Artwork for the Homeless

I read a really interesting article about the nonprofit Weingart Center that helps provide for homeless people in Los Angeles. They partnered with the creative agency, David &Goliath, to increase awareness of the need for donations in order to provide people with counseling, jobs and housing. These David & Goliath artists sketched outlines of typical bedrooms and furniture around homeless people on the streets to show that with donations these possibilities of providing people with homes could become a reality. I love this campaign and how it shows exactly what their goals are. They also made it extremely easy for people walking by to donate. Small signs explain how to donate simply by sending a text. It is so easy to pass by people on the streets and think maybe next time I will remember to bring some money/food/etc. to give to that person, but this campaign brings the problem front and center and presents a simple solution for donating. Seeing this has really changed my perspective on what can be changed and what is possible.

            John Stevens, a current student in the Set & Exhibit Design Bachelor of Science program at The Art Institute of California – Hollywood, played a key role in the campaign. In an interview he said, “We had several people who were walking down the street that stopped to look at each of the scenes and catch a different perspective on homelessness. Some of the individuals walking down the street even sent texts to donate money. It's an incredible feeling to be able to witness your own art making an impact.”

Check out the link to see some of the artwork.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaV6dnmHrwY

Does

     I believe I have posted this artist before from the Ironlak blog. "Does" is a graffiti artist who inspires my work continually not only from a street art view but also and mainly for his clean work and ability to work, and also technique and incredible color scheming.
     This series of work that he has started not to long ago are four panels set up on walls each panel is assembled by two seperate pieces so there is eight total but four total surfaces. Does allows his pieces to go off the panels and much wider than it has to be as you can see from the picture. The painting is done in one day and when complete he just takes the panels off and takes them. After he takes those panels off he paints the rest of the wall to the original color as when he started, so as if to create a one day work and has no problem erasing it as if it were never there. I like to think of it as the wall being blessed with talent for a couple of hours and taking four pieces to collect being portable for anything special in the future. Not so many artists can do that.
     Does mastered his craft as a graffiti artist and is an iconic figure to many other graffiti artists and any kind of artist who is as disciplined as he is. I will always enjoy looking at his art and follow his blog.

Wooster Collective 10yr Anniversary

I enjoy visiting woostercollective.com, some of the most creative generated ideas and art concepts that are street influenced is very interesting to me. I started out doing street art and have never lost interest in it, which give me the most influence for taking that into graphic design. This image comes from woostercollective's  10 year anniversary artwork from one of the featured artist who has been contributing to them since the blog site has started. The theme for the artists selected to do artwork for this 10 year anniversary was "what is one thing you learned in the past decade that you wish some one had told you 10 years ago." the featured artist is named ABOVE and he has done so much for public art and gallery work putting in work for so long and is a respected member of the street artist community. ABOVE created this work using screen printing, he wished someone had told him about screen printing much earlier because it became so prominent to his style with using stencils and learning layers very well, and this is the work he created for woostercollectives 10 year anniversary.

Street Art Influence on Graphic Design 5644

 Since I was 16, I've had a huge draw towards street art and graffiti. The medium has grown immensely in the past decade incorporating several real life issues into street art to educate the public in a more "hands-on" way with politic and coroporate issues that may otherwise go unseen. I often feel cliche mentioning that my favorite street artist is Banksy, but his work is so original and fascinating and conveys some of the deepest meanings that street art has ever seen.
Now that I am working in the graphic design field, I find myself pulling inspiration and stylistic elements from street art into my projects. I enjoy the simplicity and bluntness that street artists use to get their point across and i often try to incorporate the straightforward attitude into my design pieces. I recently read this article which interviews Australian street artist/ graphic designer, Water, and I found a lot of connections in the way he describes the relation between his two passions. I hope you guys find a little inspiration in not only the article, but Banksy and the street art style as a whole. (If you find this interesting, I HIGHLY recommend the documentary "Exit Through The Gift Shop")