Karl Haendel – Scribble (digital rendering), NYC

Karl Haendel – Scribble, 2009, paint on brick, NYC

Karl Haendel – Scribble, 2009, paint on brick, NYC

Karl Haendel, Public Scribble #2, 2009, paint on brick, 5,5 x 19,5m, Los Angeles

Karl Haendel, Public Scribble #2, 2009, paint on brick, 5,5 x 19,5m, Los Angeles

Karl Haendel, Public Scribble #2, 2009, paint on brick, 5,5 x 19,5m, Los Angeles

In 2009, Los Angeles based artist Karl Haendel made two large scribble murals, one was his first public installation in New York, the other, a similar painting, was executed in Los Angeles. His gigantic scribbles are an anti heroic gesture with roots in street art, public mark making and a universal means of communication.

To put one of these scribbles on the side of a building of course engages a dialogue with graffiti and street art, and this became a central concern as well as an inspiration. My scribble work, because its an anonymous mark and one that anybody could make, I hope will draw attention to the simple need to make a mark, and I hope it makes people think about gesture, pure expression, and the straightforward act of creation. These are tendencies that I think are not only fundamental to art making, but to life in general, and are imperatives that most people I hope can relate to.

Karl Haendel (b. 1976) owns and individualizes the world of popular culture by re-drawing it in his own vision, cleverly manipulating scale, composition, and juxtaposition to uncannily transform ordinary images into witty perspectives on contemporary life. He received his MFA from UCLA in 2003 and has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Harris Lieberman, New York; Anna Helwing Gallery, Los Angeles. His work has also been included in such notable exhibitions as the 2004 and 2008 California Biennials and Uncertain States of America, a touring exhibition that originated at the Astrup Fearnley Museum for Modern Art, Oslo, and traveled to Serpentine Gallery, London, and the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, among other venues.

Photos: #2: Michael Shaw, #4,5,6: Courtesy of the artist, LA><ART, Los Angeles and Kelly Barrie

Video

Photos

School Bus, 2012

School Bus, 2012

School Bus, 2012

Barbara Kruger wrapped a school bus, addressing the importance of arts education in Los Angeles public schools.

Barbara Kruger’s work is universally known for its bold, eye-catching design, and philosophical themes. The artist’s project for Arts Matter, a philanthropic organization, rendered in Kruger’s signature style, addressed directly and urgently the importance of education, especially in the arts. Kruger’s statement, Art is as heavy as sorrow, as light as a breeze, as bright as an idea.. emphasizes the fluid nature of art. At the same time, Kruger stresses that art remains a crucial, indispensible part of a successful educational system. School Bus also references an earlier bus wrap Kruger created for New York City’s Public Art Fund in 1997.

About Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger is an artist based in Los Angeles and New York and is one of the most renowned contemporary artists working today. For over three decades her work has encompassed a broad spectrum of contexts and scales, ranging from publication inserts to immersive installations that involve text, images, and video. Kruger’s work has appeared in museums and galleries worldwide.

> visit lafund.org for information about bus routes and Kruger’s billboards

(Photos: #1,2 by Steve Cohn, #3 by Joshua White)

Yesterday LA artist Saber hired five jet planes to skywrite with smoke over City Hall and downtown Los Angeles. He used this new approach to write his name and fellows artists and crews, like Revok, Tempt, MSK, LTS, Risky, Ayer and Dream, and also to convey his message which says Art is not a crime. End mural moratorium: twitter at end mural moratorium. With this 45min lasting action saber tries to bring awareness to the recent city’s efforts to ban public art and having it removed by using the money of taxpayers. The city of LA spends +10.000.000US$ to stop graffiti, but none to support legal mural programs. Furthermore, there has been a huge dispute about the practices of private graffiti removal companies, who sometimes illegally break into private property to cover commissioned murals by established artists such as Os Gemeos or Retna. The documentary Vigilante Vigilante: The Battle for Expression, released in cinemas worldwide last month, covers these illegal techniques and their practitioners, who essentially use graffiti to fight graffiti, in depth.

Saber, well-known for executing the world’s largest graffiti piece in 1997, furthermore claims, that the city is threatening owners of small businesses with fines if they don’t remove the murals painted on their stores, and therefore trying to earn money on graffiti by yet another method.

> more about the petition here

> sign the petition here

(via arrestedmotion.com, lataco.com)