Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Graffiti as Art in Austin

Fueling the neverending debate over whether graffiti is art or merely vandalism, the UT-Austin art school purchased an outdoor piece by graff writer Shepard Fairey who created the Obama "Hope" poster. The Statesman notes that "Although his Obama poster now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., Fairey currently faces multiple vandalism charges in Boston for pasting his work on public and private property."

In addition, some of Fairey's work will be included in a special short-term exhibition at Gallery Lombardi in Austin this weekend. Then on April 4, also in Austin, Spider House Cafe will feature work by a long list of local graffiti artists, sponsored by the Art Seen Alliance.

For the latest in Austin graffiti news, stay tuned to atxgraffiti.com; they'll keep you in the loop.

2 comments:

;-b said...

Long time fan of grits, just came over to check out the huevos for some blog research i'm doing...

I'm glad your representin' for the taggers - check out a blog I did a while back on the same idea, if you have time...

http://dallasdreamer.blogspot.com/2007/05/so-you-say-east-dallas-is-unsafe.html

Also, recently heard about a 17 year old at my boyf's work that was arrested, fired, and expelled over tagging - definite punishment exceeds the crime, if you ask me...

have you done previous stories on the criminalization/punitive measures against graffiti?

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Other stories on graffiti? Tons of them - search on Grits.