Reduce The Panic » Graffiti

Guerrilla Yarn Artists combine Graffiti and Craft

Catherine South — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:15:57 +0000

Yarn crafts have been practiced for centuries, mostly by women. These needle and hook crafts can be used to create blankets, clothing, table cloths and even curtains. Knitting and crochet have now found their way into street art, as yarn graffiti.

Yarn Bombing creates Colorful Shrapnel

Crochet and knit graffiti is sometimes known as “yarn bombing”. The craft street artist will most often create their piece in the quiet of their own homes, before constructing the art work on its intended surface. Yarn graffiti is not limited to any one surface. It has been found on trees, hand rails, fences and hanging from bridges.

source:crochetconcupiscense

Grandma’s Tree Cozy

One of the more well-known yarn designs is a crochet tea cozy. These are essentially a woolen covering that is placed over a hot tea pot to keep it warm. In the images below, a similar covering has been created to cover these trees in a public park, transforming an ordinary public space into a fantastic wonderland.

source:streetartutopia

Yarn Bombed Statues

Statues appear to be one of the favorite subjects for crochet and knit artists to graffiti. These life -like representations of the human form make a perfect base for a statement, and crafters will often either dress them in crochet items in much the same way that a living person would wear crochet clothing, or pose a crafted creature with the statue. Unlike paint graffiti, these street art works don’t vandalize or damage property. The crochet art can simply be cut away and discarded.

source:knitonesaveone

source:craftzine

Barbed Wire and Doilies

Fences make ideal canvases for crochet and knit graffiti artists. These structures have plenty of places where a yarn artist can attach their crafted street art. Crochet seems to be the yarn bomber’s choice of craft for fence decoration, as it is easy to make flowers, birds, butterflies and other decorative elements in crochet.

source:bitrebels

source:adriennemtrew

Smart Street Artists create Clever Graffiti

Catherine South — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:55:42 +0000

Graffiti art often focuses on expressing the political or social expressions of the street artist, but sometimes the temptation to create a visual pun is too strong, and clever graffiti art designs are created as a result.

Calvin and Hobbes Sledding in the Streets

One of the most famous images of the popular comic duo, Calvin and Hobbes, is the picture of the friends tobogganing. This clever graffiti gives the image a new setting, allowing Calvin and Hobbes to sled in the streets.

source:artrick-playground

No Smoking in the Streets

This clever graffiti art work is both a visual pun and a statement of the artist’s view on smoking. This graffiti piece cleverly incorporates existing objects into the design.

source:sugarandlux

Giant Graffiti People

This graffiti design shows an image of two giant girls, crammed into a tiny building. The piece creates a spacial deception that is more effective when standing in front of the street art.

source:boingboing

Hang Man Graffiti

Like the street ashtray graffiti above, this piece uses an existing object to create the desired effect; the character appears to be pinned to the wall by the peg.

source:buzzhunt

Street Puddle Olympics

These Tim Burton styled cartoon characters have been graffitied beside a street puddle, acting out a parody of an Olympic diving event.

source:omundotemsolucao

Not your Average Christmas Card: Santa Claus Graffiti

Catherine South — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 11:16:50 +0000

The name Santa Claus is believed to originate from the Dutch Sinterklaas, which may be an abbreviation of Saint Nicholas. Other names for Santa Claus include Father Christmas and Saint Nick.

The modern Santa Claus image was first introduced in 1863 by world-renowned cartoonist and caricaturist, Thomas Nast. His artist’s sketch showed a rosy cheeked old man, puffing on a tobacco pipe while holding an armful of toys. This image became so popular that it was adopted by Christian societies around the world. Shown below is Thomas Nast’s original Santa Claus design, which was published in the Christmas edition of Harper’s Weekly in 1863, alongside a graffiti art version of the original design.

source:magnumarts

Santa Claus Graffiti

Popular media portrays Santa Claus as being a jolly old man with a big white beard, wearing a red suit that is trimmed with white fur. The character design is flexible, as long as the central design elements (listed above) are adhered to. Other items that are sometimes shown with Santa are reading glasses and/or a walking stick.

source:topgraffity,thegenkofgraffitiart,graffitiland,flikie

Evil Santa Claus Graffiti

For every “good” or “cute” character, there is an art movement to create evil versions of the character (see The Dark Side of Hello Kitty for evil versions of Hello Kitty). The Santa Claus doppelgangers shown below explore a dark, evil side of Santa that is not suggested by popular media. This is the kind of evil Santa who might give Creepy Christmas Gifts to naughty children.

source:kingraffiti,phoenixnewtimes

Santa Claus Featuring Famous Faces

Santa Claus is a symbol of peace, joy and generosity. By depicting a celebrity or famous personage as Santa, a powerful statement can be made. An especially powerful contrasting metaphor can be created if the famous character or person is thought of as evil.

Graffiti of Jack Skellington as Santa Claus

An example of an “evil” character portrayed as Santa Claus Jack Skellington, from the movie A Nightmare Before Christmas, was supposedly the personification of all things creepy and deadly. The skeleton is shown below, in the guise of Santa Claus.

source:phoenixnewtimes

Graffiti of Osama bin Laden as Santa Claus

In the image shown below, Osama bin Laden is depicted as Santa Claus. Bin Laden was believed to be a leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.

source:indiatimes

Graffiti of Banksy’s Rat as Santa Claus

World famous graffiti artist, Banksy, often uses rats as subjects in his graffiti art. Whether or not this piece was sprayed by Banksy or not is uncertain, but the rat character design is certainly reminiscent of Banksy’s graffiti style. Here the rat is shown dressed as Santa Claus. Next to it are the words, “Stop this seasonal madness. Go home and eat chocolate.”

source:fuzzbomb

The Waldo’s on the Wall

Catherine South — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:03:41 +0000

Martin Handford’s cartoon character, Waldo, was introduced to the world in the Where’s Waldo puzzle books in 1987. Since then, he has appeared across the globe in street art, as part of the quest to find Wally. This recognizable character has popped up in stencilled and sprayed graffiti art works, in street stickers and as short-lived chalk drawings on city pavements.

Where’s Waldo Osama?

This street art sticker cleverly combines the eternal search for Waldo with the historic manhunt for the terrorist, Osama bin Laden.

source:woostercollective

Wally Boulder Dash

The city of Boulder, Colorado was hit by a freak incident; Wally was seen in four separate places at the same time…

source:westword

Wanted: Wally

This stencilled graffiti piece is another spin on the search for Wally that is the central theme of the Where’s Wally puzzle books.

source:infinitestranger

Waldo and Woof

A street artist’s depiction of Waldo is seen below. The character is recognizable as Wally because of the red and white beanie and the striped sweater, along with the blue jeans and dark shoes. (See if you can spot Woof’s tail in this picture)

source:edittrix

Waldo Stands Out in Dublin

This stencilled graffiti of Wally was found in Dublin, and includes two highly distinguishable Waldo characteristics; the horn-rimmed glasses and the walking stick.

source:infomatique