Faces, Homes, and Soldiers

Interesting wall going on here in Miami.  A giant green peeling background plays host to these interesting pieces including a soldier boy from Army of One, a house split in half, and graffiti face portraits.

Dig it~

Street Art is for the Outdoors, Not Your Living Room

There seems to be an epidemic of stores in Los Angeles cashing in on street art and making money off of art that is not theirs.

Yesterday, M&F posted how a store has been selling prints taken from photograph's of street art, without the artist's consent and without compensating the artist in any way.

Well, currently there is another store in Silverlake that has found itself embroiled in a street art scandal.  The store called the 'Living Room' is actively selling street art pieces taken from the streets.  Some of the current items for sale are shown in the picture above.  It sells the pieces from $200-$500 and has sold, or is selling pieces from street artists including Teacher, Army of One, Nomatter Whatness, RS70 and more.

This store seems to appreciate the monetary value of the street art, but not the process or what it takes to get there.  According to a current worker at the Living Room, and possibly the owner(?), when asked if he felt if the street artists should receive some portion of the money the store is making by selling their items, the guy at the living room replied "Fuck em".

Some people, and even some artists feel that once a piece goes on the streets, whatever the fate of that piece turns out to be is fair game.  And that seems to be the Living Room's opninion as well.  But this is not the first time that M&F has covered the folks at the Living Room.  Not only does this business rip art from the streets to sell, but they have also straight ripped off artists.  Last year, M&F posted this article about 'How the Stuffed Animal Revolution Got Stolen'.  The story detailed how street artist Heartschallenger created a stuffed animal revolution, and then how that artwork got copied, stripped of meaning, and then sold in a Silverlake store.  M&F emailed Heartschallenger to ask if that store was the Living Room, and Heartschallenger confirmed that it is one and the same.

And to add a big more intrigue, the Living Room is the same store where Bandit hit with a piece warning against street art piracy.  Bandit placed the piece here after hearing what was going on.  Some people in the street art community have derided Bandit for 'spot jacking' by putting his piece up next to a stencil on the Living Room building from the original street artist and Banksy influencer, Blek le Rat (pic shown below). The Blek piece is a commission piece, and reportedly the owners of the Living Room invited Blek to paint the wall because they are 'lovers' of street art.  M&F has been nothing short of impressed with the way that Bandit has made his statement about street art through street art.  Last we heard, the Living Room had removed the door that Bandit had placed the piece on and intends to sell it.

This is so fascinating, because on one hand the Living Room is pirating true active street art, while claiming to be lovers of the same scene which they are openly disrespecting and violating the terms of.  Some folks feel that commission walls are the ultimate, some folks might feel that the big names from yesterday need to be respected no matter what, and some folks might not feel that what the Living Room is doing is wrong.  But the true lovers of the scene realize that it is wrong to pirate the egg without ever taking care of the hen.  Furthermore, there is no greater crime in the street art world than copying and stealing another artist's work, and this example is the most blatant we have ever seen.  It is the definition of a hi-jacked sell-out.

Bottom line is, it is morally wrong to hurt the scene that helping you.  And once again, artists need to be aware and careful with their art.  Once you put something on the street, there is no guessing what might become of it.  It is a wise decision to trademark your work, which does offer some legal protection against situations like this.  And M&F has, and will always champion active street artists over those with fuzzy relationships to corporations that are bad for the street art community.

Street art is made for the outdoors.  Keep us out of your living room.

Stay up, Los Angeles~

Let Art Be Your Weapon

Army of One gets up in downtown Los Angeles with a piece that says 'Let Art Be You Weapon'.

The piece is some sort of collaboration with D17, which stands for December 17th and a call to Re-Occupy, Occupy Wall Street.

The Army of One and D17 piece has not been pasted to the wall, rather it is on a hard backed styrofoam material that has been screwed into the wall.

Chalk Befor Bullets

Turn Up the Peace

Army of One - Still Fightin

Army of One Arrested for Street Art

Get Up, Stay Up

Get Up, Stay Up - Hand Painted Street Art

Each piece of street art on this wall is hand painted.

Los Angeles Street Art Parking Lot

The parking lot at De La Barracuda is always slammed full of graffiti and street art.

It recently got some more new pieces . . .

Epic Los Angeles Street Art (Pt. 2/2)

^Street art from Free Humanity, Leba, Koffinz, Alec, stickers from Bankrupt Slut, and tag from CostC

Click the jump below for more-

Fresh Canvas

This hot spot on the corner of Melrose and . . .

Sticker Cat

Qtip loves the sticker scene, and all the big names on this sign.

Stickers from Dog Byte, Neckface, Bankrupt Slut, Army of One, Jose, Others, Hidden Friends, Entree, Jack, Make This a Home, Orb 69, Bossa.

Street League

Street art from Dog Byte, The Loyal Subjects, Jose - lookin very slick and Army of One.

Bride of War-Nun of Death

Army of One's Bride of War gets resurrected by this nun paste after the bottom section had been ripped down.

The nun is a cool piece from street artist D Young V.



***Thanks Michael***

Hooked Up - Army of One

Army of One hooked up MelroseandFairfax with an incredible pack of art featuring Grenade Boy on a custom cut wood backing.

The full size Grenade Boy came a wicked little brother - around a foot tall and comes with a red resin grenade.

We really love these pieces. Thanks so much, jc2~

You can follow more action from Army of One at their flickr link below

ARMY OF ONE

Favorite Sticker Combo Sign

^MQ, Dog Byte, Bankrupt Slut, Yikes, Sheep, Eyeworm, Paz, Eagls, Darex, Varp, Twelve Twelve, 10 Deep, Valaks

^Qtip version with new stickers from Army of One, Insurgency Inc, JDI, Hackum Sackum and more



^New stuff from Street Giant, TSF over them, Gkay, Begr, and new different stickers from Dog Byte

^New stickers from Grimeg, Post TVO, Soup, Haeler, 2much, Ifser, College Fresh Clothing,
This is one of our favorite sticker combo signs.

Its on Melrose, and the sticker action is always changing. The sign never gets buffed, it just gets fresh new stuff added almost daily. Here are some shots of it changing over time.

Qtip Loves Army of One

Qtip is a big fan of Army of One's Grenade Boy.

Gettin FreaQy

We posted a pic of this sticker combo sign a few weeks back, and its already got hit with a grip of new stuff, including another slap from international sticker guru FreaQ.

Also featuring stickers from Kami, Nii, Army of One, Gregory Siff, One Tooth, Hags, Screamqueen Demare, Third, Phylo, TSF, Good Guys in Black, Frank 151, Hit and Run.

Coyote

We are in love with this Coyote street art found on the art wall.

This shot looks incredible with a ripped poster over Army of One's Grenade Boy make it look like he and the Coyote are merged into one.

Coyotes are one of the only animals that are estimated to be in greater numbers now than when the Americas were settled. This despite massive eradication efforts. We even saw a coyote on the streets of West Hollywood a few months back.

We always root for the wild, and hope the coyotes can keep thriving.