Street art is made for the internet

Bristol street artist Banksy recently put paint on a wall and blogged it to raise web traffic in the digital-first art era.

If you're an artist working today, you need a Wordpress blog, Tumblr, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Blogspot et al. If you don't have at least seven content streams, updated daily, you're a failure. And probably an asshole.

Vandalog has discussed the prominent/ironic/ignored school of 'Street Art for the Internet', with artists such as Mobstr (pic above) and Lush (pic below) proving that street art has truly gone digital.

But street art and graffiti have garnered so much mainstream attention because of the internet. Funny or thought-provoking walls are easily digested as 100kb JPEG files. Memes that are emailed, blogged, tweeted - rather than alleyway eyesores you don't want your kids to see as they smoke their first cigarette.

Bet your grandparents love it too.

Via Vandalog, Banksy

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Banksy trolley stencil

LONDON: Mobstr natural expression stencil

(Image source)

Anti-authority hero Mobstr has hit a wall in London telling pedestrians they are living in a concrete jungle and should off themselves.

His overwhelming pessimism is a refreshing juxtaposition to the blind optimism in advertising, which litters the streets and clouds your mind with versions of yourself you'd like to become.

Mobstr is a bullshit anchor. Let him drag you down to earth.

He posted this dialogue with the image:

Nothing is sacred

"Hey, what you doing?" said an angry Irish voice.

"I am painting this wall," was the reply.

"I am gonna have to report you. That's graffiti."

I finish off painting and respond, "Please don't."

More Mobstr here.

Mobstr stencil aims high

Some new Mobstr causing constructive disruption on the streets. 

See more here.

artist: mobstr

England's Mobstr does street art in the vein of Banksian rhetoric. He's a master of double entendre and subversion. His words are emblazoned in my mind instantly, like in this staircase, saying something we already know but rarely consider.

It gets better.

Last month a "Mobstr vs. Newscastle City Council" series sprouted up across the blogosphere. It's good to see a street artist/human send messages that keep councils wearing chicken outfits. If councils can routinely lull their voters into consenting to "good ideas" that serve the public good/election campaigns, surely voters can launch their own messages back at the council, right?

Graffiti writing is illegal, of course, and might get you banned from driving, but what about messages written in the public domain that are of public interest? As a voter, i'd like to see more of it.

Just because advertising is "sanctioned" for conforming to a "code of conduct", "does" "that" "mean" artists' own forms of mass communication are less deserving of attention? Let's see:

(Newcastle, England)

I like how this piece looks like a big fucking mess. The infantile disregard for symmetry and proportion, the aggressive splashing of unmixed colours (colors, for the Americans xoxo).

(ibid.)

Paint was applied sparingly to the wall; only where it was needed. But the job was done.

(ibid.)

"OI, NEWCASSIE COUNCIL, GO FUCK YOURSELF. LUV U."
- Mobstr.