The British street artist Banksy just painted nine provocative murals on the wall that separates the West Bank from Israel. The sardonic quote in the title is Banksy's reflection on his work there. He goes into a little more detail on his site. The Guardian and BBC both covered it, and there is at least a little disagreement over the meaning and relevance of politically-motivated street art here and here.While we're on the subject of Banksy, here's my previous favorite project of his. As the BBC sub-head describes it, "Fake prehistoric rock art of a caveman with a shopping trolley has been hung on the walls of the British Museum."
Category: visual
Anything that can be seen. Stuff with in this category is generally somehow interesting to look at, beautiful, stunning, provocative, silly, crrrrraaaaaazy, intriguing, or inspirational.
An article in yesterday's NYT House & Garden section extolled the virtues of clutter. Kristen summed it up nicely: Maximalism is the new minimalism.
"Minimalism is easy to copy," Ms. de Lorme said at her unabashedly messy desk on a recent morning. "Everybody can do it."
Nevertheless, maximalism isn't as easy as it sounds. The author visits a Barry McGee exhibition at Deitch Projects in New York and finds that clutter must be as carefully arranged as non-clutter if it is to work:
Op-art panels on the walls. Graffiti everywhere. And one wall I stared at for a long time was covered with small, framed pictures densely hung at odd angles, some layered on top of one another. Like the whole massive installation, it looked random. Of course, it wasn't.
The thing is, Barry McGee was maximal so long ago — Bay-Area-Now-1996 long ago — that it's strange to use him as an example of a current maximal trend. I guess well-executed maximalism is timeless.The photo above is from Barry McGee's maximal mural at the Museum of Victoria (fall, 2004).
Rust Belt road trip
Pittsburgh. Buffalo. Niagara Falls. Toronto. Detroit. It's not exactly Route 66, but it was hot.
Photos / July chills
Photos / Window kitty
This kitten was in the window of the record store on my block. Another sign of a pleasant turnaround on 14th Street. Ten years ago, it was Naps 2 (a housing project bar with a friendly sort of vibe), and dog crap everywhere. Now, it's a bustling with DIY fare, cool records, a bike shop owned by friends of mine, and an art gallery.UPDATE Feb 2006: Six months after the record shop opened, it closed. So did the art gallery. Now there's a little clothing boutique there. I miss Naps #2.UPDATE June 2006: Needles and Pens also left. My little street is quiet again. Oh well.