Banksy has recently popped up in Hollywood as of late, my guess is because of the Oscars being held on Feb. 27th, in which he is nominated for best documentary for “Exit through the Gift Shop”. I am actually really excited about the Oscars just because of Banksy. The problem the academy is having is they don’t know who he is at all, so they don’t know how to invite him, or not to have him kicked out when he tries to get to his seat, as well as they don’t know who is going to come up and accept the award if he wins. People across the board say he is a shoe in to win the award, but because of the mystery I wonder if he will get shafted to avoid problems, we shall see. (P.S. I am back from Miami so posting will be back to normal HOLLA.)

UPDATE: Banksy takes over a billboard on Sunset Boulevard. Click to enlarge.

UPDATE 2: “Dog Wizz“, spotted on Little Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills. Click to enlarge

Swedish street artist Akay created a robotic device to spray paint rainbows.  Akay’s campaign “Instruments of Mass Destructions” revolves around creating complex technical and robotic ways to create street art.  A nice rainbow would brighten up anyones day as they walk down the street.

robo-rainbow from mudlevel on Vimeo.

Walking down Bowery in NYC is pretty much like any other downtown street. Stores, shops, bums, business men, fashion forward dressers, and of course, graffiti. There is no way you can not notice the art that covers 190 Bowery. The building takes up an insane amount of space and at first looks, seems abandoned. The front steps are most nights, filled with homeless people sleeping, or just taking in the sites. The windows are covered, and it is easy to wonder, how, why, would a gigantic building in downtown NYC, the heart of the world, be abandoned. It surprised, and even shocked me to find out I couldnt be more wrong.

(more…)

There’s a 37-year-old artist in China who can paint himself into anything. Liu Bolin has been disguising himself to blend in urban or nature backdrops, creating the illusion of a human chameleon or a ghost. He spends about 10 hours being painted for each work so he perfectly matches the background. Bolin stands in front of backdrops with a team of two assistants to paint the camouflage on.

More awesome camouflage paintings below
(more…)

(click to enlarge)

“Just when I thought you couldn’t possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this… and totally redeem yourself” If this oil painting doesn’t make you smile then you can go shove it you Debbie Downer.

This artist takes water and slow mo to another level with his HD photography of water movement in action. It is really amazing to see water frozen in time to get to see the true beauty of the free form and smooth shapes it creates. One great thing is you will never run out of new material, as water will never duplicate an exact form, just like a finger print I guess.

More water art below
(more…)

I can’t tell you what these are from, or who made them, because the site I saw them on was in some sort of language that I think went extinct 500 years ago. So here is my description of these illustrations, monkeys in different human styles. There you go, all done, I’m on fire today. On a serious note these things are pretty awesome, and weird as shit too. Now excuse me while I go back to sleigh riding and drinking 151 out of a Gatorade bottle. (click on images to enlarge)

More creepy monkeys below
(more…)

Here is an awesome series by Adam Sidwell dedicated to 52 (one per week of 2010) bad characters from your favorite cult movies. His great style is also pretty various, from more clean vectorial look to “painted”. So many of these not only spark up childhood memories, but I loved the characters he picked, definitely not the conventional “bad guys” you see on every other bad guy list. The best part about these is they are available for purchase right here. You can also go to Sidwell’s website found here for more information on the prints and a great interview all about the project and himself. Here are a bunch of the posters I really liked but of course I didn’t include them all so check out his site for the others. O and if you do like something act fast because they are taken down after a certain amount are purchased, enjoy.

Many more awesome bad dudes below
(more…)

Reddit user mygrapefruit, previously featured here for coloring Malcom Browne’s burning monk photo, expressed his talents once again with Alfred Eisenstaedt’s ‘V-J Day in Times Square’.