The art attacks in Sao Paulo are continuing, and they only seem to be gaining in strength and scaring the bejeezus out of gallerists. Around the same time when pixadores once again caused a hubbub — this time on the opening day of the 28th Sao Paulo Biennial — by tagging up the building’s second floor (purposely left empty by the curators to inspire new thoughts and ideas), a sticker group called the ARAC Group started surreptitiously invading this same notorious “Void” in their own method. Armed with instructions from a manual developed specifically for the Biennial, and a sarcastic take on the art show’s “In Living Contact” theme, participants carry out the underground stickering sting, decorating the white pillars with their signs of life. You can check out some of the photographed results here. The show runs till the beginning of December, so it’s likely the Void won’t be left vacant after all — which, ironically, achieves the curators’ intents for the space.

Related: Choque Cultural Art Attack

According to some, the streets are at a crossroads. Not long ago, the art covering the bricks and blank spaces of the city was more likely to get you in trouble than in Christie's, but today's take leans more towards halos than handcuffs. This shift can partially be attributed to the quality of today's work (and the hype that surrounds it) but also, strangely enough, to the financial opportunities that have arisen within graffiti. No matter the game, the rules change when money and fame join the party — and they've certainly started to party with street art.

In order to suss out if these fears had a foundation, we decided to take a sit with Doodles, a 20-year-old out of the Bay Area who we consider a member of the ‘new school' of street artists. He also happens to be in school, adding another interesting element to our interview. Say hello to the future of graf art, readers — it's looking good.

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Kayone is the tag name of Italy’s Marco Montavani, a pioneer in Milan’s graf scene who has been bombing like mad more canvas than concrete in the past year. He’s moved on to develop a beautiful fine art style using his usual favorite writing utensil, the spray can, plus the more conventional artist’s paint, creating a scene of colors blending into one another with drips and lines of contrast for an ambient feel that remembers Jackson Pollack. Kayone’s one of the handful of Italian street artists picked to showcase new works in the much-attended and very awesome Street Art show running in Sao Paulo’s MAC exhibit space till the end of March, which unites that country’s street artists with their colleagues in Brazil. All of Kayone’s canvas works here are worth burning time to check out.

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As you may recall, back in March we told you that Vulcan bombed some servers at Google. This wasn’t an act of tech-terrorism, but an act of art. The Vulcan in question wasn’t played by Leonard Nimoy and nothing actually got blown up. Those in the know, know that bombing is slang for painting graffiti on something (or at least it was when I saw the movie Beat Street way back in the 1980’s). Graffiti artist Vulcan, had been commissioned to paint a line of servers for Google in conjunction with his solo show.

He recently returned to Silicon Valley to dole out some more street cred, this time the target was the office of online t-shirt and apparel merchants at Zazzle. This time Vulcan wasn’t alone. He was joined by fellow Graffiti gods and START SOMA artists in residence Chor Boogie and Apex to create the Trifecta Mural, an absolutely wondrous creation of urban artistry that will no doubt make the Zazzle offices the envy of many a gallery owner. If you’re not in awe enough after looking at this incredibly complex mural, just take a gander at the making of video making of video. Who knows, with Silicon Valley so enamored with their work Steve Jobs just might have to commission these guys to make the GraffitiPod.

Wow. I’ve just come across a spectacular and fresh form of street art called light graffiti which uses no spray paint or paint pen. Say what? It’s invisible, in fact — an anti-vandalism squad’s answer from a higher being — until it’s caught on film. Armed with a camera, tripod and light sources like fire torches, glowsticks and flashlights, light graffiti artists tag colorful outlines of images and abstract drawings outdoors at night while the camera catches the trails via time-lapse. The photographic results, when developed, are electric. Lichtfaktor from Cologne, Germany is a major crew behind the movement, a group of three dudes who started the whole thing by combining their collective VJing experience with a healthy interest in street art. As pioneers of light graffiti, it also just so happens they produce some of the best works around. Drop everything (it’s Friday, so I know you’re not being productive at work anyway) and check out the stop-motion Star Trek vs Star Trek short movie they did for New Zealand’s Sky Movies channel to see the promise of this new art. Joe Schmoe can easily get in on the action, too. Just follow the How-To guide that Lichtfaktor has posted on their MySpace page. With any street art, the m.o. remains the same: don’t let the cops catch you in action.





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