At 80, Robert Janz has been around longer than most of us but I only recently became aware of his work. I was able to meet him with a little help from Stikman who happened to bump into him a couple of months ago as they were both out and about doing their thing.

Janz has traveled and exhibited widely in both Europe and the US. He counts painting illegally on the Berlin Wall before it came down as an important highlight in his long career. His work is ephemeral. One series was created with just water on rocks, meant to be erased by evaporation. He maintains a collection of blogs at Janzwork explaining each project. On one he describes his painting as ” Variations on ancestral glyphic art, echoes of our origins: active meditations on transience, exercises on emptiness”

I’d been particularly struck by Robert’s “Glyffiti”, a series of bold, simply drawn animals around Soho. Painted over existing graffiti or torn posters in black and white the fierce little figures demanded attention even as they blended into their backgrounds. I’m always interested in process and materials so it was a special treat to have an opportunity to meet the artist and watch him in action.

Robert’s materials are basic: a couple of jars of paint, a few brushes, and rags carried in a shopping bag. He’s cautious about cops but paints in broad daylight. Once, when confronted by no less than three officers, he diffused the situation by simply wetting a rag and wiping off his freshly applied water-based paint.  Robert is not an active participant in either graffiti culture or the streetart movement. He’s a completely original artist taking risks to share his work and enliven the city. Big up to Robert Janz!!






















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This article was posted by Martha Cooper 2 months, 3 weeks, 15 hours, 6 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Sunday March 3, 2013

Since the players were parading slowly towards the stadium from City Hall, I climbed up to the top deck and waited outside the seating area for an hour or so to see if I could catch a glimpse of them as they arrived. Just as they were coming into the stadium, a freight with graffiti passed by and really made my day. What a great combo!

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 3 months, 2 weeks, 2 days, 4 hours, 20 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Wednesday February 6, 2013

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 3 months, 3 weeks, 9 hours, 27 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Friday February 1, 2013

By chance, Os Gemeos is in town so there could be a rare double twin photo-op at the opening. I was lucky to catch them together in Miami during Art Basel. See you Friday.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 3 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 38 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Sunday January 27, 2013

Every year Stikman makes a couple hundred stick figures of identical design and puts them up throughout the year. The color may vary a bit but the form is the same. So keep your eyes peeled for 2013 ones and previous years as seen in the photo below. Last year’s Stikman had two heads! Lots more Stikman here and on Instagram #stikman

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 4 months, 1 week, 5 days, 38 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Friday January 11, 2013

Last week I finally joined the 21st Century and traded in my old flip phone for an iPhone5. It wasn’t an easy decision or an even trade as I’d been using a prepaid card. Now it costs me about the same for one month as I used to pay for the whole year. It’s expensive to keep up with Generation Z.

I bought an iPhone5 because I heard it had the best camera phone and I wanted to play around with Instagram. Until now I haven’t been into photo sharing. I was more into hoarding and archiving and have been ridiculously slow to post anything.  By the time I manage to edit, adjust and upload to this blog, my photos are invariably stale news. For example—Art Basel photos—still planning to post them.

Because I was slow to join Instagram, I had trouble getting a name I wanted:  MarthaCooper—already taken, Kodakgirl—taken, SnapZ (my B-Girl name)—taken. Coopergram—taken. Damn! Felt like identity theft! So marthacoopergram I am. I plan to shoot and post whatever I see as I go about my daily life and any photo I post on Instagram will be taken with my phone. You will not see old skool photos there. Please don’t be disappointed if the photos aren’t all of graf and street art. I’m primarily a street shooter and I plan to post whatever I see that interests me.

My Instagram profile photo is from the beautiful portrait Os Gemeos painted. Of course it’s cropped square so you can’t see that I’m sitting on a subway car but that’s Instagram—square but hip. See you @marthacoopergram.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 4 months, 2 weeks, 5 days, 3 hours, 12 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Friday January 4, 2013

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 4 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 15 hours, 37 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Friday December 28, 2012

According to the back of the card, proceeds support MoMA’s exhibitions and programs. I hope that one of the supported programs is the upcoming one on January 8th with José Parlá, Alan Ket, and Adam Mansbach called Writers and Writers: Narrative on the Page and in the Street.  Maybe MoMA is ready to contemplate some authentic graffiti.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 4 months, 4 weeks, 1 Day, 13 hours, 53 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Monday December 24, 2012

Articulate Baltimore took place along Howard Street, a formerly thriving but now mostly boarded up inner city shopping district.  Baltimore’s venerable department stores, Hutzler’s, Hochschild’s and Stewart’s were formerly located there. I grew up in Baltimore and fondly remember shopping for ribbons for my pony tail in these elegant stores. After Mondawmin, the first of many Baltimore malls, was built in 1956, shoppers headed out to the suburbs and downtown never recovered.

Howard Street now has a light rail running along it and many of Articulate’s walls are clearly visible from the windows of its cars. The area is just south of Station North where Open Walls Baltimore took place last spring so if you’re planning a street art tour, be sure to check out both neighborhoods. Maps are available on their respective websites.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 5 months, 4 weeks, 12 hours, 56 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Sunday November 25, 2012

The twins are upbeat but their intricate compositions often depict death and destruction with accents of blood throughout. They began painting their mural on Houston Street just two days after Hurricane Sandy hit NY.  The neighborhood around the wall was without electricity, shops were shuttered and even the traffic lights were off.  Unfazed, the twins finished the mural in record time. They titled their piece, “The Day After”.

Watching them paint was fascinating. Working from a rough sketch, they started at opposite ends of the long wall outlining complicated figures within figures in black with tiny brushes and spray paint. They rarely spoke to each other or even looked at each other’s work but it was impossible for me to distinguish a difference in style. Their combined style is original and instantly identifiable and somehow they both can paint in exactly the same way. Must be a twin thing.

The Houston Street wall has become the most prestigious and famous street art site in the world. In 2008 Jeffrey Deitch teamed up with the owner of the wall, Tony Goldman to recreate a mural Keith Haring painted in 1982 for what would have been Keith’s 50th birthday. Tony decided to continue the project by inviting prominent street artists to put work there. Since 2009 the wall has been painted or wheat pasted by Os Gemeos, OBEY, Barry McGee, Kenny Scharf, JR, Faile, Retna and Aiko. In the process, Tony became one of street arts’ biggest fans and supporters. Sadly he did not live to see How & Nosm’s wall but I’m pretty sure he would have loved it. It is a spectacular mural and a fine tribute to his legacy.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 6 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, 4 hours, 19 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Tuesday November 6, 2012

2501 will return to Baltimore as soon as possible to finish his wall. Pixel plans to stay in NYC for a few days so if anyone has a good wall for him to paint, please get in touch.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 6 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 22 hours, 11 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Monday October 29, 2012

JOHANNESBURG




































CAPE TOWN

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 7 months, 5 days, 12 hours, 41 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Thursday October 18, 2012

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 7 months, 6 days, 17 hours, 22 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Wednesday October 17, 2012

For its third edition, director and co-founder Monica Campana decided to invite women artists only as there had been overwhelmingly male participation the previous two years. I had met a few of these women at the all female B-Girl Be in Minneapolis in 2006 and 2007 and at our We B*Girlz events in Berlin in 2007 and 2008 so I was excited to get a chance to see them again.

Having so many local and international female artists in one place at the same time made for a joyous occasion. However the funding and logistics required to get them there, provide lodging (at the W hotel no less!!), food, transportation, supplies,  walls etc. was mind boggling. This would not have been possible without an army of dedicated volunteers. Somehow Living Walls pulled it off spectacularly. I was honored to be included

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 8 months, 1 week, 6 days, 23 hours, 21 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Sunday September 9, 2012

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 8 months, 1 week, 6 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Sunday September 9, 2012

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 8 months, 2 weeks, 1 Day, 10 hours, 39 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Saturday September 8, 2012

Until now, my only experience with Rochester had been with its legendary photographic history as the home of Kodak.  As it turns out, the city has a thriving arts community in part due to the reasonable rents available in former manufacturing buildings. Many of the 2012 Wall\Therapy murals were painted on walls of buildings around Rochester’s Public Market.  Local artists warmly welcomed the visiting ‘therapists’ and “The Yards”, a collaborative art space located in the heart of the market,  became the headquarters for cans, computers, cameras, coffee and camaraderie.  The murals below are all in or within easy walking distance of the market.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 8 months, 2 weeks, 1 Day, 23 hours, 48 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Friday September 7, 2012

Ibiza is known for non-stop partying. There are discos open 24/7! The island is not known as a street art destination but the Bloop organizers are working hard to change that perception by (and I quote):“focusing on the innovative artistic and cultural proposals of the island, instead of its transgressive ones.” Frankly I don’t see why anyone would want to spend all their time on Ibiza clubbing when they could be enjoying water, sun and sand on a beautiful beach.

“Appearance” was the theme of this year’s festival and I was invited to put together an exhibit to be held at the lovely Can Jeroni gallery in the town of Sant Josep. I printed about 170 photos of artists at work and titled the show “Making an Appearance” since graffiti and street artists aren’t often seen.

Sincere thanks to the organizers and volunteers for inviting me, escorting me around the island and helping to hang the show. I wish I had been able to stay longer to meet more artists and see more finished walls. But I had to get back home in order to fly to Rochester, NY for Wall Therapy. That post will be coming up soon.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 8 months, 2 weeks, 6 days, 17 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Monday September 3, 2012

In Sweden or Germany or probably most of Europe, neither mural would be controversial. But in Rochester and Atlanta the walls happened to be located near religious institutions and their leaders were most vocal in condemning the art.

I can empathize with people who don’t feel they had a voice in deciding what they will have to look at every day—whether art, architecture or advertising. On the other hand, artists need the freedom to paint whatever they feel would best fit a particular wall and the neighborhood. This is obviously a difficult balance to strike and one that the organizers of street art festivals have to grapple with to retain funding and procure suitable walls to paint. Aesthetics are subjective and no mural will appeal to everyone. Personally, I would like to see artists pushing the envelope a bit and giving people something to ponder and discuss as in the case of both of these walls.

Street art is ephemeral. Paint fades and buildings are torn down. Photography almost always lasts longer than the art. I am especially happy to be able to post these photos and also, for comparison,  a few examples of nude women in art from centuries past when apparently people were more accepting of the female figure.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 8 months, 3 weeks, 1 Day, 1 hour, 12 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Saturday September 1, 2012

I’ve been an avid collector of Kodak advertising and memorabilia since the 70’s. You can see much of it on my Kodakgirl website. My dad and uncle were Kodak dealers and ran a family camera store, the Camera Mart, in Baltimore for over 50 years. I shot with Kodak (mostly) film for decades. Last year Steidl published Kodak Girl, a book about my collection. The Kodak Girl was Kodak’s early advertising icon from the late 1800’s until around the 1930’s. She was an adventurous, world-traveling, female photographer who often wore a blue and white striped dress and I strongly identified with her. I suggested to CASE that he paint an image from my collection for his second wall.

CASE chose an advertising poster depicting a woman sitting on a box of Autographic film loading her camera. This special film was made from 1914 to 1932 for the Autographic, a camera manufactured with a slot on its back allowing photographers to write a notation on the film with a stylus.

We drove around Rochester with the help of Wall Therapy’s Erich Lehman and found a wall with a good view of the Kodak building behind. CASE faithfully reproduced the poster but added handles to the film box, turning it into a coffin and painted a halo around the Kodak Girl’s head. Thus the wall became a poignant memorial to a bygone technology and a tribute to a moribund company in bankruptcy.

Negative vibes came back to us from Kodak headquarters. Apparently some Kodak executives felt that the wall was demeaning to the company. Also they mistook the Autographic camera in the hands of the Kodak Girl for a Kindle! They pointed out that Kodak film was still alive and that there was still a film division at Kodak. So it was a bittersweet surprise to read the following headline in the New York Times:“Kodak to Sell Legacy Film Units as Part of Bankruptcy Plan”.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 8 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 11 hours, 18 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Friday August 31, 2012

Aiko’s 44 stencils, each measuring 6 feet square, were too big for one person to handle so she enlisted the aid of her girlfriends (including me) who spent all night for six nights braving wind, rain and a New York City summer heat wave.

She began work on July 7th, the day of the Japanese festival of Tanabata, which traditionally celebrates the only day when a star-crossed pair lovers who are separated by the Milky Way are allowed to meet. On this day in Japan people write their wishes on slips of paper and tie them onto bamboo stalks.  “I wanted to do something really positive and playful for everyone.” Aiko explained.

The finished wall is pure Aiko-style—intricate graphics, super sexy, very Japanese but with a dose of NYC and lots of fun. Check out Here’s Fun for Everyone! through October.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 8 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 3 hours, 26 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Tuesday August 28, 2012

Residents volunteered their walls and gates, hosted the artists with barbeques, music and dance, and became an appreciative audience as the art progressed. Rollers, aerosol, stencils and even an extinguisher were deployed for pieces that ranged from classic graffiti to cutting edge street art. It was great to see so many artists collaborating with each other and the community.

Quite a few walls from 2010 and 2011 have survived in good shape including ones painted by Lady Pink and Roa. If you have a free day, put a field trip to Astoria, Queens on your summer excursion list.

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This article was posted by Martha Cooper 11 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 33 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Monday June 18, 2012

Here’s the info from Alan Ket:
The funeral and the wake will cost Stay High/Wayne’s family $10,000. They have put up $6000 so far and are looking for help on collecting the last $4000 needed to get everything done. The deadline for this is Friday. For all of you who are able to contribute any funds please do so by getting a check to: Unity Funeral Chapel at the address below.  They will also take credit cards.
Unity Funeral Chapel
2352 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10027
212-666-8300
the contact is Ms. Jackson

The wake is on Monday from 3pm - 8pm at the above funeral home.
The funeral is on Tuesday at 10:00AM.

Excellent piece in the   New York Times by David Gonzalez here..

I’ve been an admirer of Stay High’s iconic smoking stick figure since the early ‘80’s however I didn’t actually meet him until he resurfaced after a long retirement around 2002. It was always a special treat to spot one of his tags. here are some vintage and more recent examples.







FOLLOWING PHOTOS 2002-2009

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 11 months, 1 week, 3 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Thursday June 14, 2012

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 11 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 17 hours, 15 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Tuesday June 5, 2012

As you can see from the photos below, making a plaster cast of a living person is no easy feat—for the artist or the subject.  John chose to cast Bill Maughlin and Kevin Brown who own and operate SNAC, the   Station North Arts Cafe, on Charles Street. The cafe is at the epicenter of the designated Station North Arts and Entertainment District and the casts will be hung on its walls when finished so be sure to stop by for a look and a bite when you’re in the area.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 11 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 7 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Wednesday May 30, 2012

While checking out the big, official OWB walls in Baltimore, be sure to keep a sharp eye out for the small, incredibly varied unofficial pieces that Stikman carefully placed around town to blend with their surroundings.  Who says size matters?

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 1 Year, 21 hours, 26 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Thursday May 24, 2012

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 1 Year, 2 days, 9 hours, 21 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Tuesday May 22, 2012

In Baltimore Chip had several projects big and small going at once. First he had to go out and shoot the photos he wanted to paste, get them printed and meticulously cut them out.  Most challenging was a huge portrait of pigeon flyer, Tony Divers to be installed on a wall near his home. The paste failed to stick to wall #1 so Chip had to reprint the photo and extend his stay a week. Meanwhile he and Baltimore artist Nanook pasted up versions of a photo I had taken as part of my ongoing SoWeBo documentation . For more about Jetsonorama and his Navajo Nation check out his blog, Speaking Loud and Saying Nothing.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 1 Year, 3 days, 14 hours, 23 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Monday May 21, 2012

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 1 Year, 3 days, 15 hours, 27 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Monday May 21, 2012

In Baltimore the pair tackled a huge wall that presented a lot of challenges. First they prepared the wall by grinding the surface and painting it white. Then they papered the entire wall. Unfortunately they made a mistake in their centimeters to inches conversion so had to reprint the image in the correct size losing precious time in the process.

After pasting, they carefully sliced and peeled away the paper from the black lines leaving white space which they sprayed black. Finally they partially stripped away the leftover paper to reveal a spectacled face, positioned horizontally on the wall. They purposely left dangling strips of paper blowing in the wind to gradually wear away. The final image must be seen from a distance to get the full effect.

This article was posted by Martha Cooper 1 Year, 3 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes ago.
©Martha Cooper & 12ozProphet - Monday May 21, 2012