The Wooster Collective

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Founded in 1991, the Wooster Collective is dedicated to showing the world all sorts of street art from around the world.  The artists may not always be well known but one of Wooster’s objectives is to give web space to creatives whose work may not last too long in the places where they choose to place it.  The site is a full own multimedia experience in its own right with videos of art happenings alongside traditional text and image postings.  The Wooster Collective also encourages people to send in pictures and information from around the world so that the posts here are bang up to date.  Recent features have included art by Cena7 and Herakut.  There is also something of a buzz going on about the scale of participative discussion going on at their Facebook page.

Beautiful Decay

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Beautiful Decay is one of those marvelous success stories – started by Amir H Fallah back in 1996 when he was still at High School.  The original issues were photocopied and rode the crest of the fanzine wave in the late nineteen nineties.  Its transformation in to glossy magazine has not meant that it has lost its original vision.  It still is a major showcase for contemporary artists’ work and, like the Wooster Collective, keeps a close eye on those artists who are emerging as well as those more established.  A publication that is determined to constantly and consistently reinvent itself this is mirrored in its website where you will find a huge archive of interesting work around contemporary art.

Obey

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Art and politics have a history that go back to our cave dwelling times.  At Obey, established in 1989, the whole idea is to help people to see things that are right in front of their eyes in a clearer way and not take the observed world for granted.  They want to reawake a sense of wonder in people and their initial method is through the propaganda of their own logo.  Its only mission is to make people react – in itself it is not supposed to have any meaning.  Recent features on the website include the Cesar Chavez prints created by Ernesto Yerena and the attempts by Paper magazine to re-brand America.  Very cool stuff.

Blek Le Rat

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If you want to keep up with an artist’s work then the best way is often to visit their website.  He was doing stencil art when Banksy was in his diapers and is considered the godfather of the whole movement.  So, this is the person you should really hate (or love) depending on your views of what makes art, well, art.  He started creating his graffiti art in the nineteen eighties and he and the world have not looked back since.  Banksy himself has paid homage to the godfather, admitting that whenever he thinks he has thought up something exciting and new it turns out that Blek Le Rat has done it twenty years earlier.

Bombing Science

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Bombing Science has everything you want to know and see about graffiti art and a little but more too.  A supremely well organized website you can pinpoint the specific category of street art that you want to see and browse images on a city by city basis.  Walls, Bombings and Freights are all covered here.  Plus if you are lacking in the wherewithal to launch your career as a graffiti artist there is a one stop shop that, should your wallet allow, will equip you with everything you need.  Many of the pictures are by unknowns and are quite remarkable.  Go see.

Banksy

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So, who is he? Do we care?  No one knows for sure but the rumors are that he trained as a butcher and some might say that he manifests these skills in the way that he cuts up the streets.  Becoming more and more mainstream as the years go on Banksy has lost not of his humor, his sharpness or his ability to put his finger on the pulse of issues.  Some art dealers have been known to try and sell his pieces of work on the street, leaving it to the buyer to find a way to then remove it.

Logan Hicks

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An artist whose work explores the urban environment and its dynamics, Hicks started off as a screenprinter but stencils were adopted an early stage of his career.  He has a photorealistic style which explodes on to the streets, a stark contrast between the art and the environment in which it is created.  Based in New York, Hicks is an artist to watch out for in the future.

Chris Stain

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Chris Stein is an artist and a blogger and this site will keep you well up to date with what he gets up to, both on legal walls and elsewhere.  Recent posts include what he has been getting up to in his travels, most recently to Milwaukee and Los Angeles.  A site well worth a look if you want to get an insight in to the art and the artist at the same time – in his own words and images.

Are you Generic?

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What a question, rhetorical or otherwise.  This aside, Are You Generic? are a collective of artists who have joined forces to protest and to question and also to disprove.  It strives against the usual suspect, corporations known for their lack of ethics, governmental and media censorship.  This is a fusion of protest and graphic design.  Instead of the usual logos that people wear they wish to replace the likes of Nike and GAP with logos that are self assertive and individual.  A well put together site which will keep you occupied for hours, these guys are angry, clever, funny and great artists too.

Eltono

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Eltono is a public space artist and his website is bang up to date about what he has been doing in terms of his recent projects.  From Paris, he started creating graffiti art in the eighties when he was just fourteen.  Now resident in Spain his signature materials are masking tape and acrylic paint.  He sees his art not as graffiti but as urban interventionism and often leaves it to the general public to ‘complete’ his works in their own way.  This site is well worth a look because as well as seeing the most recent work of the artist there are sections where you can see, image by image, their production.

Of course, this list is not an exhaustive one.  Do you have a favorite artist, collective or website that is all about this area of art?  Please list them in the comment box below.