Meeting of Styles

On Saturday in Zagreb, the Meeting Of Styles was held, an international graffiti festival where the best graffiti artists gather.

From:www.javno.com
This Saturday in Zagreb, the Meeting Of Styles was held, an international graffiti festival, which for the fifth year in a row has gathered the best local Croatian and foreign graffiti artists. Local and international graffiti forces showed their skills by painting the walls north of the large roundabout in New Zagreb, in the suburb of Savski Gaj, with the support of hip-hip artists, DJs, MCs, and break dancers.
Meeting Of Styles since 2002 is the largest international graffiti event which is held one a year in around thirty countries across the world. In Croatia it was held for the first time in 2003. Since then, the organizers have continuously brought the elite of the world’s graffiti artists to Zagreb. Amongst them are: Noir, Neon, Flying Fortress, Sat One, ECB (Germany), Dare (Switzerland), Chino (New York), Coderock ( Norway) etc.

The aim of this festival is to promote graffiti culture as an urban expression of the youth, and by painting run down city surfaces with big murals, they will bring graffiti to the wider public, and show the positive side of graffiti, contrary to the vandalism on city walls. The graffiti artists at work, and the atmosphere which was at the festival can be seen in the PHOTOGALLERY.

RUEDI ONE - In the Yard slide show

Some excellent B/W pictures showing some writers in a yard in Germany.

http://www.ruedione.com/

THIS WEEKEND !!! Breaking Convention 07 - London UK

Yes people, it's that time of year again! Breakin' Convention is almost here - there's only a few days left until the UK's biggest and best Hip Hop Dance Theatre festival rolls into town.

Also don't forget that Breakin' Convention opens this year on Thursday night with an unmissable screening of the classic 80s hip hop movie Style Wars, with a Q&A with the graff legend BLADE . Check out Youtube clips from Style Wars for a taster…

SATURDAY 5 MAY

Live graff jam with Blade (USA) 15:30 - 17:30

Here is the location at

Sadlers Wells Theatre.
369 St John St,
London,
WC1X 0AA

"Bomb It" Hits the Streets

Bomb-It the lastest documentary on global graffiti premiered in New York this week at the Tribeca Film Festival. This ones eagerly anticipated, heres what the Daily News said.

"As for true stories, the high-energy "Bomb It" (9:15 p.m., Clearview Chelsea) presents an in-depth, and extremely entertaining, look at the history of graffiti from gifted music video director Jon Reiss. Despite claims that contemporary tagging started in Philadelphia, this is a New York movie through and through, and so passionate it may (briefly) convince you that a clean subway train is a crime."

Click here for the Bomb It website.

Click here for an article on Quality Of Life from the director of Bomb It, Jon Reiss.

Heres some footage from the movie with Lady Pink talking about Bombing back in the day.


and some old school kings...

91st Street Station

Abandoned in 1959 91st street has been bombed heavily by New York graffiti artists. Check out the pictures here:

91st Street Graffiti

Movie Review - Piece By Piece: San francisco Graffiti Documantary

Piece by piece is an excellent film documenting the graffiti art movement in San Francisco. Starting around 1983 it covers the progression of graffiti on the West cosat to the present day. Excellent interviews with alot of the major writers in SF as well as tributes to artists who have moved on. The film is professionally put together and is without a doubt one of the best graffiti documentaries out there and is right up there with Style Wars as a piece of graffiti history.

Click here for the piece by piece web site.

"Mr Ket" Busted

The arrest of an allegedly infamous graffiti vandal last week ignited a war of words between a notorious anti-graffiti crusader and one of its biggest boosters.
For the past five months, an NYPD Special Investigations Unit has been gathering evidence against 36-year-old Alain Mariduena, a.k.a. "KET," who has been tagging trains and stations across the city since 2004. Last week, they served a search warrant at his Upper Manhattan apartment. In the raid, they seized spray paint cans and nozzles, markers, marijuana, and brass knuckles. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of marijuana.
Mariduena has been linked to Marc Ecko, who set off a minor controversy over a block party he held in 2005 to promote a graffiti video game, where players roam a city landscape, spray painting their tag. At the block party, friends of Ecko painted cardboard cutouts that looked like subway cars.
Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr., an outspoken critic of graffiti who worked to stiffen penalties for people caught vandalizing public and private property, tried to block the event, making him the lifelong adversary of the graffiti community. Last week, Vallone praised the arrest as he criticized Ecko for promoting criminal acts.
"Maybe this guy was showing off what he learned at his boss' fake subway car graffiti fest," said Vallone. "It's clear that neither Marc Ecko nor his associates care about the difference between real art and vandalism. We can see the writing on the wall, or should I say subway: All Marc Ecko cares about is promoting criminal behavior for commercial profit."
Vallone said that Mariduena serves as an advisor to Ecko on his video game, as well as his graffiti-inspired apparel. Vallone also said that the two share a lawyer, Daniel Perez, who Vallone knows personally because Ecko retained him in several legal actions against the Astoria politician.
"Now we know why Ecko's attorney spends so much effort trying to keep graffiti tools on the street: so he can make money defending kids when they are arrested for using them," the councilman's statement read.
Ecko was quick to respond, and within an hour of the release of Vallone's statement had issued one of his own. The founder and chief creative officer of Marc Ecko Enterprises said he didn't know about the arrest, but didn't deny knowing the accused.
"I have no knowledge of the case," said a statement released through his director of Corporate Communications. "However, I do consider myself a good friend of Alain's and, as a matter of policy, I don't comment on friends' personal lives."
Ecko did say that he would continue to fight what he sees as an illegal effort to deny free speech.
"As always," the statement continued, "if the city is denying civil liberties or unfairly targeting its youth, I will consider utilizing my personal resources to fight it."
In addition to the other two charges, the Brooklyn district attorney added two counts of criminal mischief, a felony, and two counts of making graffiti, a misdemeanor, at Mariduena's arraignment. Indictments have also been secured in Queens and Manhattan, bringing the total number of graffiti felony counts to 11 for Mariduena.

Click here for the full article and here on 12 oz prophet