A couple weeks ago I noticed a nifty bit of stencilwork on a crappy old building near where I work.
I really dig graffiti, especially when it’s something other than a poorly-made half-assed gang sign.
Years ago when I was visiting my brother in Atlanta, I saw many instances of stenciled graffiti of André the Giant, which I really loved.
Graffiti-by-stencil is obviously not the same thing as freeform graffiti, but it really pops out at me when I see it, and often resonates really powerfully for me.
I decided to drag my camera to work today to take some pictures of Barack Obama, his microphone, and the USA. I have seen this graffiti one other place, near the old stockyards on South Halsted Street. The instance near where I work is a little cooler in my opinion, in that the stencil is actually on two sides of a corner rather than on a flat piece of wall.
Enjoy.
Obama addressing South Clinton Street
A little closer
Stencil on the corner. I might be interpreting the graffiti incorrectly, but I think it’s intended to be supportive of Obama. Was it made by an inspired graffiti artist? A covert Obama campaign tactic? I have no idea.
The United States is bleeding a bit, which reflects a little negatively on the graffiti
Even in silhouette, Obama is a fine-looking fellow
Some posters for the Rambo movie coming out pasted on the same building as the Obama graffiti. The posters have not been altered. They should have gotten the Obama graffiti guy to do Stallone’s stencil, eh?
UPDATE:
I see that someone has posted a question regarding the artist of this graffiti on Craigslist.
a35mmlife commented on this post as to the artist’s identity, but I guess it’s still not that obvious as his/her ID is not in the body of the post.
So… the artist goes by the name CRO, and has a website, Go Tell Mama! I’m For Obama.
For some reason that graffiti makes me think of the 80’s. I think it’s because of the mono-color thin tie that the possibly-Obama charachter is wearing.
You should stencil some of your doodles on the side of a building.
That’s amazing stuff, thanks for showing that.
And how cool that you have seen the original Andre the Giant stencils. Shepard Fairey seems to be everywhere these days! Have you seen the graffiti film, Bomb It? I think you’d love it.
I love that graffiti rather than the usual bunch of freaky styley letters on a building, someone’s thinking and making a statement.
cowboy the cat, I’m sure the Rambo and Queensryche in the last shot helped, heh.
where is keith haring when you really need him
i know……………
Those Andre the Giant stencil things were all over the place in Fort Worth TX about ten years ago. I always liked it much better than the weird gang graffiti.
I’m with GKL–I want to see some Splotchy stencils!
CTC, what randal g said. This building is 80’s-riffic!
GKL, aw shucks. I was actually thinking about changing my doodlin’ style a bit, more broad strokes rather than trying to draw “realistically”. As a result, my attempt at a new doodle style might be more stencil-friendly.
barb, haven’t seen Bomb It. I’ll haveta add it to the long line of documentaries I want to see. I have seen Style Wars, which is a fantastic early 80’s doc on subway graffiti artists in NYC.
dale, I wholeheartedly concur!
randal g, your powers of 80’s observation are impressive!
dc, that reminds me of reading an article about Haring in the 80’s. He did some really nice graffiti in your neck of the woods.
d, I’ll see what I can do about stenciling a doodle.
I prefer badly written, bathroom stall poetry to graffiti.
I dunno– America IS bleeding a lil’ bit…
So is romeo, I hear.
I saw that too! I think it means there will be an Obama movie wherehe is beating things down in the woods. Starring Sly Stallone…
It is a picture of Obama speaking to the nation. A nice sentiment.
It’s sort of like Bansky’s stuff. I like it.
Thanks for posting that Andre the Giant thing! I have seen that image all over LA and I had no freakin’ idea what it meant, who it was, or how to begin to find out. Thank you, Splotchy, for now I can sleep at night.
grant, I think W.H. Auden got his start that way.
hot lemon, mmmmm Lena Olin.
cat, as long as he’s carrying a big knife and/or a big stick.
dr z, it’s odd we have a national political candidate that can inspire graffiti, but odd in a nice way.
mcgone, that’s pretty cool stuff! I hadn’t heard of him.
moxie, I’m glad I could help!
this is from the artist CRO… check out his stuff at gotellmama.org
a35mmlife, thanks a lot for the info!
probably banksy. check him out
Maybe the America bleeding was intentional…
I can see the symbolism if it indeed was.
I love what this graffiti, for me is a wonderful art, which leaves much wing imagination, and so on, brother from the Dominican Republic, salute you, excellent blog, you invisto my blog is placed in the http://Espejocritico.net some graffiti, particularly Obama, while almost all the images that I put on my blog, they are with some kind of art, tending to the art of graffiti, is to do the same with which to illustrate my articles. Wilkin Urban salutes you.
Thanks for sharing the pics!