WAR 42

Check out this Vimeo clip of Persue and Rime in China. Remember now China is a communist country. You can see some of Persue’s earlier work in War 1

A West Kendall man who may have been spraying graffiti on a roadway sign tumbled to his death on the Palmetto Expressway.

Thursday night: Enrique Vincente Olivera dines with friends and heads to his Kendall home.

Hours later, the 28-year-old’s body is found sprawled in the southbound lanes of the Palmetto Expressway. In his possession: a can of silver spray paint. Above him: a green-and-white roadway sign marred with graffiti.

Officials think Olivera was killed after falling about 24 feet to the roadway, but they don’t know if he is connected to a group of local graffiti artists.

”There appears to be fresh silver writing on the sign above where his body came to rest,” said Lt. Pat Santangelo. The Florida Highway Patrol is trying to cobble together the last minutes of Olivera’s life.

I-95 SIGNS VANDALIZED

Olivera’s death came a week after ”tags” were painted on I-95 signage in Miami. On one sign, the tag Buk 50 was sprayed in red, white and black. Another sign had the moniker ”EDGE” splashed across it.

The shock of Olivera’s death spilled over to the Internet, where graffiti artists mourned his passing. The website MSGcartel.com — which calls itself an ”online exhibition” of graffiti art — offered condolences for “MERK.”

The site has a list of those in the ”cartel,” identified by pictures of their tags.

It’s unclear if he was part of the group or had contributed samples of his graffiti work. Images of the tag ”MERK” were posted under the words: “To our fallen Brother, Comrade, Friend . . . Rest in Peace homie, you will be missed but never forgotten.”

Friends and family members were well aware of Olivera’s love for art, but said they weren’t aware of a penchant for graffiti. ”He was an artist; that was his passion,” said Leo Machado, 25, who has known Olivera since they were young boys. “He loved to do that, that was his thing.”

Machado said neither he nor the family were aware that Olivera intended to climb onto a traffic sign catwalk early in the morning. “I don’t know why he did it.”

Police say Olivera fell off the catwalk over the Palmetto Expressway near Bird Road around 12:30 a.m. and was spotted by a motorist.

Alejandro Gonzalez de Mendoza was stunned to find a dead body on the highway. He was driving south on the busy thoroughfare when he saw what he thought was debris in the right lane. He tried to avoid it, but couldn’t.

”He stopped and realized it was a body, so he backed his truck up to protect the body,” Santangelo said.

The vandalized sign had visible black writing — the tag ”KOZMIC” and ”oooDe.” It was unclear if Olivera had painted on either of the two large expressway signs.

FAMILY `IN SHOCK’

On Friday afternoon, friends and family gathered outside Olivera’s West Kendall home at the Esprit community, a series of well-manicured mustard and white townhomes.

”We’re still getting over the shock,” said aunt Kathy Olivera, from outside the doorway. She would say no more under the advice, she says, of an attorney.

”Come back in a few days. We’re still getting over the shock,” she repeated.

”He was a blood brother,” said another pal who asked not to be identified.

The late Olivera worked for Sea Level, a Miami-based company, helping to do restoration work on cruise ships.

A woman who answered the phone at Olivera’s workplace Friday said, ”You are not the first one calling today and I have no comment,” before hanging up.

Records show Olivera has been arrested three times in Florida. None of the arrests were related to graffiti.

In 2002, Fort Lauderdale police arrested Olivera on a petty theft charge. He pleaded no contest and had adjudication withheld, records show.

In February of last year, he was arrested on charges of knowingly driving with a suspended license. He was arrested on the same charge again in December. He had several traffic infractions in Miami-Dade, records show.

His family released a statement condemning graffiti and reiterated that Olivera was a good man, always there when anyone needed him.

“We do not condone this type of behavior and can only hope this tragedy will keep others from doing the same. This isolated incident was out of Enrique’s normal character. . . Unfortunately, he made a mistake which ultimately cost him his life.”

Via:[www.miamiherald.com]

Check out Tloko’s Death Or Retirement music video featuring Sick Jacken, B-Real and 2mex.

DEATH OR RETIREMENT VIDEO from Sean Sea on Vimeo.

Last year, a group of artists got on the road with the only goal – to transform gray sterile cities into colorful works of art. Organized by Peter Brauch and Peter Krsko The Concrete Alchemy Tour was a collaborative work of Cern, Chor Boogie, Col, Crol, Demer, Eric Kennedy, Kasso, Mike Ciccotello, Mr. Maxx Moses, Plan, Rain, Ricardo Barros, Veng, Vyal and Werc.

The La Entrada project is a group of artists who also participated in Concrete Alchemy Tour, and are now working on a large-scale installation in San Diego. They also run workshops for younger artists and folks who live in the residential complex and surrounding area. Great talent, great heart. We love that combination.

For more information about the tour, visit albuscav.us/concretealchemy
view flyer

StyleWars from stylewars on Vimeo.

INFAMY from 321 on Vimeo.

Check this video with the building in it.

Pablo Escobar’s family still owns this building as well as the neighborhoods around it and pays child soldiers to guard it from goverment officials, squatters,tourist and vandals.

L.A.-based artist Shepard Fairey created the now-ubiquitous graphic of Obama, who wrote to him, ?Your images have a profound effect on people.?
Associated Press
10:42 AM PST, February 7, 2009

BOSTON — A street artist famous for his red, white and blue “Hope” posters of President Obama has been arrested on warrants accusing him of tagging property with graffiti, police said today.

Shepard Fairey, 38, was arrested Friday night on his way to the Institute of Contemporary Art for a kickoff event for his first solo exhibition, called “Supply and Demand.”

‘Supply and Demand: The Art of Shepard Fairey’
Two warrants were issued for Fairey on Jan. 24 after police determined he’d tagged property in two locations with graffiti based on the Andre the Giant street art campaign from his early career, police Officer James Kenneally said Saturday.

Fairey, 38, of Los Angeles, is scheduled to be arraigned on the misdemeanor charges Monday in Brighton District Court, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney. Wark said Fairey would also be arraigned on a default warrant related to a separate graffiti case in the Roxbury section of Boston.

Fairey has spent the last two weeks in the Boston area installing the ICA exhibit and creating outdoor art, including a 20-by-50 foot banner on the side of City Hall, according to a statement issued Saturday by the museum.

The museum said Fairey was released a few hours after his arrest, but authorities did not immediately confirm that.

Fairey’s Obama image has been sold on hundreds of thousands of stickers and posters, and was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington before Obama’s inauguration.

The image is the subject of a copyright dispute with The Associated Press. Fairey argues his use of the AP photo is protected by “fair use,” which allows exceptions to copyright laws based on, among other factors, how much of the original is used, what the new work is used for and how the original is affected by the new work.

A California lawyer who has represented Fairey in the copyright case didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the arrest.