Haters Hatin

Some hater went and crossed out a whole wall of street art, including a hand painted pieces from Becca and Swift, as well as pasters from Ron English and more. You can watch a video of it on the Flooz's Flickr stream HERE.

Lame.

There are some tags that can be seen next to it, also in black. Not sure if the X's were done by the same writers-they are both in black but the style and flow of the paint almost seems different.

Haters Hatin

Some hater went and crossed out a whole wall of street art, including a hand painted pieces from Becca and Swift, as well as pasters from Ron English and more. You can watch a video of it on the Flooz's Flickr stream HERE.

Lame.

There are some tags that can be seen next to it, also in black. Not sure if the X's were done by the same writers-they are both in black but the style and flow of the paint almost seems different.

Banksy Beats The Buff

Despite being buffed, Banksy's Crayon Soldier fights back!

It was his first piece in Los Angeles and possibly the most popular. It was a beautiful stencil that brought attitude, and a rainbow of color to the typically black and white discipline of stenciling. And even though it was rumored that Banksy placed the piece at this location behind Urban Outfitters to reward them for selling his book, after a few weeks of riding, the property manager eventually buffed Banksy's Crayon Soldier.

But Banksy's Soldier fights back. Surfacing from up under the green buff paint, the flowers are starting to bloom once again.

It must have to do with some sort of reaction with the paint, but the flowers and a butterfly from Banksy's original piece are coming through the green paint of the buff. If is very clear, and can be seen from 10 feet away.

We always theorized that this piece was based on the idea of using art as a weapon, and these flowers must be something like land mines, that are set to go off long after the battle. Fortunately, these bombs only bring joy.

Very cool to see Banksy's Crayon Soldier fighting back.


^A pic of the wall before the buff.


^How the wall looks now. Not the best light, but the flowers can be seen.


^Flowers





^Close up of the texture breaking through.

Banksy Beats The Buff

Despite being buffed, Banksy's Crayon Soldier fights back!

It was his first piece in Los Angeles and possibly the most popular. It was a beautiful stencil that brought attitude, and a rainbow of color to the typically black and white discipline of stenciling. And even though it was rumored that Banksy placed the piece at this location behind Urban Outfitters to reward them for selling his book, after a few weeks of riding, the property manager eventually buffed Banksy's Crayon Soldier.

But Banksy's Soldier fights back. Surfacing from up under the green buff paint, the flowers are starting to bloom once again.

It must have to do with some sort of reaction with the paint, but the flowers and a butterfly from Banksy's original piece are coming through the green paint of the buff. If is very clear, and can be seen from 10 feet away.

We always theorized that this piece was based on the idea of using art as a weapon, and these flowers must be something like land mines, that are set to go off long after the battle. Fortunately, these bombs only bring joy.

Very cool to see Banksy's Crayon Soldier fighting back.


^A pic of the wall before the buff.


^How the wall looks now. Not the best light, but the flowers can be seen.


^Flowers





^Close up of the texture breaking through.

Dead Stickers

There were other victims of Graffiti Removal Systems recent trip down Fairfax.

In addition to their illegally breaking an entering and buffing a commissioned graffiti wall, there are stickers littered all over the ground after being ripped off by Graffiti Removal Systems.

The street looks unusually barren, and some people might like the look of the city without street art, graffiti and stickers. But there are plenty of suburbs for that, and we think it is an intricate part of Los Angeles, especially the Melrose and Fairfax area, and the art should be celebrated. Its what makes the area so special.

Stickers on the ground from Eyeworm, Revok, Xvala, and more.

JR Gets Buffed On Melrose

JR's piece got buffed on Melrose, but this is not an illegitimate city buff like what happened with the graffiti mural on Fairfax this week.

We really loved this JR piece. It was beautiful and really brought a lot to the area.

New art is set to go up soon, and I asked the head guy if he knew what was coming next, and he said it might be a big wall from Slick and Dissizit.

Buffing in Reverse - Action Shots

Action shots of the buff being removed from the wall on Fairfax earlier today.

Great action shots of the buffman in action, but this time he is not spraying paint on the wall, but removing it with an applied solvent and a pressure washer.

Also notice another pic of the toxic sludge as it pools up and then gets washed down the drain.

And, via LA TACO who have been right on top of this story, they just issued an update and a great synopsis saying that

Dennis Romero of the LA Weekly has the following statement from GM Jeff Woods:

It was a mistake. We did not do it maliciously. It turned out to be misinformation. There was no intent whatsoever to destroy a mural. We were informed by people in the neighborhood that it was an illegal mural and was to come down. As soon as we were informed on site that it was there with permission we ceased removal.

It’s unfortunate that a priceless artwork could be damaged because of “people in the neighborhood”. There should be much more oversight, but there isn’t because despite recent advances (such as the upcoming MOCA show), ‘graffiti’ is still not an approved art form and it’s vulnerable to this kind of action. We’re also trying to figure out why someone would spend money on paint and labor to just buff any old mural– does the city pay after the fact? If so, who decides what gets buffed? They just ask around the neighborhood and go on people’s word? The whole thing doesn’t make much sense and there are still a lot of questions to be answered.




***Big thanks to Hershy for sending us these pics. Stay up!***

UPDATE: Pictures of the Unbuffed Buff

Eh, it worked a little better than we thought, but it is nowhere near what it was. The wall will never be what it once was.

The buff paint did come off, but it has left a remaining tan tint on the once white wall.

Its surprising how well the one layer of paint was removed without taking out the underlying art--on most of the wall. At the top left you can see how the wall is stripped well under Retna's lettering.

The wall will never be what it once was.

But the Graffiti Control Systems seems to be making one problem after another. They are powerwashing the stuff off the wall, all the paint and all the chemicals used to remove it, and then washing this toxic sludge down the drain. This is awful for the environment (all the drains have 'Drains Straight To Ocean' signs next to them), and there have got to be all kinds of city ordinances against this. We get the feeling that the legal troubles are not over for this company by any stretch.

And wonder if the wall will remain like this? or if it will get repainted?

Buffman Buffing Himself (pt 2/2)

^This is a pic of the locked gate sitting off its hinges after the Graffiti Controls Systems Squad broke it down to break an entering and perform an illegal buff. Click the jump for more.

And below is a pic of the still locked padlock on the front gate.

And more pics of the buffman trying to remove the buff paint.

Buffman Buffing Himself (pt 1/2)

It looks like the shit hit the fan, and in an unprecedented move, the Graffiti Removal Buff Squad returned to the spot that they buffed yesterday on Fairfax, and tried to remove their buff paint from the mural.

After the buff squad had broken through a locked gate and painted over a mural without the owner's permission, people were outraged.

The workers told M&F that they had got a call from the city to remove the wall. Don't know if that's true or not, but this wasn't just any graffiti mural. This was a mural with some of the biggest names in the world--Retna, Rime, Revok, Saber, Norm, Os Gemeos. And we are skeptical that about this paint removal plan, and doubt that the wall will look anywhere near as nice as it did before.

A few years ago, a private artist won $30,000 from the city after the city had illegally buffed the outdoor mural. We'd love to see something like this happen here for a couple of reasons. One, to score a victory for the outlaw good guys, the artists. And even more importantly, so that private buff companies, and buildings with murals on them will think carefully before having art removed.

Meanwhile, online the backlash has been so severe that Graffiti Removal Squad removed their Facebook page last night after an onslaught of negative comments.

Interested to see how this paint removal turns out, and stay tuned to MELROSEandFAIRFAX to see how it continues to play out.

Disapproved/Approved by Deitch

In an effort to drum up publicity for the 'Art in the Streets' show that opens at MOCA next week, the museum has instigated a sticker campaign on the streets of Los Angeles where they offer stickers saying 'Approved' or 'Disapproved' by MOCA director, Jeffery Deitch.

The true name of the show should be 'Art Out of the Streets' because most of the artists showing have long left the streets, and the only thing on the streets are these lame stickers. The theme of these stickers is especially distasteful as it is a clear play on Deitch's disapproval and subsequent controversial buffing of Blu's commissioned mural from off the MOCA walls. Click the jump for more

The approved/disapproved stickers are not only lame, but supporters of street art should be furious at the gall the museum has to try and create publicity off of Deitch's censorship.

In our opinion, when Deitch buffed Blu he made a horrible move. A dickish move. And most of all, a hypocritical move. How can you pretend to show art in the streets, commission an artist, and then buff a wall when you don't like the content?

If these stickers had come from someone else, or some other source other than a museum it might be funny. But to make stickers to capitalize on the controversy surrounding Deitch being a dick is ridiculous. And in horribly bad taste.

The good thing is that the streets never needed Deitch's approval (or disapproval), and his show might have some former street artists involved, but it is neutered and a pale comparison to what is really happening on the streets.

Oh Shit! Now You Fucked Up!!

There are some walls you just don't touch--and especially when the owner wants the art on the building. The buffman fucked up by taking down this particular piece on Fairfax that featured some of the top graffiti and street artists in the world, especially since they took the fence down and broke an entering to get in. Click the jump for more

We have covered this piece many, many times and mentioned how it is hands down our favorite wall ever.

And today, a private company named Graffiti Control Systems came to this wall on Fairfax and forced an entering by taking the fence off its hinges, and then starting to paint over over the wall. People noticed and called the police and the building owner, who came over and chased the workers off the wall. Unfortunately, most of the wall was ruined by that time.

The wall featured amazing work from Retna, Revok, Saber, Os Gemeos, Rime, and Norm.

We really hope that there is a severe smack down in this case. Graffiti and street art are really being embraced in a new way by society, and in this situation here, the real criminals are the buff men.

Top picture sent into us by Kevin, and the rest of the pictures were taken from LA TACO. To read a more thorough and comprehensive coverage that raises some really good points, make sure to check out the articles on LA TACO and Revok.

The Buffman Is Dreary

We can understand that a business would be upset about these tags, but this poor guy looks miserable. Almost feel sorry for him.

Dethkills Is Like Herpes

Dethkills solidifies their place as the biggest sell-outs and the single worst element of the LA street art scene.

Dethkills is the worst part of what's happening on the streets in Los Angeles and the biggest sell-outs. They just crapped up the streets with another art-killing corporate campaign. This time they were paid to put up Katy Perry posters all over the city, and once again they went out of their way to place the posters over real art.

We have documented before how Dethkills sells out. The fact that former street artists would agree to take money and pollute the streets with advertisements shows one level of disrespect, but the fact that these guys go out of their way to cap and ruin the art that is on the streets shows the true contempt that these fools have for the scene that they want to be a part of. And the way that they blame everyone else, including us, for calling them out on their shit is like an abusive husband blaming the wife for beating on her. It is truly ridiculous, and Dethkills really is the worst part of LA's street scene.

On the blog we had decided that it wasn't worth it to give these guys any press. They are the bad guys, but not like the cool bad guy who wears a black coat and is really the hero. They are like the slimy bad guys who weasel their way around and sell-out the hero right at the wrong time. We didn't want people to think that they were the cool kind of bad guys and so we thought that giving them any coverage for bringing all the garbage and bad vibes might even do that, so we have just been ignoring them on the blog.

And we had seen this latest less-than-impressive campaign a few days ago when we stopped by this poster and left a sticker to let them know how we feel. They came back and put a 'Pest Control' mini-paster over that (guess that for Dethkills, pest-control means keeping pests on the streets, or maybe just being pests). We planned to keep ignoring the bad behavior, and would have, if someone hadn't gone and done something so funny.

Apparently we aren't the only ones who aren't fans of Dethkills. Someone came and added 3 little pasters. The two thought bubbles say 'Dethkills Sux Dick- and we love it' and the other one says 'I only smile this much with your finger up my ass'. And below, the third paster half-caps Dethkill's Pest Control piece with a sign (our favorite!) that says 'Dethkills is like herpes'. Bwahwhahahahha!!

Even though this is yet another scathing feature on Dethkills, we have been more than fair with the coverage. We have mentioned how we first enjoyed their stuff when moving to LA, and even a couple of times we have thought we have found some new cool street art that was done respectfully and given them credit, only to find each time it turned out not to be Dethkills after all, but some other artists. Meanwhile, Dethkills only spends most of their time capping art. They only put up their art when they get hired fore a corporate campaign. And when they do that, they cap art. The pictures below all show Dethkills capping real street art with their art or ads. The portrait piece was done over Alec. The first Katy Perry signs are over Free Humanity's Yoda piece (which was, ironically enough, a peace offering aimed at Dethkills in the first place), and yet another unknown artist. And DK's put the Katy Perry Posters in the prime spots and theirs off to the side, which really shows how they view what's important. So, while we don't necessarily agree with the slightly homophobic tone of the speech bubble pieces, we can sure understand the sentiment.

It is unfortunate that Dethkills feels it is okay to sell out the streets like they do, but this is a hilarious example of the commentary on the streets and some direct feedback for what they have been doing.

JR Gets Tagged

JR's mural gets tagged on Melrose. Click the jump to read more about our thoughts on this, the idea of street art 'team', and why LA is the best place for street art in the world

After being 'decorated' by David Flores last week, JR's mural gets tagged on Melrose.

The people who don't like graffiti will probably despise this, while supporters of graff might support this as the 'organic process of a piece on the streets'.

Our take on it is that it is a poor move and in bad taste. Mainly because there are plenty of blank walls in the city, and even right next to this one. But the writers chose to hit this wall for obvious reasons.

While we are never big fans of 'fame-jocking' (c'mon, at least in NY they do it with style and full color fill-ins!), the biggest issue to us is the violation of the idea of 'team'. We understand that not everyone sees it this way, but we feel that street art is a movement, and those who are getting up are part of the 'team'. Graffiti is at the root of this movement, and in our opinion a very big part of it. And just like animals don't shit where they eat, members of the movement shouldn't play against the team by defacing art like this.

Not everyone may agree, but we feel that this piece by JR was epic, and best in its natural state.

Fortunately, for the most part most artists get up respectfully, and LA doesn't carry a lot of beef that some city's seem to have (where the only hot spots are just folks capping over each other). Its cool how in LA, most pieces are treated with respect and get the time to shine. Maybe that's why LA is becoming the top spot for street art in the entire world.