Shepard Fairey, although born of eastern blood, has become somewhat synonymous with the LA urban art scene. So it was fitting that when the new owners of the LA Marathon were looking for someone to design the 25th anniversary commemorative poster, they turned to his Studio Number One. Cleon Peterson designed the commemorative poster, which not only includes three L.A.- area icons, but also the start of one of the largest marathons in the world and 2009 women’s champion Tatiana Petrova of Russia.

David Maisel takes beautiful photographs, and this is something wholly unremarkable. He stands apart and above by way of razor-sharp subjects and heady concepts.

Born in Amsterdam in 1967, Niels Muelman became ‘Shoe’ at the age of 12, tagging through teenage nights while the form was barely out of its diapers. Six years later he was infamous, co-founding the still-esteemd Crime Time Kings crew and transitioning to commercial lettering work.
The genre of ‘calligraffiti’ owes its genesis to Meulman’s mentor [...]

A ton of random stuff happened in the last year, from deaths of superstars and some pretty close friends. We got a new president, and a bunch more reality TV which started to mirror the scandalous lives of sports figures. 2009 may have been the most historical year for changes in many ages, but there’s still really not much else to say about these dramatic shifts — other than LET’S PARTY!

So far, everything new we’ve heard/seen from Massive Attack, the Led Zeppelin of dark downtempo grooves, has been brilliant – from the amazing “Pray For Rain” featuring TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe to the waaaaaay NSFW video for the song “Paradise Circus”, which also has a great vocal from Mazzy Star chanteuse Hope Sandoval. So it’s no surprise that the limited vinyl edition of Massive Attack’s “Splitting The Atom” e.p. – its only physical would be so artistic and collectable.

Damien Hirst and Supreme have a long-standing relationship, and the wild-child artist has taken an opportunity to work with them again via a series of skate decks. While the design is clean, striking and modern, it is a previous Hirst work that’s also being revisited.

Ryan McGinness is creating language with his art. Using symbols, iconography and corporate logos, he brings new context through repetition and juxtaposition, his pieces construct “worlds within worlds,” according to him. McGinness is one of the few artists today that blurs the lines between design and pop culture, sometimes taking the route of performance art.

The extra cool part of relocating to a new (yet familiar) city is you get to rekonnect with the original and true school crews from back in the day ! You also get to see what the new school and international dons have to offer and that my friends we hope to see this Saturday Oct 3 at the opening of ‘The SITE of Now’ show curated by Tyler Gibney of HVW8 at Royal/T in Culver City LA.

San Francisco’s Barry McGee a/k/a Twist is one of the ambassadors from the grafitti to gallery art scene. His murals have made their way from bus stops to CD packages over the years. Now he is coming to Southern California…

Last week we posted a story about the London Police taking on the Dutch authorities who told them to remove a public mural, and we applaud their activism. We’re even more excited about their antics when they come to LA this week for a show called “Brothers in Arms,” a celebration of their ten year anniversary.

The London Police are a Dutch artist crew who do some amazing black and white art, art that is simple, sort of pop art mural. They got shot down by the local Amdam city council for painting a dope mural without permission. So I think they are excused for the rant they had in response to the bad decision.

As we’ve followed the Bicycle Film Festival on its trek across North America, here in Los Angeles we’ve been somewhat jealous waiting, just like we’ve been jealous waiting for any comprehensive bike transportation in this city. Still, we’ve managed to hang on to some amazing artists which will be part of the Festival’s scavenger hunt of talent, Joyride LA.

It’s kind of spirit affirming when you find out an artist that has become fodder for mainstream radio actually has other creative talents. It may not mean that they are good at the “other job” but it does mean they have perspective. Mike Shinoda, Linkin Park’s main production guiding force, is having another gallery show for his series “Glorious Excess”…

Retna is a highly regarded grafitti artist turned contemporary gallery artist. His tag RETNA was seen throughout the 1990s across urban Los Angeles, though his introduction to LA’s mural culture is where he found his largest impact. His intricate line-work, reminiscent of fellow Angeleno Chaz Boroquez…

Jose Parla is the man. He has steathly created hysteria over textural paintscapes on wood and canvas, with a foundation in grafitti but an eye to the future. His work gives a nod to forebearers like Futura and even Rammellzee’s Gothic Futurism, yet Parla has a firm grasp of his own complex layers…

No doubt Miles Davis would have been a skater had he been from this new generation. In fact, it would be easy to compare him to someone like Tommy Guererro or Lupe Fiasco, who have the birth of cool down, as well as skill-sets that mix skate and music.

While the untidy drawings and adjoining texts may seem the work of a snotty adolescent, if you haven’t discovered and read David Shrigley you are missing a healthy dose of absurdist, slightly disturbed and dead on cultural commentary seemingly absent in print since Matt Groenig.

Ed Templeton may not have been the first skater to put his energy into canvas, but he may be one of the best — creating some of his best work while simultaneously winning skate competitions and kudos. The last ten years have seen the door flung wide open, especially as the worlds of cool kids on both sides of art and action sport collide.

This is a rare interview with the French artist, WK Interact, previously known for his downtown NY murals, as well as his Longo-esque black-and-white portraits that blur with action. Upon first encounter his works seem almost socio-political, or at least military in nature, but his new works display a side that perhaps hadn’t considered, the movies.

Ever have an image shock you back into another era? Well, then, don’t be surprised if the works of artist Elizabeth Peyton catapult you back to the swingin’ ’90s of Britpop’s golden era: one look at her 1996 portrait of Liam Gallagher…