Mission Mission

Today on I Heart Street Art, we hear from graffiti gurus Steve Rotman and Chris Brennan on the topic of why San Francisco’s scene is such fertile ground for characters like Ribity and Girafa. Lots of great pictures too (by which I mean I got stuff off Flickr instead of using my shite cell phone camera):

I Heart Street Art: San Francisco’s Character-Driven Graffiti

Plug1 of WHATIMSEEING DOT COM captured this colorful shot of possibly my favorite new phenomenon. SO? What do we think!? Doesn’t cause property damage, gives new life to old discarded objects, brightens up a dreary phone pole. Home owners? Business owners? Haters? Lovers? Where do we stand?

This week on I Heart Street Art, we compare a big famous SoMa mural to a tiny little SoMa tag. We conclude that both are pretty heavy. Also, we share a bunch of research involving science and chemicals and symbols:

I Heart Street Art: Signage Art

Our good buddy Edward from b e r l i n ‘ just spotted something unreal: Ribity in Berlin! Edward fills us in:

Came across this tag in Charlottenburg. [...] More to come as we find them.

By the way, German frogs say “QUACK”= quackity.

On a not entirely unrelated note, did I mention my favorite German brand name? Not “Froggy”, or “Froglet”, just plain “FROG” brand detergent.

Quack! Ha!

Detergent pic after the jump. Thanks, Edward!

Previously:

Relaxed Attitude Toward Graffiti in a Dolores-Like Park in Berlin

Berlin-SF Neighborhoods Map Mashup

Mission-Style Burritos in Berlin

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Plug_1 of WHAT IM SEEING dot com got this shot of a piece of MUSK graffiti.  Speaking of MUSK, check out Plug_1′s awesome set of MUSK graf photos on flickr.

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Okay, MJ did not say this himself, but whatever.  The art was found in the men’s room at Mission Bar.  A much better photo by Rick Audet indicates that this has been around since the fall of 2007, but it’s new to me.

This week on I Heart Street Art, we conclude our tour around Europe with a quick walk through Berlin’s Mauerpark on a sunny Sunday afternoon:

I Heart Street Art: Berlin’s Walls

Spotted by jerhodes on 14th and Valencia.

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This week on I Heart Street Art, some rad scenes from Barcelona:

I Heart Street Art Goes To Barcelona

We finally managed to get in touch with one of the artists behind the neighborhood’s hottest new mural. Ronnie gives us some background:

The space upstairs used to be my old office/art studio and we had the original mural on he side but it was defaced a few years back and we just never got around to fixing it. We had the min hero concept for quite some time but never had the appropriate wall for it and we finally had the time, materials and wall so we hooked up 19th. I also grew up on 19th and my father who was quite fond of comics had got me interested at a young age and so we thought how cool it would be if there could be a mural that would not only brighten up the neighborhood but also give children something to aspire to become. In this day and age in a neighborhood like that kids need something to keep them looking up and moving forward in a positive manner. The best part of painting the wall was the kids walking by and getting so excited and pointing out to there parents all the heroes and talking photos with them. We honestly do feel like we gave something to the community with this one.

Huzzah! Sounds good to me. And looks good:

Photos by Steven Weinberg (who did most of the legwork for this post). Lots more after the jump.  Thanks, Steven!

(Or check out WHAT IM SEEING for some serious professional-grade shots.)

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