How to See Graffiti Art While you Type
As seriously as I now lust over landing a good story with a great writer, my younger incarnation hankered after rambunctious, spray-can toting skateboarders. Among them, street artists loomed large, becoming minor celebrities and giving all us all something exciting to look out for on our daily commutes through New York City.
While I was perusing the Wired blog this month, I came across The Decapitator, a street artist whose signature tag is removing heads from street signs and replacing them with boney, bloody stumps. If you haven’t seen these awesome images, you should definitely check them out.
The post got me researching graffiti artists last weekend and I found that there is an amazing selection of sites showcasing works from celebrity taggers like Neckface, as well as sites that highlight local heroes like the Ukranian Fat 315 crew.
While I do not advocate the destruction of public property, I do like how these online street art depositories connect a shared scene over international boundaries in real time — and I am intrigued how the sites have propelled those who were once seen as rambunctious skater kids into international icons. Perhaps the best example of this is the London street artist Banksy, who become an sensation when in February of last year took home £102,000 for a piece he sold at Sotheby’s.
Would I have any idea who the Fat 315 crew if it wasn’t for the web? The answer is no. But at Wooster Collective or Streetsy, I could sort by name and location. If you are interested, you can pull up a list of celebrity street artists on Wikipedia and start street art hunting online.
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