Tag Archives for Atlanta Beltline

Putting Them to Good Use

In my opinion, there’s too many one-trick ponies in the Atlanta street art scene. Making the same old shit over and over again. The same drawing a million times. Greg Mike is just Atlanta’s most well known. THIS is what provided the initial spark that led to the creation of the Not so good sticker.

By placing these stickers here, I was taking my concept full circle. This was also a way to cover his work (just a little bit) after he had covered mine. Small time revenge haha. I’m sure these stickers were gone within two weeks. I don’t know because it was literally one of the very last things I did before leaving Atlanta. True story. I proceed to get two flat tires a moment later which delayed my dramatic high tailed exit out of town. Had to call on a friend for help, and left Atlanta the next day. This is why life is a comedy.

Another true story. I told a couple of friends how I wanted to make a sticker that said “Not So Good” and slap it on all the mediocrity surrounding me. The idea grew to be much bigger than my simple personal critique of the Atlanta street art scene. It was universal and could be applied everywhere.

LIES Street Gallery: Visual Report (#5)

Ok, ok. I said I was done, but I changed my mind.

Here’s more documentation of the devolution/evolution of the LIES street galleries. The final visual report of the destruction and regeneration and further destruction.

Getting Big Timed

Yeah, I got big timed. Greg Mike covered it up with some of his work. Guess, he liked the location too. Since I live nearby and could see what was happening, I walked up to him and introduced myself when he was painting his work over mine.

Nothing wrong with Greg Mike, Greg Mike is alright. He has as much right to put his work up there as I do. However, it’s not that simple. Here is a great spot that many people used over the last few years. Now it is changed. Because he’s a known commodity, the spot is now basically his. Others artists will now be reluctant to cover it up, even though they should.

This episode is all from the unwritten rulebook of Atlanta Street Art culture. I don’t belong. It’s OK. I’ve never fit into any club anyway.

The LIES Street Galleries

For months, I continued adding posters in these two locations on Wylie Street on a regular basis. Then I’d sit on my patio and people watch. During daylight hours, there’s a steady flow of people here on the Atlanta Beltline biking and walking path. These locations became my LIES street galleries and I had a lot of eyes on my artwork.

I documented their destruction extensively too. I plan to be use those images in a future series of mixed media paintings. See the visual report posts for details.

Street art in a space like this will get tagged, and should get tagged. It’s a part of the public space. No one expressing themselves creatively can claim ownership of these spaces. The slow destruction of this type of work is normal. In my opinion, the weathering and tagging adds to the visual appeal of the medium overall. I think it’s beautiful and has amazing mixed media potential. Makes the creative gears in my mind turn.

Living Across the Street

I’ve written before about where I live in Atlanta. It’s fast becoming a street art destination. I’d like to think I did a small part to spark the activity happening here. When I started working here, the Atlanta Beltline was yet to be constructed and the graffiti here had not been updated in along time. Today, there is constant action. New street art being added on a regular basis. That was not the case with this location (a metal, ridged wall) in 2016, when I started pasting up here. You can see pictures of that artwork here, here, and here.

Living across the street from your artwork has its perks. Not only am I on top of it in regard to my “principles of street art” battle (haha), I also get to see people stop and photograph themselves in front of my work. It’s uniquely rewarding.

On more than one occasion I’ve seen people film a scene for a music video right in front of my artwork. The video below is one example of this.

LIES Street Art Highlights (#4)

My final response to my graffiti artist nuisance was to make more posters, and paste up more posters. A lot more!

Living across the street allowed me to work with precision timing. As you can see from these photos, it was a lot of fun. A few total strangers stopped by to show support. Some of them wanted to get involved, including a Canadian citizen in full support of my message. We had to work fast, but I still had time to document the activity.

Their Reaction and My Second Response

A few days later I was told to shut the fuck up. That’s it, nothing else. I didn’t expect an intellectual war of words, but I thought there’d be more than just a simple tag.

Living across the street has its advantages. I had another sign up the next morning. With an additional handwritten message to emphasize a fine, sharp point.

I had a third poster ready to go in case I needed it. Never had to use it. Two got the job done.

Krog Street Sticker Slaps

In Atlanta, just southeast of downtown is a little neighborhood of called Cabbagetown. In the time I’ve lived in this city, Cabbagetown has become a street art Mecca. A destination for street artists and street art appreciators alike. As I’ve mentioned before, I live in the adjacent neighborhood of Reynoldstown, but just a short walk from the epicenter of the Cabbagetown street art scene. The Krog Street Tunnel is an ever-changing visual spectacle of street art. Unlike the murals around the corner, the tunnel is intended to be tagged and layered and covered and covered and covered some more.

Shaking’ Things Up is the first sticker slap in a new (as of yet untitled) series of work. I finally have something I wanted to add to the Tunnel.

Here are some images of the results. These are just the highlights of my Krog Street sticker slaps.

 

 

 

The Kids Call Them Slaps

The kids call them slaps. Stickers. Well, when used as street art they’re are called slaps or sticker slaps. At least that’s what I’ve been told.

I went to the Krog Street Tunnel to add some slaps. Just a little of my flavor added to the constant storm of visual stimulation in this location. While there, I found a group of kids having fun and gave them some stickers to spread around other locations in Atlanta. Spontaneous assistance. It’s nice to have help when taking care of business like this.

More Loyalty Lies In Atlanta

A couple of weeks ago I added more of my Lies brand posters. Here are some images. I’ve already been painted over and torn down. When it comes to this kind of street art, it’s the nature of the beast. All posters are along the Beltline on Wylie Street in Reynoldstown, Atlanta. Just a couple of blocks east of the famed Krog Street tunnel.

Lies: Loyalty Above All Else.

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