The gentrification of graffiti as art.

Does haute graffiti spell liberty or death for street art? There are many layers to that question, which is not to be taken figuratively in the slightest. This week LA-based graffiti darling RETNA became the latest sanctioned artist to take on the famous graffiti wall at Bowery and Houston, replacing a previously sanctioned installation by Brooklyn duo Faile.

Here is a video of RETNA taken during his process:

An interesting 57-seconds of performance art: have you ever seen a more perfect circle? It’s also an unexpected and unintentional piece of historical theater, too. What was once a clandestine, subversive, anti-establishment, “up yours” middle finger to the powers that be – with the added thrill of being where you’re not supposed to be, dodging the law during the most criminal of hours of the night and early morn’ – has become mainstream, lunch hour entertainment on one of the most gentrified corners in the nation.

RETNA, a.k.a. Marquis Lewis, himself seems bemused at his own mainstream success. In an interview with ELLE, he recalls his ascent to becoming one of the most sought after street artists this side of Banksy.

“[I]t wasn’t really called street art at that time, it was just graffiti. When I first saw it I knew that was what I wanted to do I just never really thought that it would turn into a career.”

And quite a career it is. From being arrested as a kid in the name of honing his art, to the Bowery and beyond (i.e., his full scale hieroglyphic installation on a $60 million private jet), he has very much arrived.

Meanwhile, the Bowery’s “arrival” is a bonified “nuh duh” at this point. Obviously. And on today’s Bowery, it would not be a stretch to assume that few passersby know of the history and significance of the Bowery Graffiti Wall – or the many, many layers underneath.

Complex offers a thorough must-read history of the wall. In summary, three decades ago Keith Haring did the wall’s first mural, said to be his first large-scale public work. It was then bombed and pieced (more on that in a minute) by illegal graffiti until curator Jeffrey Deitch and developer (and wall owner) Tony Goldman began sanctioning off murals on the wall to high profile contemporary artists in 2008.

Haring’s wall

The Os Gemeos version of the wall of 2009

May Day by Shepard Fairey

In fitting fashion, the new installations have been targeted over the years by NYC graffiti writers many times, from tagging…

…to out and out destruction revealing the layers underneath.

Bombing and Tagging vs. Mural-izing

The level of street art these days bears little resemblance to the tags of Cool “Disco” Dan, though even he is recognized as an artist in his own right. His work is owned by the Corcoran Gallery of Art and featured in books; he credits his tagging with keeping him alive and out of jail throughout the 80s and 90s during DC’s crack-smoking mayor’s, “murder capital of the world” years.

Decades later, the city government is nurturing future Disco Dans through its MuralsDC program, like the Deitch/Goldman collaboration but on a more civic scale. The intention is to keep kids out of trouble via bombing (spraying or marking a wall with one’s tag, or name, i.e., Che, Sleazy, Stamp, or Moe) and piecing (large scale abstract forms).

This tagging, piecing, mural-izing distinction is interesting to keep in mind when you consider the war raging across the pond between the world’s most famous street artist, Banksy, and the artist with the most street cred, King Robbo.

The two have been battling it out for the past three years after Bansky “improved upon” a piece King Robbo had created in a nearly-impossible-to-reach location twenty four years prior.

Face-slapping, resentments and destruction ensued. Team King Robbo was born.

In another touch of irony, this video captures one neighbor’s dismay at the willful destruction of property, a casualty of the graffiti war. He calls it a “horrific stain,” “a random act of vandalism,” done at the hands of wild, out of control kids.

The addition of red paint certainly changes things, but isn’t this street art?

Images: Wright Wedding; Bowery Boogie; Business Insider; Complex; Cool Disco Dan; The Guardian; BBC News

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An iPhone case and wallet made from recycled plastic bottles.

For consumers wary of cocooning their precious iPhones in bamboo, TRTLBOT has a perfectly sustainable solution: an iPhone case plus ID/credit card holder crafted from recycled plastic bottles.

Made in the USA (designed in Los Angeles, sourced from Indiana and manufactured in Santa Ana, Calif.), it is compatible with all 4 and 4S models. It can hold up to three credit cards, though its open-backed design might make it more suitable for storing gym membership cards versus flashing your AMEX.

Available at TRTLBOT for $29.95.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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Wildly patterned salt and pepper shakers from the archives of a ceramics master.

Everyday salt and pepper shakers are elevated to high brow decorative art care of Waylande Gregory Studios. The studio was founded by the great-grand nephew of the master ceramicist, Waylande Gregory, who was one of the leading modernist artists of the 20th century. Gregory also developed a game-changing glazing technique that was adapted by NASA to land Buzz Aldrin on the moon.

The studio that bears his namesake creates decorative porcelains and ceramics based on his archives, and are handmade by trained Peruvian artisans. The salt and pepper shakers here feature 22k gold accents and rich matte glazes. Available in Red and Black for $135.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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With ads like these, you could almost skip the museum.

From cradle to grave, we are being marketed to. At this point in life, we’re more inclined to tolerate the relentless bombardment from Saatchi & Saatchi as long as our personal aesthetics are given the respect they deserve. Make us feel clever and we might even consider buying that thing we don’t really need; at the very least, a clever ad will get talked (and blogged) about.

The point being, we consumers love a good arty ad. But even Mad Men‘s Draper would agree that the modern day advertiser might be piggybacking on the shoulders of The Masters a bit too contentedly. It’s fatiguing, like shouldering an otherwise adorable nephew for five minutes too many on a trip to the zoo. I’m even beginning to wonder if repurposing and sampling great art for mediocre ads is passing into Madison Avenue cliché.

Take, for example, Salvador Dali: the George Clinton of the advertising industry. Few artists are sampled as much as he is, save maybe Van Gogh and Andy Warhol.

Here is his masterpiece The Persistence of Memory:

And here he is pitching Lexus and VW.

Leonardo da Vinci has had his Sly & The Family Stone moments, too, sampled by campaigns as diverse as an online gambling website to rat poison.

Here’s Mona selling pizza and casual sex.

The entire genre of Chinese landscape painting was the inspiration behind this Skoda ad.

Meanwhile, red-soled, stiletto pusher Christian Louboutin recently relied on French Neoclassicism to sell his wares.

Here, Marie-Guillemine Benoist’s Portrait d-une Negresse with the Balda Booty.

And Georges de la Tour’s Magdalene and the Flame lusting after the Puck Boot. Can you blame her?

René Magritte is another, here sampled by VW (again) and veggie-chopper’s Magimix.

Nevertheless, designer Igor “Rogix” Udushlivy has elevated the not-so-fine art of re-purposing famous artworks to genius with his Magritte-inspired coat hangers.

Here’s to something truly surprising, innovative and wall-worthy that makes parting with cash truly worthwhile.

Images: The Telegraph; Cuded; The Dandelion Chronicles; Design Milk

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Santa will gladly stuff this modern and eco-friendly stocking.

Okay, okay. It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but we’re going to jump on the Christmas bandwagon and start celebrating (i.e., shopping) early this year. Albeit, guilt-free.

This strong, “ecospun” felt stocking from Rikrak is made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. Each stocking element is cut and crafted by hand and available in 60 color combinations. Have a sustainable Christmas this year, and hang these stockings from your chimney with care. Santa will reward you kindly.

Available from the artist for $15.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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The cave paintings of Capivara, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northwest Brazil, have captivated archeologists for decades. Now they’re capturing the imaginations of local artisans who are reproducing the artwork on these handmade ceramic mugs.

Per the retailer, every detail in the reproductions are done with posterity and the environment in mind, “from brush to clay to the water collected from rainfall.”

More than 40 families of artisans are involved in creating these mugs, which are available for $45 each from VivaTerra.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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There’s a big difference between a dustbin and the Dustbin.

Bare with me while I delve once more into very unsexy territory: the mundane household object. On Monday, we took a very eco-sophisticated look at the vacuum cleaner. Who knew a Hoover could be so exciting? Yesterday, we learned that even a thermostat could be chic care of ingenious design and a considerate aesthetic. Today, friends, I give you the trashcan.

Rather, its more handsome and grown-up older brother, the Dustbin.

RISD-trained product designer Brendan Ravenhill confesses that he developed a fascination with the “functional beauty of working tools” during his childhood years in Cote d’Ivoire and summers in coastal Maine. He now resides in Los Angeles, California where he designs and builds several elevated objects, from furniture to boats, and the lights overhead. But I am particularly enamored with his garbage cans.

The Dustbin is made from folded, powder-coated steel and features a counterbalanced dustpan lid. Magnetized to the side is a removable, beech wood hand broom.

The Dustbin also features aptly named “love handles” to aid in taking out the trash without mess or fuss.

The product is built entirely in the USA by a network of local fabricators and metalworkers at Angell & Giroux. For a particularly fascinating look, watch this video, which details the process that goes into making a trash can (the brush scene is riveting, I promise):

The Dustbin from Brendan Ravenhill on Vimeo.

Ravenhill calls his dustbin “the last trashcan you’ll ever buy” and “the lovechild” of the trash bin and dustpan. It is, indeed, a pretty pairing. Functional, too: an otherwise lowly object elevated by smart design.

Images: Brendan Ravenhill; Paul Lalou

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Plywerk can be used as a noun and a verb. Read on: you’ll get it.

Plywerk is a small Oregon-based eco company that was founded by husband and wife duo, Kim Nguyen and Kjell van Zoen. It all started when Kim, a photographer, needed to mount a photo. She used a discarded piece of plywood, which gave Kjell, a self described “frugal entrepreneur,” an idea: an easy, elegant, and eco-conscious way to exhibit art and photos minus ugly clunky frames and glass. They would use sustainable and eternally versatile bamboo.

Learn more about the company and pricing here. Meanwhile, get ready for me to use Plywerk as both a noun and a verb, as promised. Plywerking your memories is easy. Simply upload an image, select your finishing option and they will print, mount and ship it (your brand new Plywerk, that is) right to your doorstep.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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Thanks to eco-innovations like these, your daily chores just got a whole lot sexier.

Leave it to the English to elevate – indeed, ecovate – the Hoover. While certain blogs in the United States have questioned the durability and sustainability of the cardboard carpet sweeper pictured above, they are underestimating the tenacity of the Brits, who are especially persnickety and cheeky about the erotic art of vacuuming. Why, the last time I was at Victoria station (during peak hours, no less) there was a queue several commuters long waiting for a go at the new Dyson.

Here it is:

That ring does something extraordinary; even more noteworthy, perhaps, is the man pictured inside of the circle, Sir James Dyson. Yes, Sir. He’s the Elton John of the broom closet and the Jamie Oliver of the sitting room. Need further evidence that the English take vacuuming far too seriously to muck up the world’s first cardboard vacuum cleaner?

Meet 30-year-old James Brown, a.k.a. Mr. Vacuum Cleaner. Last year, he opened a museum dedicated entirely to the vacuum cleaner and can identify each brand by sound alone.

“I’ve been fascinated by vacuum cleaners since I was a small boy,” he told The Telegraph. “My mum probably thought I’d grow out of it, but once I got my hands on our Electrolux I knew I never wanted to let go.”

By the time he was a teenager, he had 30 vacuum cleaners to his name.

Keep the preceding information in mind as we take a closer look at the Vax ev.

Created by industrial design student Jake Tyler from the packaging of another vacuum model, industry leader Vax was so impressed with its spunky, urban, youthful and eco design that they are putting the model into production.

The 22-year-old from Loughborough University said, “I have really high hopes for the product. It is very cheap to manufacture.”

Its price tag for consumers, meanwhile, is still TBD. But as Paul Bagwell, Director of New Product Design at Vax, puts it, at this stage it’s a matter of innovation.

“With sustainability becoming an increasing concern for manufacturers, the Vax ev shows just what can be achieved when young designers are encouraged to think creatively and push the boundaries of product design.”

Considering the vacuums of our past looked something like this:

An eco-minded approach like the Vax ev elevates the mundane, and makes us consider vacuuming from an English point of view.

Images: The Daily Mail; Reuters; Helga Weber

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One smiley face equals faster drying time and less energy use. Plus, they’re really cute.  

Hand-felted, artisan-crafted, wool dryer balls might not sound exciting, but once you see your energy savings you’ll be wearing a grin as wide as the one on the left. A wool dryer ball works the same as a dryer sheet, in principle. It separates the clothes and promotes the circulation of warm, dry air. The main difference is that these are chemical and odor free. They’ll also shorten your drying time by up to 20-25% and give your laundry a nice fluff.

Balls are sold as a set of 4 for $34.95. From Greenfeet.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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