Awesome Streetart

Today I came across two awesome pieces of street art that aren't related in anyway. I just wanted to share them with you. Here's number one.

It was found in Newcastle (that's in England folks) and it shows to people watering a rose. And that's it. Pieces like those raise certain questions in my head, such as: "What was there first? The flower, the people or the garden hoses?" It's a bit vague to see, but if you imagine that the hoses aren't there for a second the figures could be holding guns (especially the right one). And if that would be true this would be an excellent way to remove violence from a piece of graffiti.

Street art is awesome when it gets you thinking about it's origination. By the way, this piece was created (or altered) by the obscure street artist Mobster.

And here is number two, a phone box.

This one was created by Washington D.C. based Mark Jenkins. (Washington is indeed very far away from Newcastle).
I have a fascination for turning (almost) redundant objects into a piece of street art. A few months ago I shared another phone box where the phone was replaced by a paper cup, but that's another story.
Here the phone is replaced by an enormous aliminium-like phone. The message almost is: "I'm here too! Use me!" (Phone boxes aren't used anymore because everyone has his or her own cellphone, but you already knew that of course).

There you have it. Two nice pieces of street art to liven up your Tuesday.

(Thanks to wooster collective for the awesome pieces of art.)

Shadow Bird Hand Puppet Sticker

I've noticed these wonderful stickers all over Manhattan. Absolutely adore!

Who does these? Get in touch with us, we want to praise you.

If you are/know the person doing these, drop us a line: superforestnyc(at)gmail(dot)com.

Love!

Urban Knitting

Today is the 6th of November so we're starting to enter the winter season. And winter generally means that the average temperature drops (assuming you're not living next to the equator) which ultimately results in people wearing warm coats and ultra fancy knitwear.

But have you ever thought about how cold a good winter day can be for a tree? The poor ones stand fully unprotected and unable to move outside in the cold. On behalf of the trees the past few years a new trend in street art developed: urban knitting. The aim of this is to cover up public objects in, eh, knitwear. Custom made knitwear to be specific. Every object can apply for urban knitting, the only necessity is that it is placed in public area. So any tree, lantern, traffic sign, you name it, will do.

Here's what Carol Hummel did to a tree to keep it warm and cozy on winter days. The 'statue' was 'on display' for three years in Cleveland Heights (OH) and took 500 hours to make.


Graffiti critics often complain about street art. But honestly, I can't see why such a critic would get mad about such a funny, beautiful, original way to use something nature created as an art object. Anyway, as I said earlier other objects can be used too for this fascinating new form of graffiti. For example this bridge railing:


Urban knitting is starting to become a fascinating new trend. All around the internet knitted objects can be found. For example through flickr, but there are also small artists that grouped together and got devoted to urban knitting. One of those groups is knittaplease, they have got an awesome video collection of their work too.

-jdh

Street Conversation

This is a little chunk of concrete on 19th St. between 7th and 8th Avenue.

I pass this little cement rectangle every day during my walks to and from work, and so I've been able to follow an interesting conversation as it progresses.

First, an Obama supporter carved the words "God Bless President Obama!" into the still-wet cement. This was up for a week or two before a McCain supporter sprayed the red "McCain" over the word Obama.

Finally, someone came by and put a sticker on the fire hydrant that reads: "Abort the Republicans."

Amazing. In New York, even the sidewalks have opinions and arguments.

We say: Better a hundred thousand arguments than a single fist fight.

God, I love this town. Blessings to both candidates, to free speech, and to the incredible city of New York.

Love to All,

Jackson

SuperForester Jesse Sent Us a Great Photo

"Much Love Son! Share!"
Graffiti in Washington D.C.

We totally agree.

Robbing Banksy

My best mate just got back from a trip to Europe. She picked me up a print by Banksy, the elusive British graffiti artist. It got me thinking about graffiti and the wonderful way it has evolved from kids mindlessly tagging walls to this (see below). By the way, did you guys know the singular form of the word graffiti is "graffito"? True story.

Banksy's London "Cans Festival"

Oooooh!

An entire London city street given over to artists and makers who are set free to create whatever they wish?

Sounds too good to be true... If only there was some manner of video evidence of said event...



Ha ha ha ha!

Graffiti good!

Will Cans Festival become a yearly event? Bi-yearly?
We can only wait and see.

Until then, be excellent to each other.

Love!

Team SuperForest

Muto by blublu

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

This is jaw-droppingly amazing.
No, check that, it's double-jaw-droppingly amazing. You'll see it once and then have to have your jaw surgically reattached before you see it again and repeat the process.

Bike Lane Love

Hello All,

Saw this as I walked to work this morning.
Someone's taken the time to design a cute stencil and paint this design up and down the bike lane on 9th Ave.

Marvelous.

Graffiti makes things unique and interesting, and provides a sense of place.
And this made me smile.

Thank you, whoever did this...

Now, to create more bike lanes/empty canvasses.

Go New York!

In Praise of Graffiti

Hello All,

I must admit, I really like graffiti. Not all grafitti, mind you. I'm not really into gang tags, but just about everything else I usually appreciate.

This is painted on a wall in Brooklyn near my house, and I love it. I use it as a landmark during the rare occasions I drive.



Painting walls makes them unique and colorful, and adds texture and flavor to our daily lives.

Hope all is well.

-Jackson