert pieces and throwies from "97" (ten year anniversary issue)

2007-04-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

legends of style: surreal city 4-20-07

2007-04-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

When: Friday, April 20, 20078:00 PM
Where: Boston Center for the Arts
539 Tremont StreetBoston, Massachusetts 02116 42.3442, -71.0714
Category: Visual Arts
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