Graffiti Online

Lately there has been an emergence of sites such as Graffiti PlayDo, which offer would be graffiti artists and ‘vandals’ the opportunity to create street art indoors, from their computers.

The basic premise of the site is pretty simple. As soon as you enter, you put in a name, so you can be whoever you want to be while you do your art. It’s basically to distinguish you from the other artists, and if you’re good enough, you can end up being featured on a wall. That’s a big ‘if’ though.

Then you choose a ‘scene’. This is the fun part. There are four public rooms where you paint with others users. These are called ‘Public room’, where basically anyone can play, and then there are more specific rooms: ‘Old School’ ‘Serious Art’ and ‘No Rules’. In here you can paint whatever you want with aerosol cans. You get a bunch of different colours and spray sizes, as well as shapes such as hearts and starts. (See below) Mucking about in these rooms is fun, you get to see other artists at work, and you contribute to some pretty good looking stuff. My only gripe is that the other artists can rub out your art with their handy dandy cloth tool, which can really get annoying.

However, if you’re not so socially inclined, or actually wanna finish a piece without interruption, you can choose a private room, which you can name anything you want. Again, you can paint whatever you want, this time without interruptions, and your work stays in one piece. I think it goes without saying that this is my favourite room. So, because I like embarrassing myself, here are two screenshots of some art that I did. First attempts, don't laugh. Well, try not to at any rate.

My first two attempts. Yeah, the second isnt much better, and possibly less creative than the first one. I told you it was bad.

So, basically, this site is a good way to get all your creative energy out, without going outside and drawing on the side of someone’s house, and potentially getting arrested. Coz, really, we don’t want that happening.

So, go and paint till your hearts content, and don’t break any laws while you’re at it. I can almost guarantee that anything you paint will be better than mine.

Manual Ocampo - Artist or Trash?

Hey Everyone,
Have a look at this collection of paintings done by Filipino Artist, Manuel Ocampo.

Manuel Ocampo  (born 1965) is an artist from the poor yet Westernised nation of Philippines. His style of art as a Filipino uses alot of Hispanic or Baroque religious iconography. I remember from my trip in Philippines that Roman Catholic religious art is everywhere over there - a legacy left from 300 or so years of colonisation and Christianization by the Spaniards. He also uses alot of symbols of modern culture as well and mixes them in his works with the Christian symbols to create highly politicized, dark, cynical messages and concepts behind them - creating a confronting surrealist world which reflects our own. He comments on the decadence of American culture, the corruption and abuse of the Catholic Church in Philippines and the notion of white supremacy and submission to white ideology which Filipinos have accepted into their psyche after hundreds of years of being corruptingly controlled by Spanish colonialists and than American colonialists. He deeply explores in his art despite the fact that Filipinos are free from colonial rule - colonialism is still deeply rooted in the Filipino status quo and that Filipinos aren't truly free. Futhermore, Ocampo explores darker and sinister aspects about life, art and anything in general. He is truly an inspiring and genius artist and I believe his art deserves to be commended in his own country where he is virtually unknown but is known internationally.

Even though, Ocampo's art contains a strong anti-religious sentiment, Ocampo maintains residence in his home nation of Philippines - in the poor city of Quezon City.

Billy Woodberry, a Filmmaker in an interview comments on Ocampo work says:

"There was something in his craft that evoked a haunting. His works seemed to portray the fallout of the spiritual damage of the Latin American colonized headspace. I was immediately drawn to the power of it. At the same time, Ocampo was undermining the seriousness of the subject matter with a cheeky, playful, irreverent, rude take on race in America that the art world has always treated as so sacrosanct. On the one hand he was laying down some heavy shamanism and on the other he was undermining it – and all in the same strokes. This was really refreshing for me."

 Do you agree with Woodberry? What do you think of Ocampo's art? Do you think he needs to be commended in his nation of Philippines?
That's all for today folks!
Peace out. Make Art Not War.

Huang Yong Ping

Hey Everyone, 

Before you go on reading watch this video about Huang Yong Ping - a Chinese French Artist.

Pretty amazing stuff eh? Do you think his art is beautiful?
However, much of his art even though admired by the West is contentious in his home nation of China and much of his work if exhibited in China is usually banished by the Chinese Government due to it's highly political nature and anti-government sentiment. What do you think? Do you think that he should have freedom to exhibit his art in his homeland and not face any censorship at all? I think so but i'm really pushing for you out there's opinion. Tell me what you think!

Peace out. Make Art Not War.

Iranian unusual protest

It is well-know that it is dangerous to express the dissatisfaction with the existing state system in Iran. People look for usual forms of protest. And, of course, they find it.

Money are money, and in Iran too. I.e. it is prohibited to draw, write, and put stamps on them. But, on the other hand, it is done quiet often. For example, when you exchange rials for dollars, some exchange offices put small business stamp on the notes. It confirms the authenticity of money, and in case of problems (somebody suddenly decides that these dollars are fake) police can find the one who sold it.

Now, Iranian opposition figures started to stamp revolutionary images and slogans on rials. Of course, the head of the National Bank has already expressed his protest against the damage of state property. And, deputies of the Majlis expressed their idea to invalidate such bank notes. But there are too many of them already and anyone can get a revolutionary greeting.

Death only to the dictator!

You never said where is your 63 percent (a reference to the fact that the demonstrations in support of Ahmadinejad always has very few people).

You, appointed, be afraid of the dust storm! (After the elections, Ahmadinejad called the opposition on the streets 'the dust')

Above: Not our Sohrab died, the authority died.

Below: (in the icon instead of the swastika should be the word "Allah", it is the emblem of the Iranian national television) Our television is our shame.

We did not have your black name in our green ballots (about Ahmadinejad)

"Berlin marks 20th anniversary of wall's fall"

Fireworks illuminate the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Monday as part of the celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Tens of thousands lined the route where the wall once stood.

Thousands of cheering Germans re-enacted the electrifying moment the Berlin Wall came crashing down — toppling 1,000 graffiti-adorned 8-foot-tall dominoes that tumbled along the route of the now vanished Cold War icon, celebrating 20 years of freedom from separation and fear.

The spectacle — billed by organizers as a metaphor for the way the real wall came down 20 years ago Monday and the resulting fall of communist countries in eastern Europe — was one of several events to mark the anniversary and celebrate the profound change it had not only Germany, but Europe and the world.

Chancellor Angela Merkel — the first east German to hold the job — called the fall of the wall an "epic" moment in history. "For me, it was one of the happiest moments of my life," Merkel said.

Yet she also recalled the tragic side of Nov. 9 for Germans — the Nazi's Kristallnacht — or Night of Broken Glass — anti-Semitic pogrom 71 years ago. At least 91 German Jews were killed, hundreds of synagogues destroyed, and thousands of Jewish businesses vandalized and looted in the state-sanctioned riots that night.

"Both show that freedom is not self evident," Merkel said. "Freedom must be fought for. Freedom must be defended time and again. Freedom is the most valuable commodity in our political and social system."

'Gorby! Gorby!'
Earlier, Merkel and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev crossed a former fortified border on Monday to cheers of "Gorby! Gorby!" as a throng of grateful Germans recalled the night 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall gave way to their desire for freedom and unity.
Within hours of a confused announcement on Nov. 9, 1989, that East Germany was lifting travel restrictions, hundreds of people streamed into the enclave that was West Berlin, marking a pivotal moment in the collapse of communism in Europe.

Merkel, who was one of thousands to cross that night, recalled that "before the joy of freedom came, many people suffered."

She lauded Gorbachev, with whom she shared an umbrella amid a crush of hundreds, eager for a glimpse of the man many still consider a hero for his role in pushing reform in the Soviet Union.

"We always knew that something had to happen there so that more could change here," she said.

"You made this possible — you courageously let things happen, and that was much more than we could expect," she told Gorbachev in front of several hundred people gathered in light drizzle on the bridge over railway lines.

Tears sprang to the eyes of Uwe Kross, a 65-year-old retiree, who recalled seeing the start of the drama on Nov. 9, 1989, from his home, a block away from the bridge.
'Everyone poured through'

"That night, you couldn't stop people," Kross said. "They lifted the barrier and everyone poured through.

"We saw it first on TV; normally it was very quiet up here, but that night we could hear the footsteps of those crossing, tap, tap, tap."

Kross was among those who crossed early on — so early that nobody was yet waiting on the other side when they reached the West. He recalled hopping on the first subway to then-West Berlin's main boulevard, the Kurfuerstendamm. "All hell was breaking loose there," Kross said.

Merkel also welcomed Poland's 1980s pro-democracy leader, Lech Walesa, to the former crossing, saying that his Solidarity movement provided "incredible encouragement" to East Germans.

The leaders were joined by prominent former East Germans such as Joachim Gauck, an ex-pastor who later oversaw the archives of East Germany's secret police, the Stasi.

"Those in government thought they were opening a valve, but once it was open much more happened," Gauck said of the border opening. "A collapse followed."

The bridge crossing was one of a series of events marking Monday's anniversary of the border's opening after the wall kept East German citizens penned in for 28 years.

Bon Jovi, Beethoven

Music from Bon Jovi and Beethoven recalled the joy of the border's opening, which led to German reunification less than a year later and the swift demolition of most of the wall — which snaked for 96 miles (155 kilometers) around West Berlin, a capitalist enclave deep inside East Germany.

Memorials were held for the 136 people killed trying to cross the border and candles were lit.