(Photos by Tomasz Rog)
Spotted these photos on Instagram over the weekend – thanks to Tomasz Rog – and it really made me stop for a second.
What you see above was the result of a community art project that was funded through Kickstarter to help draw attention to the 12,ooo+ Americans who are killed each and every year by guns.
The Kickstarter campaign raised over $8K to buy chalk (a LOT of chalk,) to get the proper city permits allowing them to block off a section of JFK boulevard, to build a website and to get photographers to document the whole thing… Kind of surprised I didn’t hear more about this, actually. Either way, really cool idea.
(Photos by Pete Murray)
Love these little Philly dumpster sculptures by Drew Leshko! Seriously, I want all of them… I suppose I’m drawn to them because of their ridiculously on point likenesses to some of Philly’s more prevailing street art as of late. In fact, if you scroll through my blog here, I’m sure you will see most of the stickers/pastes above posted about within the last few pages. Nevertheless, I have a pretty specific aesthetic that I enjoy (obviously,) so I reached out to the artist himself to get his take on this series and his work in general:
“My work focuses mainly on documenting buildings in Philadelphia that are in transitional periods, but ultimately I’m interested in how historical importance is determined. The dumpsters originated as adornments to installations and functioned as a metaphor for our disposable culture. The dumpsters are certainly not focusing on street art, but the temporary nature of wheat pastes relate to the buildings I’m documenting. The dumpsters are are adorned with local street art and club promotions that I find interesting and worth documenting as I pass in throughout the city.”
If you like what you see and you happen to live in New Orleans (of all places,) then you’re in luck. Drew’s got some work in an exhibition opening on June 1st at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery titled, “Philadelphia,” including the work of other local artists Alex Lukas, Erin Murray, Brian Richmond and Kim Alsbrooks… Nice!
Sebastian Owl on Girard
Joe Boruchow installed a couple huge new pieces over the weekend at 29th and Girard, in association with Mural Arts.
Love this!
New #JoeBoruchow @muralarts installation at 29th and Girard! vine.co/v/bEYqujaKD7Z
— Streets Dept (@StreetsDept) May 18, 2013
Public Notice to Philly’s Bro Culture: Fall Back
(Photo from Djaptone’s Instagram)
Found at 49th and Baltimore… Not a huge fan that this playfully (I hope) seems to imply violence against anyone, but I get the sentiment and, more or less, like it.
If you’re asking, what’s Bro Culture? Let me try and explain… From my understanding, it can actually refer to a bunch of different groups specifically, but it mostly it refers to middle/upper-middle class straight, usually white, males aging from about 18-26 who demonstrate underlining (or otherwise) misogynistic, racist and/or homophobic attitudes, aside from being rather self-centered and egotistical. Men who, generally speaking, lack empathy and have had very little exposure to people outside of their upbringing. Many wear popped-collar Polos and think that women walking down the street love to hear complements yelled at them.
Again though, that’s my written-at-3:30am definition, so please feel free to throw your two cents in below…
Glove Art(?) Popping Up Around Philly
(Right photo from Tim Gibbons)
Left glove found in Northern Liberties, and right glove in North Philly. Wonder who’s installing these ‘peace’ gloves around the city/and why? Hhmm…


















