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el blog de Rodrigo Peñalba, rincon de todo ...

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28, 06, 2007

The Splasher - DOSSIER

Enlace Permanente | Sanrio | analog, 1037 palabras, 22:34:16

January 23, 2007
Against Streetart: Tale of the Paint Splasher, link

Over the last few months, someone has been splashing paint over major streetart works all over the city. The "Splasher", as he's come to be known, has a taste for targeting major pieces by Swoon, Obey, Momo, and others. His trail of paint-dripped terror extends from Williamsburg, to Soho, and back again-- and he's already obliterated dozens of pieces. Take a look:

January 24, 2007
Street Art Splashings Provoke Debate, link

There's been a lot of talk on the Splasher overnight. One of the best comments comes from Visual Resistance, one of the hardcore experts of the NYC streetart scene:

I'm fuckin pissed about the recent destruction of some one of a kind art. I dont care to discuss the nature of pasting or painting on someone else's property, at the moment. I do want to address the nature of someone's supposed politics in the actions seen above. There is a person or group of people that seem to think that they are the vanguard of some imaginary "movement" that is critiquing street art. Their tactics are to destroy what they find as the commodification of graffiti. Well my friend you are now just part of the fad, one that has been slowly passing. Then you broke a bottle and wanted to gain some attention of your own. Now you are submitting work to the banality that you exclaim to be rampant in street art. It is now time for you to go off and die in some dark corner of a bookstore, next to copies of subway art and the art of getting over. The trite you explain as "manifesto" is utter bullshit. and I will say for this fundamental reason.

The Splasher: art or vandalism?, by Francesca Gavin
A campaigner who has been defacing street art in New York might just have a point.
March 1, 2007, link

An anonymous campaigner has been covering street art in New York with splatters of paint and wheat-pasted manifestos condemning the commodification of art. The vandal has been nicknamed The Splasher by bloggers, and greeted with derision. But if street art is supposed to bend boundaries and be anti-establishment, why does someone want to deface it?

Fotos en Flickr sobre The Splasher, de Bluejake.

Art Critic or Vandal? ‘The Splasher’ Leaves Clues
An example of the street artist's work is seen along Rivington just west of Allen Street.

By COLIN MOYNIHAN
Published: June 27, 2007, link

Street artists have speculated for months about the identity of a mysterious figure who has become known as “the Splasher” because he or she hurled colorful blobs of paint at prominent pieces of art on exterior walls in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.

The only clues left behind in the paint assaults were bold manifestoes — phrases like “destroy the museums, in the streets and everywhere” — that appeared to critique the commercialization of art.

Now it appears that there may be more than one Splasher, and those claiming responsibility for the attacks have offered additional information about themselves.

One hint came Saturday night, when several people showed up at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in Chelsea during a reception for the artist Shepard Fairey, who is known for his stenciled images of the wrestler Andre the Giant. They distributed a 16-page newsprint tabloid with the title, “If We Did It, This Is How It Would’ve Happened.” The cover was illustrated by a photograph of a piece of art by Mr. Fairey that had been splattered by paint.

As Street Art Goes Commercial, a Resistance Raises a Real Stink
By COLIN MOYNIHAN
Published: June 28, 2007, link

The covert campaign targeting street art began about seven months ago, with blobs of paint that appeared overnight, obscuring murals and wheat-pasted art on walls in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. Arcane messages were pasted at the sites, but it was difficult to ask for an explanation. The author was never identified.

Then in November, during a panel discussion on women and graffiti that included a street artist called Swoon, a figure wearing a hooded sweatshirt flung a sheaf of fliers using similar language from a balcony overlooking an auditorium at the Brooklyn Museum. Swoon was among those whose work had previously been struck by paint, and some couldn’t help wondering whether the person who threw the fliers was also the Splasher, as the perpetrator of the paint attacks had come to be known.

Web sites, magazines and newspaper articles reported about the splatterings. Some wondered about the motivation and identity of those responsible, but the Splasher — or Splashers — remained anonymous.

The most recent episodes came this month, in two incidents involving what seemed to be stink bombs lobbed at shows of street artists on the Lower East Side and Dumbo. And some in the art world believe the identify of the Splasher may have been revealed. Last Thursday night James Cooper, 24, was arrested at the Dumbo show after witnesses accused him of attempting to ignite a homemade incendiary device in a metal coffee canister.

Mr. Cooper was charged with third-degree arson, reckless endangerment, placing a false bomb, criminal possession of a weapon, harassment and disorderly conduct. He was arraigned and released on his own recognizance, a spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said.

The 16-Page Splasher Manifesto
Página a página, en NYTimes
En fotos de alta resolución, en FLICKR
Como libro el PDF, armado por MarcaAcme con las imagenes del NYTimes (pesa 2 megas y pico)

Splashers raise a hollow stink, June 28, 2007, by Francesca Gavin, link
The war on New York's street art scene is turning nasty with threats of anthrax and arson. Get a grip.

Get a grip, I say - this is just art. Potentially endangering people over a Shepard Fairey Obey poster is more than a bit pathetic. And why just attack street art? Why not the fine art world? Or, more importantly, if this is about politics, why not attack the government or cigarette companies or pharmaceuticals or the church? There's plenty in the US to resist, which is far more important than an art opening. The Splasher manifesto accuses street artists of being bourgeois - but with this elaborate manifesto the Splashers are showing themselves to be just that.

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