A Look Back at Norway's Nuart Festival, a Gathering of Street Artists From L.A. and Around the World

While the article by Shelly Leopold below describes me as an opportunist as opposed to an artist, it does show some of the wonderful AR quickly pulled off by the Re+Public team at this years NuArt festival. Artist's outdoor works for NuArt face harsh Norwegian conditions and paper works by Swoon are particularly susceptible to the elements. Bringing them back with AR seemed a worthy endeavor. Look for more from Re+Public in the next few weeks as we officially launch in 2013. 

VIA LA Weekly

In Stavanger, Norway, every September for the past 12 years, Nuart, one of the largest street art festivals in the world, transpires. Closeted in the beautiful Fijords, Stavanger is a quaint, oil-rich community with a high standard of living, sometimes making the list as most expensive in all of Europe. However, it is not easy to get to, rains 20 hours out of every day (at least in the fall) and has a zero tolerance law when it comes to tagging and graffiti. A perfect spot to host preeminent street art and its artists? More [HERE]

The Convoluted Path to Ending Los Angeles's Mural Ban

When Lister's Planet of the Apes DVD release mural went up I knew it would cause trouble. His international reputation and unique style place him directly at the center of modern urban art practices, a revered artist amongst many. The advertisement he painted has all of his signature mark making and it blurs almost imperceptibly the line between fine art and advertising content. Given the history of self interested litigious activity on the part of outdoor advertising in Los Angeles, it is a perfect example upon which to make claims that art and commerce are one and the same on the streets of our cities. Sadly this is the last thing a city needs that has been fighting for some twenty years to define an artistic mural so that artists can once again take to the streets and glorify LA with their imagery. While it would seem a simple task, the quote below gets at the heart of why LA has been unable to craft a mural ordinance, but also shows the true colors of an advertising world intent on abusing public space despite the cities interest in curbing their activities for the larger social good.

"The big fear from our city attorney's office, due to the past history of litigation, is that whatever kind of mural program we create is going to be perverted and subverted for commercialization and advertising. And that’s what we’re trying to avoid," Blackman says.

The Atlantic Cities Article:

Once regarded as the mural capital of the world, Los Angeles in recent years has lost a good deal of its street art cred. Decades of loose regulation on signs and murals led to some creative law-skirting by outdoor advertising firms, bringing about a string of lawsuits and rule changes – and more lawsuits and more rule changes. The eventual result was an all-out moratorium on new murals.

More [HERE]

ART IS NOT A CRIME…END THE MURAL MORATORIUM

Saber, renowned Los Angeles graffiti artist, has taken to the skies in an attempt to remind the city of Los Angeles that the mural moratorium is ruining Los Angeles' reputation as a mural city ripe with the life and culture of its residents. He posted this explanation of his actions on his blog and I thought it interesting to note that part of the reason the moratorium is being so strictly enforced against public art mural production is that the outdoor advertising industry found itself under fire not too long ago. Without permits for many outdoor commercial signs it seemed that part of the industries method of combatting that enforcement was to drag public art into the discussion. Instead of engaging the conversation of what is and isn't protected under free speech, the city of LA bowed to the industries demands in cowardly subservience to those that sponsor campaigns and fight tooth and nail for the right to take advantage of an unsuspecting public.