Tuesday 15 April 2008

SPATZ in Norway


In the next week or so I will be making the first of what promises to be many trips to Norway and other places in the Scandinavian region.

To celebrate my upcoming visit to OSLO I did this piece which shows a bunch of vikings, the fat lady that sings when it's over, and the Norse Mythological gods (from left to right) Loki, Odin, and Thor greeting Spatz.

This is pretty much what the Spatz cartoons are all about. Spreading happiness, merriment and good times around the globe. Will post more Norway toons as they develop.

Spatz takes on Madison Ave.


There's nothing wrong with advertising. In fact, there are a lot of ads that are great. The problem comes when we are forced to look at ads thrown into every aspect of our lives every moment.

I came up with this cartoon while going to the loo and being forced to look at ads for the upcoming big concert series in the area which were placed directly over the urinal.

Besides for trying to make regular people feel that they are unglamorous if they don't shell out their hard earned cash to buy their products, some advertisers think that if tell us their message a billion times their product somehow becomes more appealing.

Hey, I am really glad Dave lost all that weight eating really healthy subs but I don't need to watch the same ad 15 times before every news cast I would like to stream on yahoo news.

JAYZ and Beyonce Married



These two got married. Congratulations!

A while back I did a Jay-Z Spatz cartoon inspired by that "Hard Knock Life" song he did. I put it up in Brooklyn and the South Bronx but of course it was on a drive that crashed so I lost it and never made a picture of the art on the streets(something I am now always going to do on my global travels starting the next few weeks).

Anyhow, these 2 make a nice couple and Spatz wishes them well and lots of happiness. I have this piece as a larger than life size print and I'll try and put it up in New York Tribeca are(if i don't get arrested while on the mission : ))

Most likely this will be the only wedding picture anyone sees for a while as it seems these 2 don't seem to have the need to throw their personal lives in everyone's faces and pretty much keep a low key on their private stuff. Good for them. Look for a Tribeca paste up later this spring.

Friday 22 February 2008

Vaseline Coated Spatz Thwarts the Splasher



For those who don't know this story:
Around this time last year a person or persons that came to be know as "The Splasher" began splashing paint on well known street artists work in New York's Williamsburg and Lower Manhattan. He or they would leave manifestos and so on saying that these people were sell-outs because they were basically becoming successful.

At the time I was working on a technology project over in Europe and followed this intriguing story because of the issues it brought up. The idea that if you put your work up on the street can you really be mad if someone defaces it? Does street art accelerate gentrification?

My thoughts on this subject were this: It's kinda mean to ruin someone's work,on the street or anywhere else in this fashion. I pretty much don't put my work up everywhere I travel simply because I prefer to put things in the right place at the right time where they might be funny or unexpected. I will say as I am part of the Mechanic's Plan I will be doing more street art for the reason of getting the message out. I have seen people rip down street art, contribute to it, as well as peel it of a wall and take it with them when they could. All that comes with the territory but just dumping paint over something just didn't seem right.

We all know that some believe that putting up street art may lead to big success and money. That's all good, but becoming well known and financially successful are by products of making art. You can tell an artist that is working to make a statement or one being clever from one that simply wants to be known or be provocative or shocking. The slasher seems like people i have meet over the years that call themselves artists by going to a gallery or museum with actors they instruct to say stupid things like "art is dead" or "slave work for the bourgeoisie". While these people are making a statement they believe to be profound, it really isn't. They never had to learn how to draw or paint or play an instrument, but want to join in on the art scene and participate as if they had paid the same dues someone that has been working on art their whole lives. They usually come from upper-middle class backgrounds and are actually the really annoying people that gentrification ends up attracting to cool neighborhoods. Being a 3rd generation person in a neighborhood under heavy attack by the gentrification monster I found the splasher to be silly, mean, and an agent of all the things he/they supposedly were fighting against. Banksy, Swoon and all the others getting some success as of recent have given people brightness or a good chuckle when their work appears out of nowhere on some street. That is what art is supposed to be about. It's great they get recognition and starting to make money. Why shouldn't they? Their stuff is good.

My reaction to the going ons concerning these events was the above piece that i put up in Paris, Lisbon and Berlin. Maybe one day I'll put one up in Williamsburg as I just found the hard drive it was on recently in one of my suitcases.

Thursday 14 February 2008

Who will Spatz endorse?


This is turning out to be a great primary. Spatz is torn between the promise of new hope and change in the way Washington does business with Obama and the fact that when the Clintons were in last time it was the first time we heard anyone talk about universal health care, the budget was balanced, and this cartoonist had some decent work( granted it came from some dot com dumb dumbs, but that's besides the point). I think I'll put up a vote here and see who people would like Spatz to endorse.

Tuesday 12 February 2008

Let's All Be Like SPATZ!!!



Spatz is a character that was inspired in part by the street artists, the london police. I liked the way they would have these broad outlined simple characters that they changed around. Spatz's pose is always the same in every cartoon but it's what is happening around him that changes. The idea was that if one was truly happy on the inside that that positive energy would be a barrier to negative things. I decided to give Spatz his own blog and gallery because there are so many pieces I have worked on over time it would be good to let them be separate from all the other things I'm doing. The above image was put up in the Mission in San Francisco. It lead me to being asked to contribute illustrations to the Mechanic's Plan Project. It's almost finished but I have to add alot of the characters from that project and hope to do it before they finish the youtube video. I will be putting this up in Bushwick Brooklyn next month(this piece is almost 8 feet long : O) and posting some pictures.

Here Spatz thwarts an impending alien invasion.