Flowers of Street Art

We are still longing today for the reopening of cultural places, festivals, and more generally, the return of our freedom of movement… But street artists have not lost their freedom of expression nor action. Let’s call for a spring of Street Art!
Let spring be the occasion to go back to the origins of graffiti and Street Art, the invention of spray paint, the spark that democratised creation and allowed artists to leave their studios to conquer cities, factories and… our hearts.
Even the ancient city of Rome has succumbed to the benevolent onslaught of street artists. Many districts are now filled with murals, standing alongside the masterpieces of antiquity and the Renaissance. Rome and the Renaissance have always been a source of inspiration to street artists, something which PBOY and his Underground Sistine Chapel on the outskirts of Paris reminds us of.
...
Street Art conveys messages of hope and emotions about the world around us, about the flaws of our societies and our environment. This issue will bring you the poetic works of Pejac, who “starts with small things to ask big questions”; the figurative portraits of Hopare, who beautifies the delicate faces of his female models; the florid abstractions of Toxic, a pioneer, passionate, and historian of graffiti; the stencils of BYC, who observes and captures the evils and drifts of our society; the playful and colourful bricks growing in the cracks of our city walls of Jan Vormann; and finally, the bestiary of the Nevercrew duo, which awakens our environmental consciousness…
May spring bring Street Art!

Street Art will never die
Here we are, still waiting for the world after… The Street Art scene does not totally sit still, but it has not fully woken up either, constantly threatened as it is by COVID-19. We can only hope that our collective and individual desires will fill the upcoming months with joy, serenity, and predictability. May 2021 be a succession of festivals, murals, art fairs, and openings!
While we wait for better days, it is time to go back to the roots of Street Art and graffiti in the New York subway of the 1970s, with Keith Haring, Dondi, Futura 2000, Phase 2, and co. The fashion of the 1970s is gone but the creativity it spurted very much endures in all its forms: concept, figuration, activism, territorial appropriation, etc.
After New York and its subway, we will take you through the many districts of Marseille as well as its culturally diverse Street Art scene where creativity never sleeps. You will get to discover the Panier district, the Friche and so many other spots that taste of the Mediterranean Sea.
Street Art has not had its last word! Madrid will be wearing new murals for the 2021 edition of Urvanity Art. The Musée en Herbe is fighting to maintain its beautiful programming of exhibitions to an audience of young and old. A tenaciousness that has its downside, too. Faced with #Mariannepleure (#Marianneweeps), many of us wonder why someone covered Shepard Fairey’s emblematic piece: artistic detournement, political statement or mere self-promotion? The truth probably lies somewhere in between.
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To conclude, Ben Frost’s odd and daring work will reunite us with the joyful characters that populated our childhood comic books and make us reconsider our relationship with pills.
What if Street Art was the cure?

Perspectives on Street Art |
What are the perspectives for Street Art? Let’s put on the rose-coloured glasses and imagine a brighter future, without forgetting the rough time many of us are going through. As we stated in the last issue, Street Art, like the phoenix, rises from the ashes.
Sometimes, perspective is simply a matter of viewpoint, just like a virus can also be a good thing with urban and viral invasions of the type Invader was here. Or maybe of visual impressions, like the illusionist artists who play with our senses and give rise to immersive murals with strokes of paint and genius. KATRE’s lines boldly remind us that you should not believe everything you see. Looking for new perspectives, we will have a joyful swim in the Molitor pool, where Tarzan’s feats paved the way for generations of street artists: an underground version of Street Art followed by a more official one. One place, several perspectives.

While we wait for the full reopening of the Molitor, let us take you to the rich and vibrant South African Street Art scene with a trip to Cape Town (ZA). A vitality that draws on a cultural melting pot as well as local wildlife, an inexhaustible source of inspiration. ROA, too, draws on wildlife, and on local fauna in particular, to catch our eye wherever he goes.
We will continue our journey with a stop in the world of Gabriel Moreno, which gathers in a refined style, femininity, overconsumption and violence; before moving on to the original universe of LADY AIKO; and Joram Roukes’s exceptional accumulations and collages. And last but not least, we will follow the tracks of urban archaeologist Vhils and discover new faces marked by hardship.

The entire team of GraffitiART wish you Happy Holidays and may the New Year 2021 be full of revival.
Take care. Stay safe.

Street Art rising like a phoenix
EDITO #52 | October-November 2020

Will Street Art be any different in the world of tomorrow? To  answer that question, we had     to go back to its roots and origins. Street Art is adapting, evolving, vanishing, transforming, innovating… Some could speak of creative destruction.

The quest for the roots…
To investigate this topic, we met New York graffiti pioneers and dug into the archives of the Berlin Wall. But individuals and places were not enough… In our quest, we wanted to understand the role of crews in the spread and growth of Street Art. We travelled to Tokyo to discover its local scene and talked with artists all over the world: Futura 2000 and Cope2 (United States), Rero (France-Brazil), Spyk (Belgium), Lisa King (Australia). We also bluntly asked the thorny question of the role of money in Street Art.

…and sources of youth
Street Art regenerates, as shown by the recent performance of the Toulouse-based artist James Colomina under the Pont Marie in Paris, or the first edition of Grimaud Art Urbain, a festival that brought Street Art to a historical Provençal village. But maybe it is just the natural process of a movement in permanent rebirth. Social and political battles as well as canons of beauty evolve over time. Street Art is ephemeral… It is wiped out and then rises from its ashes… Long live Street Art!

Welcome Spray Bud!
Today, a newcomer in the world of GraffitiART, Spray Bud, is joining us. Let’s build a Spray Bud World together and share Spray Bud Adventures! www.spray-bud.com.

Street Art in the world of tomorrow
EDITO #51 | August-September 2020

Everywhere around the world, the spread of murals and Street Art festivals is rebooting our creativity and warming our hearts during this tough period.

From potitical performances… 
Now that social issues are hot topics on the world’s agenda, occupying the public space has become a strong militant act, even a political statement, as illustrated by the BLM slogan that has spread through the streets of America. We will share our thoughts on this crucial yet complex matter in the article ‘Is Street Art always political’?

… to aesthetic works
From Belgrade to the district of Little Italy in New York, we will show you works driven by militant ideas or governed by pure aestheticism. We will look into the origin of Land Art and explore its affinities with Urban Art. Here again, the double quest for beauty and meaning is everywhere.
Back in the heart of cities, we will take you on the crusades and fights of Tristan Eaton and COMBO Culture Kidnapper. However, the ‘chaos’ of society will be balanced by Telmo Miel’s aesthetics and Imon Boy’s profound ingenuousness. Looking for direction, the geometric shapes and colours of Alberonero and Jeroen Erosie will provide us with a stable anchor. All these proposals, struggles and oppositions contribute to building the world of tomorrow.

2020 Edition of the Urban Contemporary Art Guide on its way
If you are as impatient to discover the 2020 Edition of the Urban Contemporary Art Guide in newsstands as we are, as well as the artists who made up the Street Art scene of 2020, you can pre-order the Guide or show your support by contributing to our KissKissBankBank campaign. A new team is in charge! And there are new KKBB premiums.

Street Art is beautiful!
Together, we will get through this crisis... We are all eager to get back to normality in our workshops, our galleries, our festivals, our creations... The recent tumults have created new impulses of solidarity and creativity. And if we had been able to avoid this, many of the works seem premonitory a posteriori. Like Cassandra, many artists have been shouting themselves hoarse without their messages being understood. We will explore the signals that we have ignored.
The roots of street art lie in activism and protest, in the underground and demonstration, in community spirit and hip-hop and punk cultures. A return to the connections between music and street art was necessary. Our adventures also lead us to rediscover Paris, capital of street art, from its catacombs to its monumental walls, and Wynwood with its rainbow of colours. Two destinations where street art takes on different modes of expression, but the DNAs are more convergent than some might think. The universes proposed by the 1UP Crew, the «colourist surveyors» JonOne and HoxxoH, the intimists Sainer and Henrik Uldalen and the realist Odeith give all the diversity and their nobleness to urban contemporary art.
From mid-May 2020, you can find Graffiti Art and our archives dating back to the origin on our Graffiti Art Magazine app available on AppStore and Google Play.
We dedicate this issue to all the victims of the coronavirus and to all those whose sacrifice have allowed us and allow us to get through this crisis. Thank you

¡Viva la Revolución!
For the beginning of spring, we bring you to Havana where street art mirrors society from political and partisan propaganda to a quest for new ideals (environment…) and aesthetics. We also find a vibrant atmosphere and spirit of sharing at Le Mausolée, where Lek & Sowat take us on an urbex dive into a world of enthralling geometric shapes. Street art modes of expression are being shaped and influenced by technology, now in the DNA of many such works. From 23 to 26 April, the Urban Art Fair in Paris will be the opportunity to immerse ourselves in creations through a must-see VR experience.
This issue also highlights the talented Herakut and Murmure Street duos, Logan Hicks’s experimentation and nocturnal wanders, as well as the social activism of ±MaisMenos±. The spotlight is on Hush, too, who glorifies the female – half goddess, half geisha. Our adventure then ends with a one-way trip to the poetical and colourful world of Mr. Doodle.
Your enthusiasm for the White Page Challenge and our monthly newsletter, as well as your support in relocating the printing of the magazine to the Paris region encourage us to engage more and more with our community.
Other initiatives will come. Stay tuned!

Rebuilding bridges between the roots of street art and the reality of today’s urban contemporary
art is a necessity for us. So, we have included new columns in which you will learn about the
main destinations and spots of the international street art scene. Our first stop was Israel,
where creativity is as burning as the topics artists tackle. In the same spirit, we have followed
Jace on his expedition to confront his Gouzou with the ghosts of Chernobyl. An impossible
dialogue? Maybe not.
From public space hijackings to studio creations, references and detournements of antique
and classical works abound. What if urban art could reconcile the Ancients and the Moderns?
To touch on this complex matter, we have talked to the main players in this game.
Creative wealth draws on diverse inspirations. INTI’s solar universe takes root in a cultural melting
pot filled with mythological references and grounded in profound optimism. Ray Caesar has
surrounded himself with imaginary friends born out of his childhood traumas. Stephen Powers
and Wasted Rita find their creative material more readily: in the flaws of our consumer society
for the first one, and in wild feminism for the second. Yet both share a mastery of words and a
taste for calligraphic play. As for the plastic artists Supakitch and Grems, they put aesthetics
at the centre of their new visual expressions.
Last but not least, we have reviewed our logistics to limit our CO2 emissions. Let us each
do our part.

In the troubled hours of the Brexit negotiations, earlier this October, Devolved Parliament by Banksy was sold in auction for 11.1 million euros. This work from 2009 remains particularly relevant today for it crystalizes the growing mistrust of institutions. Irony of history or premonition of an activist artist?
The disastrous collateral effects of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union also pervaded the last Moniker Art Fair. The occasion for us to speak about Artivism and go back to the origins of art in the public space: freedom, the environment, buying power…
The public space is a street art melting pot that offers endless possibilities of expression: from detournement –the signature tactic of French artists CLET and OX– to political murals –that of  Argentinian artist Hyuro–, and purely esthetic pursuits –like the “ephemerals” of Gérard Zlotykamien, a pioneer of urban art which practice dates back from the 60s. Representatives of the diversity and vibrancy of urban contemporary art, the English artist Ermsy revisits classic cartoons, while the French Seaty glorifies urban cultures and human emotions in unique visual works that speak to all of us.
A chapter is closing. The entire team of GRAFFITIART wants to thank Jean-Martial Lefranc for the work he has accomplished over the last years. Recognized by artists and galleries, today GRAFFITIART is the perfect link between creation, urban contemporary art lovers and collectors. Eager to keep our community vibrant, GRAFFITIART is launching GRAFFITIART News. You can subscribe to our newsletter on www.graffitiartmagazine.com to receive our exclusive insights!

As of this new school year, we should no longer take things seriously. This is why this new Graffiti Art issue looks into artists with a strong background in irony. We started by visiting the naïve-style house of Carrie Reichardt. This hell of a woman makes fiercely feminist wild and literal art that can only rejoice its audience. Another impressive feminine figure is the conceptual British artist Lucy Sparrow, who exposes consumption for what it is: a comfortably disgusting system.
And since supermarkets shelves are one step away from landfills sites, we stayed in the UK and followed Dan Rawlings into wastelands to discover how he hand-cuts wrecks with a blowtorch to return them to their natural state faster. Ironically still, this issue published a couple of days away from the Brexit tastes very British. But as we don’t want to show favoritism, you’ll find a lengthy
interview of Spanish artist Aryz that brings us back on to a more rigorous figuration and French artist Romain Froquet tells us about his upcoming solo show. As for the focus, it will explore the way in which Instagram is revolutionizing how urban artists manage their careers. Nowadays, it’s all about winning new followers through a constant flow of breathtaking and, preferably, cynical
images. Next autumn, we’ll have many reasons to put a mirthless smile on our face. But let us wish good luck to the people flying to London! As of Halloween, they’ll need to keep calm, or maybe just swim to other side.

The season of the final battles is heading toward a dangerous summer. On big screens, the
Avengers have managed to get rid of Thanos, the champion of Malthusianism who wanted
to eradicate half of the population on earth for the other half to survive. On small screens, the
conclusion of Gameof Thrones tastes like ashes, a bit like these giant fires we are growing used
to in a world saturated with carbon dioxide. In reality –if this concept still means something–
the main battle will happen in the United States, where democracy could die in the aftermath
of the 2020elections. How will artists react to the deliquescence and corruption pervading the
WhiteHouse, the Congress and the quiet hallways of the Supreme Court? Will Shepard Fairey once
again put his icon making talent at the service of the candidate promoting freedom and progress?
If only a charismatic candidate were to arise from the good side. Urban art is entertaining, as you
will read in the focus we dedicate to summer festivals. But beyond humor, critical distance and
derision, it might be time to find ways to raise a political awareness that will eventually express
itself in the ballot box in eighteen months on the other side of the Atlantic. The days of criticizing
the consumption society, exploring the limits of pop culture or keeping the flame of vandalism
are over, now it is time to create though-provoking images able to convince people not to place
leadership in the hand of billionaires or providential men but in those of the people themselves.

“Conquête Urbaine” (Urban Conquest), the retrospective exhibition held at the Musée des Beaux-
Arts of Calais sets the pace of this new issue. Urban art has become a safe passage to reach
a more and more attentive audience. Calais is the first European city in the Brexit line, and it is
only fair that it praises an art practice with little regard for borders, that takes hold of every matter
and challenge of today’s culture. Starting with bodies: a topic our focus on tattoo artists will
tackle. Continuing with stone, with a portrait of Does, an artist working with mineral mediums. This
issue also contains two lengthy interviews. One of Swoon, who inaugurates a solo show that will
delight the audience of the new Fluctuart space. What is Fluctuart? A barge dedicated to urban
contemporary art on the docks of the Seine, “River conquest”. Another of Mist, coming back
with his ultra dynamic abstraction: “Quantum conquest”. After making the dreadful cover of our
last issue, Bom.K is portrayed on the occasion of his Parisian show. “Historic conquest”, we will
talk about the exceptional exhibition of Basquiat in the Netherlands, while his works are breaking
auction records. “Phylogenic conquest”: a visit in Alexis Diaz’s studio will show the master of
animal hybridization at work. And to put an end to all this tiring agitation, we will end up in Spain,
where Ampparito’s quiet irony will calm us down. What should we conclude from such urban
expansion? No border of course.

Memory is the main theme of this issue. The work by Bom-K featured on the cover and presented by the Joël Knafo gallery at the Urban Art Fair, tells us that even memories deeply rooted in our global heritage end up disappearing and withering with time. From his studio, John Wentz and his silenced characters speak to us about incommunicability. Madame chooses to express herself
through maxims and new typographic forms. These retro-futuristic pieces might well evoke Jules Verne and Gustave Eiffel. What is Brad Downey trying to do? Inviting us to have another look at urban signage with a hint of humor and derision. Sebas Velasco’s work explores the play between blurriness and sharpness: the more distance you take, the more his works look sharp; and as you
get closer, they become blurrier. As if time was brushing off details and giving memories a single meaning. 2501, a special guest of this issue, confronts a refined technological esthetic to the most trivial urban daily life. He reminds us that today, all our whereabouts and endeavors are a cloud of data stored as memories within machines’ minds. Looking at men through a multifaceted-3D lens is David Mesguich’s signature style. And when we look at the superimpositions of Sismikazot, it is as if an artificial intelligence was trying to identify the relationship between two images captured on a wall and in everyday situations. Memory, network, technology. Artists probe the machines observing us. It is time for spring to come back.

Here is a little behind the scene of this GRAFFITIART edition. This issue presents a fast-changing urban art scene we owe to the proliferation of techniques used by our artists. Our adventure starts with John Fekner’s political stencils in the New York of the early 80s, the place where everything begins. After that, the family line splits up in every direction. Niels Shoe Meulman keeps using
canvas but manages to blend lettering and abstract expressionism. PichiAvo too proposes a bold crossbreeding of flop and Renaissance mannerism. Further in the issue, canvas is dropped and replaced by mixed media compositions. Bordalo II –with an exceptional exhibition in Paris–gives shape to a 3D bestiary made of accumulated waste. A childish approach prolonged by Sean Chao and Ufocinque. Chao’s mode of expression draws from the Czech miniature dioramas of the 50s. And Ufocinque metamorphoses urban environment with paper-cut monuments. Then Mark Jenkins and Tilt add up to this gallery. The first one reflects on city despair through mannequins that turn into still performances, and the second deconstructs and renews graffiti using plasterboard, a raw urban material. Finally, a focus on women in street art brings balance to this selection that we hope will be as exciting to read as it was to produce.

Making icons has become the ultimate ambition of any artist looking to surface from the big polyphonic hubbub of the second half of the 21st century. Expert in the field, Shepard Fairey is able to turn Barack Obama into the Holy saint of Hope and revive the French Republican Marianne. Invited in Moscow, Fairey appropriated Mayakovsky tragic poetic figure, a companion of the Bolshevik revolution who committed suicide at 36 after a game of Russian Roulette, which ending he might not have controlled by heavily charging his revolver. It is precisely what the American artist points out: images are ambiguous but icons are absolute. They compel everyone whatever form they take. All political powers from Lenin to Putin have celebrated the Mayakovsky myth: an inspiring figure, an absolute troubadour, and, conveniently, a great genius so concerned with his art that he left it up to others to dirty their hands with trivial politics. Shepard Fairey restores the ambiguity of the Mayakovsky icon by associating it the dreadful quote by Brecht: “Art is not
a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it”. In contrast with this gallery of icons, Faith XLVII invites us to explore mystery, to look at her works with our own darkness, leaving the spectator free to interpret her images. Further down the road,  photographer Fred Mortagne liberates us with the disappearance of his riders in the meander of contemporary architecture.
Peace is restored away from the turmoil of our senses.

The must-read book of this upcoming autumn is definitely The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark. In this work, the author tells us how subtle –yet totally avoidable– political slides brought the Europe of the 1910s to WWI. While Brexit is getting bogged down and the far right took in power in Italy as well as in a growing number of countries of the European union, this new issue of GRAFFITIART asks the question: are we witnessing the emergence of a pre-war art? Italian artist Biancoshock uses visual jokes to capture urban reality, since humor has become the vernacular tongue of social media. But what do these images really say? Dereliction and absurdity seem to write a sort of a manual to survive in our increasingly hostile environment. In Germany, with a different spirit, Moses & Taps™ express a relentless desire to stay free, with the idea that freedom is only worth something if it comes at a cost. In the United States,
Kevin Peterson and his hyper-realistic paintings already speak about the after-war: his children pair up with animals in search for the adults who caused this disaster and make them pay. Paint it black? Maybe, but let’s keep our eyes open.

In this new issue of GRAFFITIART, we finally manage to give an historic overview of the urban art movement. We felt that something was wrong in telling you about artists without being able to place them in some sort of continuity, evolution and transformation. The three temporalities are finally tackled in this issue. We are looking at the past with an exploration of Rammellzee’s world, the link between hip-hop, graffiti and primitive art. Vhils and Faile splendidly talk about the present of the movement, at the crossroad of pop, expressionist figuration and true contemporary art. Then our focus on the rise of urban art foundations sheds light on the “museum” future that awaits our artists. We feel optimistic that this three-folded approach highlights the coherence of the urban approach. Without even mentioning its spatial expansion. It’s hard to be picky when street art brings us on a magical journey through time and space: from the Nuart festival in Scotland to the Crystal Ship in Belgium through the new Marseille residency in a convent, and… New York City, Los Angeles and South America that Remed embraces in his shamanic art. Urbi et orbi. Blessed be urban art.

Do we like commemorations? Not really. Ok, maybe a little. So we will take a moment to pop the champagne cork for the tenth anniversary of GRAFFITIART Magazine Magazine. What a journey since the time when Samantha Longhi and Nicolas Chenus decided to launch the reference review of street art! Back then, the Commission Paritaire des Publications, a sort of board of censorship French-style, had refused to recognize this magazine that promoted “vandalism”. What a good laugh! Today, there is not a single mayor who does not come begging these “vandal” artists to embellish their neighborhood. For this issue, no statement, no tribute, but a special guest: Invader, who celebrates his 20 years of career. An icon? Yes. For his technique: he managed to make his work last in the street. For his themes: he drew from technology and pop culture. And for his market recognition. He stands as an example. You will discover another special gift in this issue: the exclusive interview of the very secret Pejac. And for our birthday, maybe, and for the fun of it, certainly, the Canemorto group welcomed us to follow them in their manic quest for artistic gestures and logically, we welcomed them to use the magazine for their own purposes. A rather nice initiative that we will need to repeat. We will also be at the Urban Art Fair starting on April 12th. We are busy bees… with no time to look back!

The stunning piece by D*Face chosen for this issue cover and soon to be exhibited at the Urvanity fair of Madrid very well sums up our state of mind at the beginning of 2018. What is it about? Awareness about the mess of the world yet with biting irony. A sort of militant aesthetic of desperation. For this new issue, we decided to go back in the street. With Bahia Shehab, a witness and player of the Egyptian revolution through the means of activist stencils. With Ian Strange and his sunk constructions: hopefully a prelude to awakening the political consciousness of the American suburbs. With Cranio and his “noble savages” who have a good laugh exploring the consumerist colonization of South America. With Kashink and her blurring of genders. And then, paradoxically, with an interview of Felipe Pantone, who shows us a future of speed and electricity through the twisting around of images drawn from old CPTs. There will also be a hint of nostalgia with Maxime Drouet who embarks us on his pretty “vandalized” trains or JonOne properly museified. We will conclude with a note on an infomercial dedicated to Richard Orlinski, a man we so deeply admire for so many reasons too
long to explain. Worry and irony. Happy new year to all of you.

Issue 55 - April-May 2021

Issue 54 - February - March 2021

Issue 53 - December 2020 - January 2021

Issue 52 | October - November 2020

Issue 51 | August - September 2020

Issue 50 | June - July 2020 

Issue 49 - March - April 2020

Issue 48 - January / February 2020

Issue 47 - November / December  2019

Issue 46 - September / October  2019

Issue 45 - July / August 2019

Issue 44 - May / June  2019

Issue 43 - March / April  2019

Issue 42 - January / February  2019

Issue 41 - November / December  2018

Issue 40 -September / October 2018

Graffiti Art magazine, the leading print media for Urban Contemporary Art, is a bimonthly magazine distributed throughout 15 countries. 
Recognized by both artists and galleries, Graffiti Art is the perfect link between creation, Urban Contemporary Art lovers and collectors. 
Graffiti Art explores related fields, supports creation and boosts the diffusion of Urban Contemporary Art among the widest audience.

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Graffiti Art - Issue 55 - April-May 2021

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