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.
Even though I have hundreds of photos documenting the devolution/evolution of this artwork, this is the final set of photos I’ll post. However, I make no promises.
Here is the fourth visual report of the destruction and regeneration and further destruction of the LIES street galleries.
Here is another visual report of the destruction and regeneration and further destruction of the LIES street galleries. There are some moments of brilliance in this devolution/evolution.
Another visual report of the destruction and regeneration and further destruction of the LIES street galleries.
The images below are a visual report of the destruction and regeneration and further destruction of the LIES street galleries. The slow destruction of this type of work is beautiful and has amazing mixed media potential. This documentation will be used in a future mixed media artwork series.
High visibility on a beautiful evening.
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.
They can spray all they want, I’ve got a lot of posters and a sense of purpose.
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.
Here is my response to the message sent to me in the previous post. You might not agree with my point of view, but my guess is that most will. Regardless, I hope it provides context to why I would bother to respond in the first place.
You also might not agree with my sharp language, however I feel it is absolutely appropriate for this environment. For context, the Forward Warrior murals I refer to are spaces given to artists to make their work, a specific work. They are making art for the public space. For everyone. Taggers, at least the ones that are assholes, will often tag those pieces of art. These murals are art in a public gallery given to the community for all to enjoy. It is wrong to tag this work.
The space where I am working is public domain. No one can claim it. No one can dictate what type of media can be used either. Taggers can go ahead and tag it. They can do their thing, but don’t tell me I can’t be here. “The entitled tagger?” Makes me laugh out loud, because it’s super lame.
I’m not hiding or running away. I put my name to my words. I stand behind everything I wrote and posted.
Open Letter to Graffiti Artists (AKA Taggers)
In 2020 and 2021, I took the LIES targeted poster series to the streets of Atlanta. This work meant nothing if it wasn’t seen by the public. This was conceptual art as a graphic brand. It was also political protest art intended to make a sharp and direct point.
At this time, I ventured to a few popular hotspots around town (including the famed OutKast mural in Little Five Points) and, along with the help of a few friends, pasted up dozens and dozens of posters. Here are some of the documentation highlights.
Bring an artist is one of the toughest things anyone can do. For a variety of reasons. Almost everyone would admit this too, regardless of their big picture view of the art world itself. The last two years I’ve made street art. I went into this eyes wide open, so I expected my work to be tagged, weathered and painted over. I still think the solution to the art “problem” is weak. Check out these images of the location where my art once was.
Back home in Atlanta, I decided to take on the notorious metal wall again. The one along the Beltline on Wylie Street. This is the wall I used last summer for three large scale works. This time, the ridges of the wall were not an issue because I was working much smaller than before.
So here are images of the first 25 posters I pasted up in Atlanta. I have more, there will be more coming up in the very near future. Maybe even tonight.
Earlier this month I was on the road again. This time I pasted up some posters in the city of Louisville. My friend, and fellow artist, Jennifer Palmer assisted me with the job. We hung up the posters in Smoketown, a neighborhood just southeast of downtown. Here are some pictures of what I left behind.
Last week, I drove to Kansas City to visit my friend (and fellow artist) Tarin Eicher. I brought along some new work to paste up while out there. Most of it we pasted in Crossroads (specifically Art Alley) and the Historic West Bottoms neighborhood. It was a great trip, had lots of fun. Here are a few images of the work I left behind.
This week, I finished hanging up my second large scale artwork. Stay tuned. There will be more to see in the coming weeks.
That said, I am looking for volunteers to help me hang these really large works. I have tried alone and it’s too difficult. It’s just too large. Too many wrinkles.
If you’re in Atlanta and are interested in giving me a hand installing these, please let me know. You must be able to work after dark and willing to get messy.
So, I’ve been telling you all that I’ve been working on something big. As you can now see, I wasn’t joking around. Last night, with the help of a couple of friends (shout out to Damon & Jeff), I installed the first of my new large format pieces of art.
This is my new direction. The work is comprised of many panels and is 8 feet tall and 50 feet wide in total.
Here are some pictures of the preparation, installation and the final result.
Watch this space, there is more to come.
Working in the studio again tonight. Making more progress on new work. At least I hope so. Time to call it a night and take a look in the morning. Ah yes, the morning after studio look. Sometimes all is good, other times it’s not. Hopefully, tomorrow I will like the decisions I made tonight.
As summer moves forward, I continue to make progress on some new work. Stay tuned, much more to come.
It’s my summer break and as I promised myself, I’m at work in my studio more often. Perhaps I should I say, fighting in my studio. Because I’m fighting myself at every turn. Making art is a battle. A good battle to have, but still a battle nonetheless. My creative energy as well as my physical energy have severe peaks and valleys throughout the day. More often than not, I’ll have creative outbursts followed by moments of fatigue. My confidence level can fluctuate greatly throughout a day in the studio too. At times, I’ll feel that my ideas and instinctive abilities are strong. Then in a moments notice I’ll feel indecisive, unconfident and almost insecure about my progress. Almost like I’m stuck in quicksand. At these times, I will even need to walk away and close my eyes for a few minutes.
These days I have been waging some big battles in the studio. I’ve been working on something big. Both literally and figuratively. Stay tuned for more images and other notes about my progress.
Brett Callero: Visual Artist 