Shepard Fairey's May Day opening at Detich Projects drew a crowd of locals and celebrities who were fans of the street artist's work. Open through May 29th at 18 Wooster Street, the exhibit coincides with Fairey's pop-up clothing store and his SoHo mural, which may have been painted without a permit. Fairey said of his work, “These people I’m portraying were all revolutionary, in one sense or another. They started out on the margins of culture and ended up changing the mainstream. When we celebrate big steps that were made in the past, it reminds us that big steps can be made in the future.” more ›

Every other Monday for the past few months word mavens, twenty/thirty-something (we hate the word too) hipsters and perhaps Sealfon fans, have been flocking over to Pete's Candy Store for PBR and...spelling bee's! Tomorow night will be no different, except for that it's the FINALS. That's right, the Williamsburg Spelling Bee finals, where only one speller will reign victorious. Past winners have included a librarian, an SAT teacher, and an ESL instructor. more ›

Street art gets the drill down from the NY Times today, with a look at the emergence of people who use paint, wheat paste, and more to create a version of art beyond grafitti. Reporter Kirk Semple speaks to Swoon and Obey Giant's Shepard Fairey, as well the Wooster Collective, about the lofty motivations, but the author of INY, Kelly Burns, sums it up well, "[Breaking the law is what] people really love about it: getting over on the man." But some other artists don't get over on the man: De La Vega was found guilty last month. more ›

I'm in an alternative art collective sort of mood today. FAILE has a cool Flash site- their stencil and poster art feels like stuff I did with Amol back in 1997. RetardRiot also has a pretty cool site and does a lot of urban art projects... both studios are at the Big Group Show with Honest in DUMBO later this month... I also like some of the print work at ESM... my favorite underground art collective is still rtmark, which perpetrates an amazing array of anti-corporate performance and political art. Similar stuff can be found at stuffit and politicalgraphics... Thinking about this makes me want to look at some good stencil art: Berlin Stencils... Michael De Feo's graffiti flowers... Berlin Bananas... latin stencils... cleansurface... stencil graffiti archives... and last but never least, Obey Giant.
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