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West Coast :: Left Coast :: Best Coast (free jazz by Trane in Japan)

• Anti-Trump in Chinatown
• Hummingbirds appear on Geary St.
• BeneRegoef does LA
• fnnch does AI
• Josiah snaps a cheeky one in the Mission

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Go to the de Young's site for tickets and images. Show up until 6 July, 2025.

In the final decades of a prolific career, modern artist Henri Matisse (1869–1954) took up book illustration. This exhibition celebrates our 2024 acquisition of Jazz, Matisse’s 1947 artist book on the circus and theater. Jazz includes 20 color stencil prints (pochoirs) of popular subjects on these themes, from horses to ringmasters. The prints were created using the artist’s lively paper cutouts, what Matisse called “drawing with scissors.” Published by the innovative Greek publisher Tériade (Stratis Eleftheriadis), it is considered the pinnacle of Matisse’s graphic art. This presentation offers the rare chance to see the unbound works from Jazz in conversation with other Matisse artist books from our collection.

About the First Plate: Le Clown

Using abstracted forms, Matisse begins Jazz with a motif that was popular in nineteenth-century European and American visual culture: a clown standing on a stage, enticing passersby to enter the circus. Above and below the figure, the white lines that stand out boldly against the vibrant blue could reference people in a crowd or lights illuminating the stage. The serpentine black shape against an electric-yellow backdrop might stand as a banner advertising the performance.

For more details on this book, check out Art Gallery NSW's photos and specs.

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Meet Ian The Meow, The Cat That Reminds San Francisco to “Be Nice.”
broke-ass stuart

If you regularly walk around San Francisco, chances are you’ve met Ian The Meow – the cute cat that politely reminds passersby to “be nice” But few people have been lucky enough to find the elusive cat and score an interview.

Luckily for me, I am one of those few.

Ian, a lot of people want to know, are you from San Francisco or somewhere else?

“I was born in Astoria, Queens, NYC. The cat was born in 2008 in the UK. Technically Ian is an immigrant. But San Francisco’s signature overcast and fog reminded me of home.”

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Flowers. Bees. Sun. Longer days. And a few more stencils for your weekend.

• Argentina (tnx Amanda)
• Australia (tnx social streams)
• erre (tnx BSA)
• In Media (tnx showbiz)
• Maryland (ant-Trump/Musk)
• Washington (ANTIFA)
• >NEW< Loretto in the UK

Celia Lerman, Protecting Artistic Vandalism: Graffiti and Copyright Law, 2 N.Y.U. J. INTELL. PROP. & ENT. L. 295, 295 (2013)(online link)

Introduction

Does copyright law protect graffiti? This is a question of growing importance in today’s art scene. Books, CD’s, t-shirts and other items featuring graffiti images are often released without permission from the original graffiti artists. For a recent example, take the graffiti exhibition mounted in a Buenos Aires art gallery by Peruvian artist José Carlos Martinat. Martinat’s exhibition consisted of appropriated pieces of graffiti that he had carefully removed, without permission, from the walls of private properties in Buenos Aires. Martinat also offered these pieces for sale. Local graffiti artists reacted furiously to this exhibition and collectively destroyed all of their graffiti pieces in situ during the gallery’s opening night. Examples like this lead us to wonder if graffiti artists could receive any protection under copyright law.

At least some pieces of graffiti are suitable for copyright protection, insofar as they are original works, fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Still, why should we protect expressions created by an illegal act (painting a third party’s property without her permission)? Should the law help graffiti artists to benefit from their transgressions? Moreover, if the primary purpose of copyright is to incentivize the creation of valuable creative works, should we protect and promote illegal art?

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Some fresh snaps from recent walks around San Francisco:

• Valencia St.
• the Richmond District
• Fillmore St. (thanks EG)
• Financial District (roller printing!)
• One in Mission Bay
• Mission District
• One by Sol Mission (thanks LR)
• >NEW< Diego Gomez Castro

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Spinning: KGLW, XTC
Thanks: Amanda and Chris

Just a small update for now, before heading out to IRL with some rad folks:

• United Kingdom
• Texas
• Toxicomano
• Valencia St., SF
• Candlestick Point, SF
• Run Don't Walk
• Amsterdam, NL

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The Spectacle shone brightly yesterday in the White House.... but Rebel Bear shows where the real fire is! Follow the street art to see where the breadcrumbs lead: Stencil Archive searches for Putin and Ukraine.

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Familiar names snapping photos and/or making stencils works this time around.

• Argentina (thanks, Amanda)
• Austria (BeneRegoef)
• NYC (Brooklyn Street Art / Jaime Rojo)
• Stefan Winterle's new works
• >NEW< Supercreate stencils a utility box in the Mission