And… FIRE! France’s JR takes aim at the Tate Modern’s finest…

Unlike a host of unmentionable urban art institutions that turn a blind eye to the burgeoning art movements erupting just outside their museum doors, London’s TATE MODERN is paying homage this month to the city’s most colorful and volatile movement through their inventively-named “Street Art” exhibition. With an eye for international talent, the museum has invited six artists with roots in graffiti including Brasil’s OS GEMEOS and NUNCA, France’s JR, Italy’s BLU, NYC’s FAILE, and Barcelona’s SIXEART to embellish the building’s massive facade and partake in a group exhibition that will remain on display until August 25th. Of course, the most obvious omission in this list is the town’s resident street art kingpin BANKSY, but we suspect the Golden Child is above such institutional fare. And just when it seemed like London would have to build more city walls to support the nonstop barrage of wheatpaste posters and graffiti besieging it, the show has inspired a legion of artists to step up their wallpapering efforts turning the surrounding neighborhoods into an outdoor museum. It seems that Street Art is the British Invasion of the ‘00s (or at the very least, the new black). HAVE A LOOK:

The scene of the art crimes…

JR steadies his aim…

Os Gemeos’ yellow giant lets it all hang out…

Mural by Blu…

JR’s unique crowd control method…

Mural by Faile…

(detail)

Mural by Barcelona’s Sixeart…

Mural by Nunca….

Monks by JR…

BMX x STREET ART AT THE TATE:

Why? Because they CAN…

Jumping the Thames…

AROUND TOWN:

JR goes big…

…and BIGGER…

…and BIGGER.

Rogues’ gallery…

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 8:30 am and is filed under Graffiti, London, News, Next Big Thing, Openings, Street Art, art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.