Last week I mentioned Hosier Lane, one of Chopchop’s new hang-outs. This week I thought I’d show you some more of the ever-changing lanes of Melbourne. Artists such as Meggs, Fafi and Vexta regularly work there, as well as the usual anonymice. Canada Lane, in Carlton and Center Place in the city are also extremely impressive. It is definitely worth wandering the lanes regularly, as this graffiti- like all the good stuff, is constantly evolving.

taken by Trimba, Flickr Creative Commons

taken by Trimba, Flickr Creative Commons

taken by Trimba, Flickr Creative Commons

The notorious Mark "Chopper" Reid has been popping up round the streets of Melbourne lately. Anyone who knows anything about this versatile Aussie gangster knows that it is not necessarily a good thing.

"Chopper" stencil art, Melbourne.

Chopper hits headlines semi-frequently. He was arrested this week after getting in a fight on an inner city Collingwood street with a man wielding a tomahawk. Recently, attempts have been made to ban a children’s book that Reid wrote a couple of years ago, titled Hooky the Cripple: the grim tale of a Hunchback who triumphs.

Hosier Lane is Melbourne’s most famous laneway for street art, but watch out if you see Chopper, you might just lose an ear for Christmas…

C215 is (as far as we know) the first stencil/street artist to paint on the streets of India. These photographs were taken in the Karol Bagh District of New Delhi between 7th -16th October 2008. He strayed off the tourist trail somehow and ended up in this unimaginably poor district. These pieces were mainly for the children to see and enjoy.

Video of Karol Bagh District in New Delhi:

We are happy to announce that the streets of Montreal are once again graced with the Hunter S. Thompson sidekick styled art of Other. After an extended two year disappearing act to Berlin, he is back to leave traces of his lovely mind in the form of words and pictures on walls all over the city. If you don’t know his work, i would recommend you visit any number of train yards in the city. Or check his site where he often has things for sale at a remarkably good price.

The word is a sneak preview of 30 new pieces for an upcoming LA art show are going to be diseminated on the hush hush in a week. If you haven’t sent him your email yet to see… send him your mail at troy.lovegates@gmail.com, and tell him cityspk sent you…

I am still hoping that he delivers on an impending project in which people send him found sweatpants and then he paints on him. I would definately file that under one of the most unique projects ever heading. As far as the background, he tells me of his buddy Hal: There was a guy named Hal over in ottawa who found some dirty old sweat pants on the street. He wrote a story about it. How if you start looking for it there are all sorts of dirty old clothes beaten by the elements. Like a sock that turned some blue, some green and has bird shit and finger paint on it in the lane. Clothes like that — that have been sitting out for some of the seasons in a row, and starting to mix right in with the pavement. But that is a bit of a dime a dozen. The real and somewhat rarer gem is the abandoned sweat pants. It was some years ago i read his story. But he found them on a bike ride, chucked his old shorts and rode around town in the found sweat pants until he came to the bay and then he went swimming in them and they ballooned all up in the water. He said how he took a real solace in the comfort of those worn in sweat pants in the shallows of the bay. He made that throw away his…

So, now, all of that is lost to history, but i ask you still to help Other recreate the sweat pant nostalgia and send him your found sweatpants to paint on. If you wanted to set something up, you could maybe just write him at the aforementioned email. Only the most crusty need apply…

Image taken by Canon Snapper, Flickr Creative Commons

Probablement pas, jusqu’à présent l’identité de cet artiste est restée inconnue du public. Visiblement originaire de Bristol en Angleterre, il décore les murs de nos villes de graph, pochoirs, et autres…

Je ne vais pas vous refaire sa biographie, certains sites en parlent bien mieux que moi. Je voudrais plutôt vous montrer quelques œuvres qui vous donneront sûrement envie d’en savoir plus!

Et finalement, si ce rapide aperçu vous a plu, je vous invite à consulter son site officiel ou le site de fan français qui contient de la bonne info.

Keep an eye open for this NFB doc on Montreal conceptual stencil artist ROADSWORTH. He was charged and narrowly escaped jail and $100,000 fines a few years back. This summer after plying his trade for hire in Berlin and all over Europe he was hired to do his clever magic on the streets of Downtown Montreal… talk about a turnaround…