Graffiti the Ghost

Street Skills

I'm a big fan of street art. There's just something about the idea of a renegade artist sneaking around in the middle of the night, risking arrest to drop these beauty bombs in the most brazen places you can imagine- on billboards, highway overpasses, street signs- all for the sake of nicing up our world. Ok, I may be romaticizing what they do just a tad bit (imagine that). Their actions aren't entirely selfless, I realize. Most of them get off on the risk, and they gain a lot of street cred from their peers for their exploits. And even if it's only a code name that gets all the glory, they must enjoy the hell out of the notoriety that's generated when they pull off a particularly bold installation.

Banksy in particular has always fascinated me. In fact, it was my interest in Banksy that really sparked my desire to learn more about street art. Well, that's not entirely true- I don't think anyone with an appreciation for beauty can live in a city as rich in mural art as San Francisco without developing a bit of a passion for these types of things. But there is something so playful about Banksy's work, in spite of its often scathing social commentary, that is just really amazing. He always incorporates the surroundings in his pieces, and chooses his settings carefully for maximum effect.

I started following his career when The Wooster Collective gleefully reported that Banksy had pulled of yet another brilliant prank in the Brooklyn Museum. I guess he figured if the art world wouldn't come to the streets, he would take the streets to them. He took it to the next level though, in my opinion, when he graced the security barrier separating the occupied territories in Palestine from Israel with these works.

So it's no wonder that one of the few star struck moments I've had since moving to LA had nothing to do with a celebrity. A couple of months ago my roommate and I went off in search of a decent pedicure in our neighborhood. Well, the pedicure we found was shite, but it was well worth the trip when we stepped out of our car and found that we had parked alongside the first original Banksy I had ever seen in person. It was on an unassuming little stretch of wall outside a theater- a stencil of a cleaning woman bushing some dust under a curtain revealing the brick wall behind- and I quickly took an opportunity to snap a photo with my phone. It's been the wallpaper on my cell ever since, and I show it to everyone who shows the faintest glimmer of interest in hearing about the artist.

I was skimming The Wooster Collective again today when I came across this vid of Perry Farrell interviewing Shepard Fairey. Fairey is another one of those street artists that has gained no small amount of fame through his OBEY pieces (San Franciscans and Angelenos know them well, and have seen local versions of almost every variation Fairey has created since he began with a stencil of Andre the Giant back in the day). Fairey and Farrell hit the streets of LA together in Part 2 of the interview to see a couple of Banksy works, including the one with which I'm now so familiar. It's a short interview, but kinda cool to see Farrell and Fairey geek out about Banksy as much as I do.

And it got me jazzed again about a photo blog project I want to get off the ground detailing some of the amazing street art on display here in Los Angeles, and back home in SF. As soon as I find a camera phone good enough (I just can't bring myself to buy a digital cam) I hope to launch it. Not holding my breath, obviously, since we can already only find the time to give the Ghost love every once in a while, but I think it would be a fun project and something to get me out of the house sometimes.

In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled- we live in a great state to see some of the best and brightest giving it away for free on the side of a theater near you.

posted by Jess @ 10:40 AM