Covered in colorful murals by a variety of artists, this house in Oakland features the work of Doodles. Doodles’s work interweaves elements of folklore, magic and spirituality, enchanting the viewer with his shaman-like characters and hypnotizing details.
This mural by P.nitas interweaves elements of elegance and silliness in its hazy clouds of white, teal and pink spraypaint. The juxtaposition of the smaller figures above the larger one seem to suggest that the girl at the bottom of the work is dreaming or imagining the demented-looking faces and lactating banana boobs emerging from her head.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I am very thankful for everyone who reads this little blog, everyone who has ever commented and, of course, I am extremely thankful for the support and kind words I’ve received from friends.
In case you’re wondering, the mural in the photo is from Clarion alley in the Mission. Have a happy holiday! I am currently out of the Bay Area visiting family so posting will be kind of slow/nonexistent for the next few days.
Though this mural says SKARY, it’s really cute. Who could be afraid of blue, purple and pink bubbles and swirly arrow shapes? I saw this in San Francisco and it’s exquisitely done. Note the wide variety of patterns within and outside of the letters; I especially like the linear pink shapes that overlap the bubbles, they add nice contrast. The paint splatters and stars in the background add to the piece’s playfulness.
I was in the City this weekend and saw this mural by Lush, an Australian street artist-provocateur. Um yeah, so this lady’s brains and eyeballs are being blown out. Pretty cool. The buffed area to the left of the mural makes me think perhaps there might have been a (possibly more violent) continuation of the picture. Lush has a knack for drawing beautiful female faces but using them for purposes that aren’t as easy to look at. The black outline around the figure and the letters give the whole piece a cartoonish vibe, which mellows the shock of those exploding brains ‘n stuff.
This new postal sticker appeared in my neighborhood; I was really stoked because I saw a large mural by Tune Out in Oakland recently, so I was happy that Berkeley got some love as well. “Apathy is not a healthy ideology,” reads this one. Tune Out always uses (cute) televisions as his/her subject matter and emblazons the screen with some kind of logo or design. This sticker looks like it was done in marker. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some trashy TV, but I do agree that social apathy is a notable characteristic of our society. I like that Tune Out uses social commentary without alienating or attacking the viewer–it’s more like a gentle nudge towards action.
P.S. Here’s the Tune Out mural from Oakland I mentioned:
This find this mural really damn hilarious. The dead man and the living one both hate politics, which resonates quite strongly with the cynicism and apathy of today’s intellectual climate (or mine, at least). The artist used marker for the details; the fine lines intensify the facial expressions, especially the eyes. I like how the colors of the man and the colors of the skull are inverted. The orange dominates the sides of the painting but the blue is in the center–it’s so harmonious and symmetrical despite the contrasting colors.
Sorry there was no post yesterday, loyal readers, I had to take a lazy Sunday off. While going about my business in Oakland I stumbled upon this new mural, which can be by no others than BDS.
“Creat Life” depicts six females in acts of artistic creation. My close-up shots aren’t very close because the mural is in a lot behind a locked fence, so it was a bit tricky. Typical of BDS style, writing and doodles are visible within the colored background. It’s interesting how the artists switched up their usual illustration-heavy approach to representing the face and gave these women dynamic, vivid facial expressions. But despite the life motif, the women resemble robots or androids with their hinged kneecaps and shoulders. Maybe it’s implying that art is something superhuman.
The second woman from the left holds a can of spray paint. Street art can seem like a boys’ club a lot of the time, and while there are female graffiti writers and street artists, it’s rare for a collective of male artists to pay tribute to their feminine counterparts in such a way. This isn’t about appreciating the female’s beauty from the outside, it’s about the power within females to consciously create beauty through art or otherwise. The last figure on the right is holding papers, so maybe she’s a writer. It’s nice to feel appreciated sometimes.
