Pics From 'Street Art Stories'

MELROSEandFAIRFAX had the opportunity to attend the discussion panel 'Street Art Stories' at MOCA. It was a very cool, upscale event, and Brooklyn Street Art did an excellent job moderating the conversation.

It was a cool thing to see, and we are glad we went. There was some great discussion concerning legal murals in Los Angeles, how street art has been impacted by money and museum shows, and the role of women in street art. But, it was a little light on the actual 'stories'. We were hoping for some juicy insider tales about the stealth workings of street artists, but there was literally none of that. The panel consisted of 4 players in the street art world (gallery owners, online bloggers, and book publishers), but only one actual artist, Shepard Fairey. Shepard is one of the most articulate voices in the street art world, and he did a great job deliberating on the points at hand. He did drop the gem of the night when he mentioned that years ago Faile and WK Interact were talking about quitting street art because of the 'Splasher', but Swoon, the only woman being affected, never wavered in her pursuit of street art. Because Shep was the only artist on the panel, the discussion seemed to be more about street art than the stories about what happened. We enjoyed each of the panelists who spoke, but we would love to see more artists speaking for something like this in the future.

And, people are dying to know about Shepard's black eye? Well, it looked like it was nearly recovered. You had to look hard to even see that it was there, and might not notice it at all if you weren't looking. It appears that Shep is pretty tough and can take a punch. After the panel, Shep told M&F that he wished that the media would tell what really happened and link to his blog explanation, and not keep running with the sensationalized, and often wrong, versions that are out there.

Big thanks to BSA and the Huffington Post for putting this street art panel on. It was a very cool thing, and we hope for more in the future.