Ceramic stuff

Part I: It all started with a spray can

They come at night. They bring with them photocopies, strips of wallpaper, paste, labels or spray stencils. By the morning, the results of their activities are visible and stuck to facades, control boxes, traffic signs and containers. Once you start noticing the messages, you can't escape. The term "street art" has gained acceptance to describe these new, subcultural outpourings of recent years. Street art exploits public spaces in the same way as graffiti, tags or writing, but its messages and pictures are far more specific. The works of street artists are creative, telling stories, giving advice or invoking pause for thought as you pass. Their symbols, messages and faces shape and change public spaces and the way they are seen. Street art is thus not only a subcultural and creative form of expression in the context of the street but also a contribution to the promotion of human communication. In the broadest sense, street musicians and other performers can be ranked with street art. Street art is urban living, direct and without a filter. In our midst, in our streets. It is a form of personality development, linked with a wish to leave a mark and to grand stand.

"The words of the prophets were written on the subway walls and the tenement halls."

Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence"

"Graffiti is fucking energy", it brings people together from all over, from all different backgrounds. Its the biggest art movement in its numbers alone. In this clip of a trailer for the movie Bomb It, different aspects of graffiti are explained along with personal insights from prominent graffiti artists about the graffiti movement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi1mo3ngfUs

This link is to the Bomb It movie page and lists the artists filmed in the movie, artist whose work inspire me. http://www.bombit-themovie.com/artists.php

This is a link to a view a movie called Style Wars which is a documentary of New York graffiti circa 1983. Presented by Tony Silver & Henry Chalfant. A production of (c) 1983 Public Art Films Inc. (a non-proffit organization). In the first few minutes of the film one will get a greater understanding of what the soul of graffiti is, along with an interview with a police detective which concludes how the other side of graffiti is viewed more negatively. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5065949310221269915&ei=hOHkSazgDaSs-gHjx93kDQ&q=style+wars&hl=en&client=firefox-a

If you click the video at this website it show the work of a radical graffiti artist with the tag BLU. He relates to my work because he has taken graffiti to a whole new level with video and that is what I hope to do with my graffiti tiles. Graffiti itself has such possibilities and its my goal to find a new method or take it to the next level with out being too pretentious. http://www.blublu.org/sito/video/muto.htm

LED bombing which was developed by Graffiti Research Lab (aka GRL) is also another form or graffiti being taking to the next level. Example's are in this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No5gNb9INGI&feature=related and this is their website with far more examples of cutting edge graffiti. play this video and it will blow your mind http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?page_id=76#video