graffiti

Our Graffiti’d Holiday Message to You

Photographer Maria Robledo sent us this graffiti she captured LAST January: perfectly Improvised Life. We’ve saved it all this time to present as our holiday message to you…

Trees and Foliage Inspire Street Art

I’ve been collecting a stash of graffiti images for a while. They range from cutie kitsch to angry gangbanger to political harangues. The ones I like best combine existing natural foliage with painted images and play around with scale—large and small—creating an improvised, witty, public art gallery.

Inspiring Signs Written on a Random Wall

Photographer Ellen Silverman has a particularly fine eye for inspriational adhoc street signs. We love this wall she sent recently, whose messages resonate deeply with where we are right NOW. They are at once like stripped-down haiku, meditations and essential reminders…

The Transformative Beauty of Ad Hoc Street Art

We recently stumbled on a wondrous painted wall in the Bowery, the work of Bronx graffiti artist Cope2. We felt as though we’d suddenly walked into a different gravitational field, due to the riot of seriously joyous color. It is on the same concrete slab wall that artist Keith Haring and a number of other artists decorated over the years, to change the view.

Happy Easter, Passover, Spring 2014!!!

A SWELL Easter egg in the realm of graffiti…with Spring wishes from Improvised Life!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!!!!!!

Ellen Silverman sent us a digital Valentine of hearts she found on the streets of Paris. Hearts seem to be hidden everywhere, if you LOOK.

random act of kindness: message written in the street

Photographer Ellen Silverman has been sending us images of perspective-shifting signs she’s found on the streets of Paris, where she’s taking a breather. We especially love that someone took the time to scribble ‘look at the sky’ on a random piece of plywood that appears to be hiding among construction work. It is a fine…

graffiti artist’s custom tool coat for making art on-the-fly

Dig this brilliantly-devised graffiti artists coat, lined with cans of colored spray paint: genius! It is the perfect example of devising/hacking/creating tools for your own unique needs and vision. It reminds us this principle from Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth: Make your own tools. Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even…

walls for painting, climbing, decorating, writing poetry,

The Big Picture recently ran an extraordinary, and surprising, collection of photos around the theme of walls: They keep things out or enclose them within. They’re symbols of power, and a means of control. They’re canvases for art, backdrops for street theater, and placards for political messages. They’re just waiting for when nobody’s looking to…

street art on the steps of beirut by dihzahyners

how a little colored paint can transform neighborhoods

We were knocked out by the insanely colorful streetscape made by a Lebanese team of artists/designers, known as dihzahyners, in Beirut. We imagined how the the worst and bleakest urban neighborhoods we’ve traveled through would be TRANSFORMED by color. All it takes is paint, vision, collective effort:

public signs that inspire creativity: why not?!

Dargelos posted this cool doorway while on their trip through Germany. It made us think how wonderful it would be to see public street signs that inspired creativity rather than just “Walk/Don’tWalk” etc. The “How to Work Better” wall sign we posted a while back is a great example. via dargelos Related posts: improvisation is…

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