Art School: Writing on the Wall

We at CA have seen our fair share of street art this week. With the new addition of a campus graffiti wall (see previous post) came a flurry of related activity: we witnessed the possible unmasking of a superstar and remembered a classic graffiti film.












-According to Gawker and Animal NY, the identity of British street artist/provocateur Banksy may have been revealed in New York earlier this week. Several passersby claimed to have seen Banksy stenciling outside of a West Village nightclub. While the artist in question turned out to be Nick Walker, Banksy's Bristol contemporary, some have come out and said that they are one and the same. Others claim that Banksy is not actually one person, but instead a counterculture conglomerate. Either way, the mystique surrounding one of the art world's most enigmatic celebrities grows with each new rumor, and we are sure that is exactly what he/they want.
-We also happened upon Downtown 81, which showcases a day in the life of the late Jean-Michel Basquiat. The film, which was made by Glenn O'Brien (GQ's Style Guy), follows Basquiat's semi-fictional misadventures over the course of one day in 1981. It makes for a vivid urban fairytale, and we think pretty highly of it.

"I saw the writing on the wall; and it was mine."- Jean-Michel Basquiat