JR Comes to Melrose~ Action Shots!

JR came through our neck of the woods yesterday and put up a beautiful piece of street art, replacing the Obey/Saber mural at De La Barracuda.

It is a real honor having JR right in the hood. Love it~ Click the jump for more exclusive first jump action shots from MELROSEandFAIRFAX.

We snapped most of these shots ourselves (big thanks to John Wellington Ennis for the beautiful nighttime shot), but we couldn't have done such comprehensive coverage without the readers of the blog helping out in such a huge way.

So swing by Melrose to see this beautiful new piece from JR. Keep sending us those pics!

Video of JR's Street Art in Action

Three videos just went up on Youtube covering JR in action as he puts up his fourth mural in Los Angeles.

Its not a thrill ride by any means, but if you're interested in this stuff, it is really fascinating to watch and see the process in action.

JR VIDEO 1
JR VIDEO 2
JR VIDEO 3

The Story Behind Charlie Brown Being Taken

We received a detailed run down of what went down with Banksy's Charlie Brown. Apparently, it was almost painted over before being chopped out. Click the jump below for more actions shots and to read the full story about what went down at the Charlie Brown removal.

We received the pictures and description from the followers of MELROSEandFAIRFAX. Big thanks to all the supporters of MELROSEandFAIRFAX who have been our eyes and ears all over the city. We couldn't do it without you. Special thanks to Cindy Bolf for the rundown and Layla Halfhill for the action pictures.

Cindy contacted us with the following description.

I have been watching your site to get all the up-to-date stories on the Banksy pieces showing up all over LA. You have been doing a great job!

I am writing to give some back story on the Charlie Brown piece. After I saw on your website that it was uncovered, I was so excited that I headed over to the location to get a look at it. I got there at around 4 in the afternoon. There were people there, taking pictures of it and there were 2 dudes. One of them you have pictured in the red hoodie. The other guy that was with him said that they uncovered the Charlie Brown and were going to paint over it. I asked why and if he knew what this was. He said he had no idea what the picture was and what it meant but he had orders from his boss. His boss owned the property and when his boss found out that someone else came to the property and drilled holes in the wall and there was plans for someone else to cut out the wall, they freaked and decided that painting over the Charlie Brown would prevent further vandalism to the building. This guy and red hoodie guy were working with property management.

Many people that came to see the piece pleaded with this guy to not paint over it and told him that it was worth a lot of money, probably even worth more than the charred building that it was on. Well, he and the dude in the red hoodie starting making some phone calls to their boss when they found out that it was worth a lot of money. To further add to the drama, there was a group of 3 guys, one who said he flew in from NY yesterday, was calling his boss to put an offer in on the building to save the Charlie Brown or to maybe cut it out themselves once the building was theirs.

Well, the actual owner of the building put a hold on painting over the Charlie Brown and instead decided that since he owned the building, he was going to order property management to cut out the Charlie Brown instead of painting over it. They boarded it up and said that they are going to wait until people leave to start cutting it out. Then they starting talking about what tools they will use to get it out of there.

Either way, the whole situation is a shame but ultimately, the Charlie Brown wasn't painted over and it is safe somewhere so it saw the better of two lesser ends. I feel that if no one came along with the intention of stealing it, this piece might still be here for everyone to enjoy.

Again, great job on reporting. Looking forward to reading future posts!

Cindy Bolf

Street Art is Not Suitable for Children

'Some material may not be suitable for children. Mild action, some rude humor and brief language.'

-Street art

Not sure who this is by but think it might be from TSF. With a hand drawn sticker from Xan up top.

Street Artist Caught Climbin'

A friend sent us these pictures of what looks to be a street artist climbing a building on Hollywood Blvd.

Not sure who this is. It seems they were just scoping the area out to come back later.

There is an Obey piece atop this building.

Steady Mobbin' - Action Shots with Asend TSF

Asend TSF getting up with a hand drawn slap inside this news box.

New Massive CBS Mural

This previous CBS mural on this spot had been running for almost 10 years.

The crew felt that it was time for a fresh piece, and we got some info from Dytch CBS as he was painting.

Click the jump for more~


Dytch told us that this wall is a take on the LA Weekly graphic that has splatter all over, and then images emerging from the splatter. Each artist is putting up their own spin on it, and so far the wall has a half letters/half character piece from Dytch, with the flair out style he is known for, and intricate piping graffiti from Mers, and the Swarchenator-a merge between Arnold Swarchenegger and the Terminator.

Cool stuff, and look forward to seeing how it develops.

Asend TSF - Making Fireworks (Action Shots!!)

Asend TSF is blowing up, like fireworks. . .


Actually, Asend and the whole of TSF have already blown up. You can enjoy sparks from their street art fireworks all over this fair city~

Great shots of Asend stomping in his Nike's, get poled with a hand drawn sticker in front of an illegal sidewalk fireworks stand.

We really love the flavor of these series and feel it captures the essence of the flavor of Los Angeles. Sidewalk vendors and street art~

Hanging Out With 'X'

Rooftop action on the far side of the street with Thank You Andy Warhol- being viewed by X, the artist himself.

We spent an awesome afternoon yesterday hanging out with burgeoning street artist 'X'. . .

X has quickly launched his art to the top of the LA scene, both literally and figuratively. He has more pieces riding on rooftops as many artists do on the boxes down below. These big ups, and the fact that his inaugural piece features an icon that art lovers immediately identify with, have thrust X onto the face of LA in a big way.

Hanging out with X was a real pleasure. Even though he has not been doing street art for a long time, he already has many amazing stories. We sat enthralled listening to stories of the biggest names in street art and tales of hair-raising experiences on the streets.

X has a passion for street art, a desire to learn. With street prowess and the right connections, it sounds like he has all the right pieces in place. X is already up in New York and Atlanta in addition to Los Angeles. And even if X has got as 'high' as it gets in LA, this career is just going to just keep getting bigger.

You can follow X's art more closely at the links below
THANK YOU X TWITTER
THANK YOU X FACEBOOK
THANK YOU X FLICKR

Stay up~


^X peering at his street art.

^street art from X and Leba.

Mobbin with Rotting Fresh - Street Action with Irok & Word

^Irok rockin' a pole slap.

MELROSEandFAIRFAX had the opportunity to hit the streets with Irok and Word from Rotting Fresh for some street mobbing action. . .


We have been fans of Rotting Fresh for as long as we've been in Los Angeles. For starters, its a great fuckin crew name. And these guys back it up with constantly churning out fresh new art.

From graffiti, to stickers, to wheat pastes and street art, Rotting Fresh holds down all the aspects of the game. And these guys are the definition of city wide. From mobbing Melrose, all the way to Venice, thick through downtown, and on through the inland empire- Rotting Fresh is holding it down in Los Angeles.

They are so good at what they do that these were the hardest action shots to capture yet. Seriously, by the time the camera turned on, we had missed most of the slap action. It just goes to show how slick these guys are at gettin up, and good at what they do.

So keep an eye out for more of Rotting Fresh's hand drawn freshness in LA.


^Word slappin up a sticker. Next to a Nolie tag.

^Rotting Fresh logo chick stencil sticker. With hand drawn from Reef, and Rawko gets Raw.