Street Art

TEMPT ONE, the Paralyzed L.A. Graffiti Artist Who Draws With His Eyes, Tells Us About His New Documentary

Anyone that is a fan of American graffiti art knows about the legacy of TEMPT ONE. His iconic hand style, taking from his Chinese and Mexican roots, is believed by a lot of fellow graffiti artists to have helped put Los Angeles on the map. He is known for harmonizing the precision of Chinese calligr ... More >>

Chris Brown's Art: The L.A. Weekly Review

Street art is a commentary on the nature of ownership, and the push-pull between public and private property. Using the city as a stolen canvas is in and of itself an artistic statement that art hemmed into the confines of a gallery or museum could never make. The questions that street art raises ... More >>

10 Best L.A. Art Galleries For Partying

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *25 Alternative L.A. Art Spaces to Check Out Now *10 Places in L.A. to Draw Nude Models With something like 400 modern and contemporary art galleries in L.A., and aesthetic taste being so subjective, picking just ten of the city's "best" galleries i ... More >>

Lance Armstrong Graffiti Pops Up On Melrose; Is It Banksy's Work?

Updated at the bottom: We figured out who the artist is. First posted at 6:09 a.m. Leave it to Los Angeles, the street-art capital of the nation if not the world, to come up with graffiti satire in the wake of cyclist Lance Armstrong's doping admission. This Banksy-esque take on the controversy, a ... More >>

Shepard Fairey Street Art Mural Defaced on La Brea -- and This Goes on Globally

Everyone is a critic. Even taggers. Shepard Fairey, a widely known street artist who often garners mixed reviews, has been panned with graffiti spray-painted over a fifty-foot wall piece on 2nd Street and La Brea Boulevard. At the scene, a property manager was noticeably disturbed by the tagging ov ... More >>

From China to Pompeii: Your Weekly Movie To-Do List

Our weekly list of special event movies to see this week: Friday, Oct. 12 Dying to take that long-overdue visit to the Getty Villa? The museum's outdoor film series, presented in conjunction with its exhibition "The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection," might just be the great ... More >>

Manny Castro's Chick-fil-A Vandalism Avoids Felony Prosecution

Manny Castro, the gay artist and provocateur who proudly publicized the work he did on the side of a Torrance Chick-fil-A (he painted "Tastes Like Hate" in response to the chain's stance against same-sex marriage) is getting off. Sort of. The L.A. County District Attorney's office late yesterday d ... More >>

A Guide to L.A.'s Jewish Street Art

Most Angelenos wouldn't associate Jews with spray paint and wheat-paste, but what about murals? Twenty years ago, before the city began a war on street art and pushed murals and graffiti underground, targeting artists with lawsuits and jail time, the city's diverse communities embraced a flourishing ... More >>

L.A. Tagging Crews Could Now Get Gang-Like 'Injunctions', Thanks to City Attorney's Settlement With MTA Vandals

L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich won a huge battle today in his war against the city's taggers and street artists. He settled with eight alleged members of a prolific Los Angeles tagging crew called the "Metro Transit Assassins," responsible for America's largest tag along the L.A. River. The pi ... More >>

West Coast Artist's (WCA) Crew Opens First Ever Major Group Show in Chinatown

California and more specifically Los Angeles is one of the most influential hubs for graffiti art in the world. And long before wealthy collectors and mainstream recognition gave "street art" respect and accessibility in the art world (both a good and bad thing depending on who you talk to and what ... More >>

Paper-Mache Surfer Rides Los Angeles River -- Part of Ongoing Street-Art Project Downtown

A street-art duo consisting of New York transplant Calder Greenwood and an anonymous accomplice have been leaving little paper-mache presents all over downtown L.A. They started with the now-famous sunbathers, a family of mannequins who pitched their umbrella and sunned their limbs on a dirt plot a ... More >>

Mysterious Case of the Downtown L.A. Sunbathers Solved!

An anonymous tipster (who we would totally bear-hug if he weren't so damn anonymous) has lifted the veil on yesterday's big street-art mystery: Who planted three paper-mache sunbathers in the abandoned lot at 1st and Broadway? Curbed LA, the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly and LA Observed all joined i ... More >>

L.A. Artist Installs Paper-Mache Sunbathers on Downtown Dirt Plot, Abandoned Since 2007

Here's one way to comment on long-neglected construction blight: Put some paper-mache on it! Perhaps frustrated, like the rest of us, that it has taken the federal government five years (and counting) to figure out what they're doing with the plot of dirt at 1st and Broadway, an unidentified street ... More >>

Carmen Trutanich, L.A. City Attorney, Tramples the Rights of Pot Smokers, Street Artists and Protesters

Shepard Fairey, Saber to Discuss L.A. City Mural Ordinance at Public Panel Discussion

An unprecedented meeting of street artists and political artists will happen tonight in downtown L.A. Expected to attend: Shepard Fairey and Saber. Los Angeles, of course, is a graffiti art hot spot and a onetime mural capital of the world. But a city law against public murals made putting one up i ... More >>

Art Show 2011

Devin 'Thor' Dickey, Young Valley Tagger, Arrested by Burbank Police for Vandalism -- 'Just the Start' of Crackdown on Graffiti Crew

pixiecanfly via Tumblr​Burbank police announce today that two young taggers they arrested on November 3 -- Devin Dickey, 20, and an unnamed 16-year-old girl -- are possibly facing felony charges after they allegedly vandalized multiple pieces of property across the San Fernando Valley. Invest ... More >>

Cheating Charter Schools

Urban Art in Paradise

Tomas Benson, Alleged to be Tagger 'Reuts,' Wanted: Deputies Say Graffiti Crew Members Like Him 'Pass Themselves Off as Artists'

LASD.Mad dog Ruets.​Authorities are searching for a graffiti tagger they say has ties to noted artist Revok. Tomas Benson, 28, paints under the moniker Ruets and has ties to Mad Society Kings, a group described by sheriff's officials as a tagging crew to which Revok, featured in the wildly su ... More >>

The Great Wall of Topanga: The Canyon's Drive-Through Art Gallery

Courtesy of Rick DenmanA view of the Great Wall of Topanga in its glory days​ Is there anything in L.A. that someone hasn't thought of converting into a drive-through? Art galleries are a rare exception, but on Topanga Canyon, that's about to change, too. Commuters through the canyon might ha ... More >>

Dispatches From the So Wrong It's Right Dept.

Risk and Retna Secretly Paint a Santa Monica House for Heal the Bay

Shannon CottrellHeal the Bay House in progress​ In 2008, a deco-style fortress built in the '50s and originally belonging to a prominent family in Santa Monica fell into foreclosure in the middle of an extensive renovation. Until three months ago it stood vacant, an eerie house on a bluff with ... More >>

Graffiti Gourmet (Does Anyone Get That Joke? Eydie Gorme? Anyone?)

MOCA's 'Art in the Streets' Exhibit Racks Up Record-Breaking Attendance

Gregory Bojorquez, courtesy of MOCAInstallation of the "Art in the Streets" exhibit at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, way back when​ MOCA's "Art in the Streets" exhibit, which ended two days ago, has turned out to be the biggest show in the museum's history, with an attendance of over 200,0 ... More >>

No Age - MOCA - 8/7/11

David GreenwaldNo Age performs at MOCA​No Age MOCA 8/7/11 Better than... A Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. Sunday night's show was a strangely modern intersection of corporate invasion and countercultural retaliation: No Age, L.A.'s leading independent experimentalists, clos ... More >>

Anthony Lister, Superhero Street Artist, Launches Junk Food Art House at HVW8 Art Design

Anthony Lister​ Friday night at HVW8 Art Design Gallery, SoCal-based vintage T-shirt company Junk Food Clothing debuted "Junk Food Art House," a new series that draws on collaborations with both established and up-and-coming creative professionals. To help launch the multidisciplinary initia ... More >>

Corey Helford Gallery History: Six Standouts in the Last Five Years

Photo by Shannon Cottrell​ At LA Weekly, we've always liked Corey Helford's mix of high/low art, from cute to cool to downright creepy. As the gallery celebrates its fifth anniversary with its current show "Zero to Sixty," which closes today, we thought we'd look back at six standout shows.

Street Art's Five-Year Plan

Mr. Brainwash Supports Revok's Legal Bills With Limited Edition Print Never Give Up

Mr. BrainwashNever Give Up, a print by Mr. Brainwash supporting Revok​ Two weeks ago, the L.A. street artist Revok ended his six-month prison sentence amid fans pushing for his release. Revok was one of the participating artists in the groundbreaking 'Art in the Streets' MOCA exhibit -- then w ... More >>

Revok, Graffiti Artist Featured in MOCA's 'Art in the Streets' Exhibition, Out of Jail

Gregory BojorquezRevok.​The "Free Revok" movement can kick back and relax. Street artist Revok, part of the MOCA's groundbreaking "Art in the Streets" exhibition, is out of jail following a six-month sentence for failing to pay restitution to victims of his graffiti. He announced his freedo ... More >>

Mr. Brainwash Strikes Again! New Piece Sets Venue for His First L.A. Show Since Exit Through the Gift Shop

Shannon Cottrell​ Consider yourself warned. Mr. Brainwash, aka Thierry Guetta, the real guy/fake artist star of Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop is bringing another of his art shows to Los Angeles, and, as evidenced by the new explosion of wheatpaste and red paint on the corner of La Brea a ... More >>

JR Blows Through Town and Leaves More "Wrinkles of the City"

Shannon Cottrell​JR just blew through town for 48 hours on his way to Japan and left behind two new walls. Both pieces are part of his ongoing "Wrinkles of the City: LA" project, something he started back in February that the LA Weekly has mapped for your street art pleasure. The subjects are ... More >>

Wrangling Art's Cowboys

"Art in the Streets" Press Preview: Deitch, Gastman, Rose, Fab 5 Freddy and More

Patrick Range McDonaldThe crowd watches the curators speak at the "Art in the Streets" press preview​ Journalists, artists, museum administrators and other members of the art community -- a few hundred, it seemed -- came out for the press preview of MOCA's "Art in the Streets" exhibit yesterd ... More >>

Art in the Streets

Porn Star Stencils Spotted on Melrose

​After spending a couple hours at Adultcon on Saturday, we'd swore off adult entertainment for a while, but this tidbit from AfterDark LA was a bit too intriguing to pass up. Spreading her spray-painted message along with all the other hip vandals on Melrose and Fairfax is a genuine porn star ... More >>

Banksy Boy-With-Gun Art in Westwood Vandalized; Singer Pia Mia Has the Photos

Pia MiaBanksy's boy soldier gets splashed with paint.​Looks like the latest twist for British guerrilla artist Banksy is Friday night/Saturday morning vandalism for his attention-getting boy-with-a-gun piece in Westwood. Teen singer Pia Mia, who has taken to serenading the work behind a Westw ... More >>

Banksy in L.A: 14-Year-Old Singer Pia Mia Serenades Banksy Artwork in Westwood (Video)

YouTubePia Mia sings for Banksy.​British guerrilla artist Banksy has stirred up quite a whirlwind of media, emotion and debate over his street pieces, spotted around L.A. recently in advance of his shot at an Academy Award for Exit Through the Gift Shop. A crowd gathered and hurumphed earlier ... More >>

Six-Figure Banksy Piece Ripped From Sunset Boulevard Billboard Just Not Good Enough For CBS Outdoor

Ted SoquiBanksy is just not CBS Outdoor material.​Banksy might be a world-renowned street artist whose work can fetch six-figure prices. But don't tell that to CBS Outdoor, the advertising company that ripped the Brit's "Livin' the Dream" piece from a billboard above Sunset and Crescent Heigh ... More >>

Banksy Art Worth Six Figures Ripped Down From Sunset Boulevard Billboard, Crumpled Up in a Ball

MELROSEandFAIRFAXBanksy blasts L.A.​Update: Video of the take-down added after the jump. British guerrilla artist Banksy has quietly been ninja-footing through town, putting up his signature images in the days before the Academy Awards, where his Exit Through the Gift Shop is up for an Oscar. ... More >>

Banksy Facebook Protest Erupts to Protect Westwood Graffiti Art (New Photos)

Ted SoquiBanksy's telltale work in Westwood.​Photos by Ted Soqui L.A. art lovers are banding together on Facebook in an attempt to prevent the removal of another Banksy piece in the city. This after ...

The 2010 Village Voice/L.A. Weekly Film Poll

From best to worst, the results are in

Montana LA, Newly Opened Spray Paint-Can Store In Echo Park, Insists They're Promoting Art And Not Tagging

Steve La​Montana LA, a newly opened art boutique selling spray paint in Echo Park, caters to graffiti artists who create murals and other rich displays of creativity in Los Angeles. While the shop has become a hit with local artists, as first reported on the blog The Eastsider, some critics fear t ... More >>

Graffiti Art

Banksy Revealed?

The Zorro of street art talks about his new film, Los Angeles and, of course, Mr. Brainwash

Writing the Trains: Graffiti on Freight Cars

You Dropped a Bomb on Mi Casa

Mr. Brainwash Bombs L.A.

A DIY art spectacle only money and moxie could buy

Going Up in L.A.

Ruben Martinez hangs out with the city's Graffiti writers