The Crooked » CITIES

Banned in Boston: Obey Shepard Fairey!

Mr. Jones — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:09:55 +0000

Unfortunately for the City of Boston, the legendary street artist Shepard Fairey pleaded guilty to three vandalism charges which included a deal that bans him from carrying stickers, posters, wheat paste, brushes, and other tools of the graffiti trade for two years. Ironically, the morning of his arrest, Boston Mayor Mumbles Menino shakes hands with Shepard at the unveiling of his ‘Peace Goddess’ banner that hung on the side of City Hall for months. Banned in Boston is a phrase that became famous during the 1920s when the Boston officials had the authority to ban works which they deemed to have ‘objectionable’ content. Many publishers actually sought to have their books banned in Boston because they knew the label would increase their sales in the rest of the country. I like to believe that Shepard pulled the wool over the Boston PD’s eyes and carefully crafted his arrest as a marketing strategy.

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Upper Playground X Alex Pardee X N8 Van Dyke X Sam Flores

Mr. Jones — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:09:43 +0000

On a warm summer day, Boston was graced with an appearance from Upper Playground artists Alex Pardee, Sam Flores & N8Van Dyke. I will lead you from start to finish on this wall, starting with the pre-existing ’Underground’ Snowboards bomb.

– A FRESH BUFF TO GET THINGS STARTED –

RIP NACE

Mr. Jones — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:40:04 +0000

Nace is name that I knew very well, but I never had the honor of knowing him personally. To be honest, when he was killing the graffiti scene, I was just wack. Sadly, on August 12th, 2001 Nace was tragically killed in a car accident, but his name still lives on today through his own work and the memorials from others.

These images bring us back to the dirty Jersey in 2008. I was on my way to the shore and was documenting the work I found along the highways. It is not a surprise that even after 8 years, his influence is still at the heart of the Jersey graffiti scene. By the looks of it, his name will live on with a little help from the local writers. I will leave you with some thoughts I found on a thread still updated in his memory.

man 8 years ago….its amazing how much stuff you can still find running out there, i hope it stays that way for a long time….rest in peace naceo we’ll never forget you

rest in peace my friend…..there has rarely been a day i haven’t thought about you in these 8 years….naceo forever — chip7.mayhem

R.I.P my DF brother. You were a graff king and will not be forgotten. — emit

Nimbin: Dwel

Mr. Jones — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:27:03 +0000

After dropping into the archives to show off Xpence, I could not continue on without showing off some sweet images of another Nimbin artist, Dwel.

Nimbin: XPENCE

Mr. Jones — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:02:49 +0000

This post takes us all the way down under to Nimbin, Australia to check out a slick graffiti writer known as Xpence. For those of you that know about Nimbin, I don’t have to tell you about how truly different this community is. To those of you who are scratching your head, let me clue you in a little bit. Nimbin is what you could call the ‘Amsterdam’ of Australia, if, Amsterdam was a sketchy hippy community isolated in the mountains. You could tour the ‘weed’ museum or head straight for the ganja bar. There you might find a bartender who is so lost puffing on opium that his vocabulary is limited to about 7 words of English. Deep down inside I got the sense that these ‘hippies’ were only peddling weed to support other, more serious, drug habits. Either way the dope is dope!

Brooklyn Zoo

Mr. Jones — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:14:01 +0000

This past weekend I packed up the car and headed down to NY to visit some friends. There is no better city on the East Coast for street art than NY and from my experience, Brooklyn is the best borough. Instead of embracing this cultural gift, the city of New York is using ever more advanced methods of combating street artists.

Nekst is one of my favorite bombers doing work these days. I have seen his work invade cities and over power local writers in no time. My companions ducked into a packy and while I waited outside I caught this Sarz tag. It made me think about the weight the word Sarz use to carry and how it seems to have been all but forgotten now that the Swine Flu is in town. I’m sure the media will continue to come up with the latest and greatest epidemic that we should be worrying over.

The next pictures were taken by my friend T.Woods. She was our tour guide to Williamsburg and found us some great Thai food at Sea. I do not know who created that stencil, but the texture and layers excite me. The fine detail on the Yankee fitted is just too nice.

Filthy Mouths Lead to…

Mr. Jones — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:28:05 +0000

Filthy mouths lead to filthy lives, filled with filthy kids and filthy lives. I currently find myself at war with the cigarette industry. I spent a portion of high school and college as a smoker, but eventually grew old of the whole scene. Having to smell terrible and suffer through a New England winter for a little nicotine loses its charm really fast.

Cigarettes have been marketed as the cool thing to do, especially to the youth. They are readily accessible to underage smokers everywhere.

Elvis has Left the Building

Mr. Jones — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:29:30 +0000

The work of Shepard Fairey has always interested me. I liketo think of myself as a true fan. One that was down before the hope hype elevated him to ‘rock star’ status.

For those of you who do not know, Mr. Fairey was arrested by the Boston Police on the way into his first museum show at the Institute of Contemporary Art. This seems to be a political stunt performed by the BPD to assert their power over the local street art community.

This image opens a discuss about street art that interests me. There is a significant number of layers and details in this piece and the craftsmanship leads me to conclude that this was one of the multiple legal locations donated to him for his debut at the ICA. Should we really consider this street art? By literal definition this is art and it is on a street, but to me it comes close to that fine line. My opinion is bias though, because I grew up with graffiti in my blood. I wish I could of caught this before someone decided to stencil ‘society’ over this. I have been photographing Mr. Fairey’s work for years now, and he seems to always get scribbled on.

** I was driving by this again the other day and I can confirm that Mr. Fairey seems to have a lot of haters in the street art world. I wonder if they really enjoy his work, but think that this will make them famous?

The Screamin’ Demon

Mr. Jones — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:18:57 +0000

This stencil caught my eye on the way to photograph the Head of the Charles river race. After a beautiful afternoon of shooting I was on my way back and stumbled onto this amazing scene. The demon boy seems to me shocked at the events unfolding before his eyes. What really interest me is the women in the skirt. FYI the Head of the Charles is raced in October and on this particular day it was brutally cold.

HELLO CRUEL WORLD!!

Mr. Jones — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:57:34 +0000

This blog is my latest project I have give myself. I will be using this space to document street art from my travels around the world. I wanted to create a space to share the things that I have discovered along the way. I hope you like what you see and come back many times.

My first post starts us off in jolly old Boston. I was in Allston on my way to pick up our broken computer and stumbled onto this gem. There is something special about graffiti artists and the way that they label themselves. Is this artist really horny, as the name would suggest? Or did they just find it funny to write this sexual term all over the place? Are they trapped in a shell of sexual frustration and have chosen this as an outlet to ease their troubles? All I can say is that this person has been killing the area and every time I see that name, I laugh inside.