The Paris 10eme Stencils series

Recently while going through the 10th Arrondissement (district) of Paris I noticed some nice graffiti pieces and a few stencils. Actually I saw quite some stencils, but I wont blog them all as they are such a long way away from Banksy, Dolk or Blek le Rat (i.e. they lack communication and humor).

There was this stencil which is on a shop window and seems to be the logo of the shop, artist seems to be someone called “ezy” or “ezp” – I will be on the lookout for more by him.

More coming soon.

Cheers  [;-]

Skull Stencil? or just painting?

I spotted this skull in Copenhagen some weeks ago.It seems too detailed to be a stencil but then again it could be.

It seems to be legal which is nice. I wish there would be places like this for the more expressive stencils like Dolk’s or Banksie’s.

I also had a skull stencil in another post with a picture of a Dolk stencil I took in Copenhagen.

If anyone knows what they are or where they come from – please put a comment! Thanks.

[.-]

Dolk – The Making of the rapping Che Guevarra stencil

I’ve posted quite a lot about Dolk the Norwegian Stencil Graffiti artist. It started when a friend of mine spotted some of his stencils and showed me the pictures. I posted those and found more stencils and took pictures of those and posted them too.

What has become my best resource for Dolk Stencil Graffiti news is http://www.thegiant.org/wiki/index.php/Dolk

It’s got pictures, stories, interviews and anecdotes.

There is a “Making of” his infamous Che Guevarra stencil (which I also found) that I thought was great.

Check it out here:

This two-color image, an “instant classic” as per Pictures on Walls and “Banksy-heavy” as per thethugsdontwork, features a cigar-smoking Che Guevara proudly pointing to his t-shirt, emblazoned with artist Jim Fitzpatrick’s rendering of Alberto Korda’s (in)famous, much pirated 1960 image of… Che Guevara.

And here is the stencil as it looks on a graffiti covered wall:

I am your father – Star Wars Graffiti by Dolk

While this piece was not from Copenhagen, the other Dolk graffiti’s I posted about are, I thought it was quite funny and had to post on it.

It’s great when art communicates. Dolk’s ability to make a 2-dimensional black and white image communicate is pretty good.

Just like Banksy I think one day his stuff will be valued and people will be kicking themselves for having cleaned it off their walls.

See my other posts on Dolk’s graffiti here and here.

Another Dolk Stencil in Copenhagen

This is one of the shots of Dolk’s Stencil Graffiti he did in Copenhagen. Couldn’t find the image for week and just found it now.

Enjoy.

Ehm who’s that major skull stencil on top there?

Just heard a track from the new Arctic Monkeys Album

  This is the new cover of their upcoming album. Looks like nothing but actually there’s a whole story to this, but I’ll go into this shortly. I just heard one of the new tracks on radio this morning. Sounds pretty good. A little harder than their last album it seemed to me. But a single track on radio is a little early to judge the album. I am quite excited to get it when it’s out. I wonder if Cigarette Smoke will be on it. It’s a pretty cool demo track they gave out free on the fan site www.arctic-monkeys.com.

The rhythm’s pretty good in the Monkey’s work, similar to Bloc Party they have a great drummer who does a little more than keep the beat. There’s a great article on rhythm how it is an important factor in audience rapport and participation and a bunch more, By L. Ron Hubbard – you can see it here, it is at the bottom of the article.

Now back to the cover of the album. “Liverpool designers Juno, who also did the artwork for the first LP, spent a week gutting three unoccupied houses from the estate, before moving a team of spray artists to paint the interiors.” source www.gigwise.com.

The cover is a little dull – but looking at it from that aspect it’s a lot more interesting. It totally reminds me of that amazing graffitti covered building in New York or the Dolk stencils I’ve posted about.

Ok – well I can’t wait for the album to get released!  Whoever get’s the release date first drop me a comment.

More and more Dolk – and more again…

Dolk is undoubtedly one of the best stencil artists around. But he isn’t good because he’s good. He’s good because his stuff communicates.

Each one of his stencils have a message – but not some heavy political “revolution.” Yet you leave the image and the mind starts going. Every image has that little twist.

Check out the marathon runner crossing the police line? (picture courtesy of Wooster Collective)

Or “Che” – here’s the symbol of revolution – but rapping?

Or the boy remote controlling… a bird?

Or what about the Burger King?

It’s communication. And when you see one of these images, always look for that little (or big) extra.

Here are some “Dolk Resources” that I’ve found to be the best ones around.

Check them out.

First the “official” Dolk fans forum, you need a login but it’s full of amazing shots from around the world.

Find it on: www.DOLK.co.uk

Second the interview done by “Schhh” - it’s in English and Spanish.

Find it on: http://www.schhh.unmicroclima.com/blog/?p=151#englishdolk

Then this Wiki has a ton of photos and other info. Definitely worth checking out. This is hosted at TheGiant.org.

Find it on: http://thegiant.org/wiki/index.php?title=Dolk&redirect=no

(but don’t hotlink to his images he doesn’t like that)

And some additional pictures from Wooster Collective. They have some great stuff too.

Stencil Revolution has also got a good bunch of shots and additionally they have comments by Dolk and others on these. Very neat. Also has it categorized differently here.

Find it here: http://www.stencilrevolution.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=1864

And then Stencil Archive has some stuff - mainly from Barcelona so update it if you have more.

Find it here: http://stencilarchive.org/index.php?set_albumName=album337&name=gallery&include=view_album.php

I know there was mention that some were on sale as Picturesonwalls or Banksy but I could not easily find them so voila. If you find it then post the link in the comments please.

Dude, where’s my bike? (a short lesson in 3D lettering)

Got this shot from the snow this week.

It’s quite fun on the picture of a bike in the snow, but imagine that as a 3D effect on text and you’ll see it’s not good for your lettering. Just like you won’t find your bike here, you’ll have a hard time reading the text.

Why – because it becomes hard to read. 3D effects on lettering decrease the contrast, so if you put too much on your piece the text and the art blend together.

On the post I did a few days ago on the Stencil Graffiti in Copenhagen by Dolk you see what high contrast means. Event on a colorful or random background, the lettering and art is clear.

There are still too many people that think modern means using modern tools (i.e. lots of 3D lettering because the new Photoshop software can make 3D lettering). Don’t fall into that trap.

Here is an example how it should not be done:

What’s wrong?
- Bad font choice
- 3D effect overdone this looses all contrast
- Too much shadow and too strong
- Serif fonts don’t do well with any 3D effects
- No color choice

Here is an example of the same and how it can be done:

what’s right?
- Sans-serif font
- 3D effect subdued
- Shadow just enough to give effect
- Font choice better
- Colors used to focus attention

The Dolk signature is a good font choice and good contast.

Hope this helps, comment if you have questions.

Dolk – stencil graffiti

I got these pictures from a friend of mine in Copenhagen they’re from an artist called Dolk. This guy is pretty incredible – the quality of the stencil is out of this world. Didn’t know him before but seems to be pretty famous internationally, at least if you google his name you get quite some returns with photo galleries of his work and more!

I heard they even sell prints of it.

I remember when stencil graffitti started in the 1980s it was nothing like this stuff! He has taken it to a new level.

Unfortunately I don’t quite think he asked permission to paint so I was told the stuff is washed off now – I would dedicate a wall for some of these.

Update: See also my latest post to find more images and resources on Dolk.