Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas traces the graphic art made by Emory Douglas while he worked as minister of culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 until its discontinuation in the early 1980s. Douglas’s powerful visuals helped define the trademark visual style of the group’s newspapers, posters, and pamphlets. Douglas’s substantial body of work exists as a powerful graphic record of the Black Panthers’ legacy, reflecting their development and evolving mission to improve the lives of African Americans by calling for resistance and change, as well providing social services to their communities. With a firm understanding of the need to disseminate information and communicate the party’s agenda visually, Douglas’s bold illustrations and striking images spoke forcefully to a community ravaged by poverty, police brutality, and poor living conditions. With unmistakable humanism, Douglas portrayed a populace that was emerging from segregation and proudly fighting to assert their rights to equality.

Really love the bit posted on Cyana about the Emory Douglas exhibit at the New Museum in New York. Seeing his work now, it’s fairly evident the inspiration his style and sense of commentary in many of the prominent street artists today.

[Cyana]

[Wooster]

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

Anyone else think that Blu is imminent for a Bansky-level explosion of popularity? The artist who last year brought us an incredible mindtrip of an urban wall-painted animation has posted up some new works in Grottaglie, Italy — for the Fame Festival. The images above depict a piece commenting on a massive steel factory in nearby Taranto.

this factory is destroying the territory and killing a lot of workers ’cause of its big lack of security measures and high environmental pollution. the direct consequence is that Taranto has one of the highest rate of death by cancer in italy. As a plus, the smartest politicians from Grottaglie’s town council allowed, back in ‘96, the construction of a very filthy special wastes dump right outside the city. they did not inform the people, they did not ask anybody’s opinion, they just did it. i wish i could wonder WHY they did it.



i usually like to think that every piece of art can have different meaning, depending on who is looking at it and from wich perspective he is looking from. this time, i prefer to think that we’re all looking at a mere mirror of the actual situation we’re living in.


especially for our mean local politicians, none of them excluded. i hope that they can recognise themselves in these huge faces and feel disgusted for what they’ve done to their people.

[Fame Festival via Wooster]

Some wonderful street pieces from Spanish artists Ibarek and Esec.

[via Wooster]