You can now watch the classic graffiti and hip-hop documentary "Style Wars" (1983) over at archive.org (with a hardcoded Spanish subtitle however).

The synopsis taken from the official documentary site:

Directed by Tony Silver and produced by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant, it was awarded the Grand Prize for Documentaries at the 1983 Sundance Film Festival. STYLE WARS is regarded as the indispensable document of New York Street culture of the early '80s, the filmic record of a golden age of youthful creativity that exploded into the world from a city in crisis.

STYLE WARS captured the look and feel of New York's ramshackle subway system as graffiti writers' public playground, battleground and spectacular artistic canvas. Opposing them by every means possible were Mayor Edward Koch, the police, and the New York Transit Authority. Meanwhile MCs, DJs and B-boys rocked the city with new sounds and new moves and street corner breakdance battles evolved into performance art.

Walter Kershaw who lives in the town Rochdale, close to Manchester, England, is considered as the first graffiti artist in Britain.

Kershaw studied fine art at Durham and, while his star may have dimmed, he was a fairly regular presence on TV and radio in the 70s and 80s, interviewed by Russell Harty, Sue MacGregor and Janet Street-Porter. He has had murals commissioned in Sao Paulo, Mexico, Sarajevo and Los Angeles, but it's unlikely any of these could have had the shock value of his technicolour guerilla work on red-brick Lancashire back streets.

He tended to start work early, at 5am in the summer, and travelled with a friend on a motorbike just in case someone objected vehemently. Hodkinson marvels "about the guts it took – these were quite rough neighbourhoods. But people were really encouraging. They used to bring tea and butties out for him and his assistants. It was like having your house tattooed. He had a queue of people asking him to do their house next." Local councils were less keen, and Kershaw received a string of cease and desist letters, though no one ever pursued charges.

Watch the documentary "First Graffiti Artist" (1976) directed by Ian Potts who made it as a graduation movie from the Polytechnic of Central London Film School, today known as the University of Westminster.

In the short "Brendan O'Connell is Blocking The Bread Aisle" by filmmaker Julien Lasseur, we meet artist Brendan O'Connell who in collaboration with Walmart has turned its stores into a studio, depicting the everyday life of shoppers.

Artists Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz create snow globes that contain miniature worlds with a twist. Ever since my wife posted a few images of their work on her blog several years ago, I've wanted one of these globes myself.

Via Tjock (SE).

In this beautifully edited video, Japanese master craftsman Yasuhiro Sato can be seen making a traditional Kokeshi doll.

The origin of the Kokeshi doll is a mystery. It has been said that the Kokeshi doll started in the Tohoku district in the late Edo or early Meiji period, but there are various opinions about the birthplace. The wood crafters of the mountainside villages made it as a toy for children, and the dolls have unique designs and features rooted in each region.

[…]

The Kokeshi doll artisans create the doll's the face according to a basic design, but as the personality of each artisan varies, so do the faces of each doll. Furthermore, the faces of Kokeshi may be different depending on the condition or weather of the day in which the artisans create the dolls. Each Kokeshi doll is truly "one of a kind," which is its main attraction to many people.

In London during one day, Alex Gorosh visited 13 museums and saw more than 140,000 works of art. And now you can too, sort of.

Via Sploid.

In his art performance "One Year Performance 1980–1981" (Time Clock Piece), Japanese artist Tehching Hsieh was locked into his studio for a whole year where he punched a time clock every hour on the hour, which meant disrupt sleep, and he also had his picture taken for everytime he did this. That is indeed a demanding work of art!

In the photo series "Guide to Computing", photographer James Ball, in collaboration with production studio Ink, has turned early historic computers into wonderful objects of art.

Through delicate retouching and post-production techniques, photographer James Ball (aka Docubyte) breathed new life into these aging historical artifacts. Displayed in a manner reminiscent of 1960s advertising, the "Guide to Computing" presents these devices as they might have been marketed during their heydays. A few of them even predated the advent of modern color photography.

Most of these machines have never been seen before in this context, so enjoy this spectacularly retro piece of early computing history.

The HDR 75:

The Endim 2000:

Featured image: The ICL 7500

Four years ago, Swede Johan Karlgren's daughter Zelda began to create seed bead art by recreating the characters found in the Nintendo "Ice Hockey" 8-bit video game from '88 after she and her dad had played the game together.

However, Zelda quickly moved on to pursue other things, and instead her dad kept at it which has resulted in a full-time business that includes a growing fan base on social media, according to Swedish newspaper Göteborgs-Posten.

In one of Karlgren's latest project "Tiny Albums", he has transformed some of the most iconic and beloved album covers into pixel art.

"Born in the USA" (1984) by Bruce Springsteen:

"Thriller" (1983) and "Bad" (1987) by Michael Jackson:

"Brothers in Arms" (1985) by Dire Straits:

Image credit: Via Pappas Pärlor's Instagram account.

A Flickr user has uploaded a wonderful and large collection of Indian matchbox labels. Due to the fact that so many labels appealed to me, this post is rather long.

The following text is taken from the back cover of the book "Matchbook: Indian Match Boxlabels" (2012) by Shahid Datawala:

Sold in every road-side booth, matchboxes are part of daily life in India. Curious, hilarious and visually stunning, matchbox labels come in a staggering variety of designs. Inspired variations on successful labels are an accepted part of the matchbox world, deliciously turning the whole notion of branding upside down.

Matchbook showcases over 500 quirky members of this extended family, and includes a thoughtful essay on locating them within the web of Indian commerce and popular culture.

Now you can both be inspired and eat the paintings by painter Jackson Pollock at the same time! In a collaboration with chocolate maker Unelefante, maitre chocolatier Chef Jorge Llanderal has created Pollock inspired chocolate bars.

Inspired by the unmistakable works of Jackson Pollock, these chocolate bars look nearly as good as they taste. Crafted by the dedicated artisans at Unelefante, the Pollock bar is first created by maitre chocolatier Chef Jorge Llanderal and his family. The bars are then hand-painted with cocoa butter in vivid colors, ensuring that each bar is totally unique and one of kind. Finally, the bars are tucked safely inside a hand-painted package. Perfect as a gift or a special treat for yourself. Eat half and frame the rest.

Via Flodeau.

Artist Howard Lee draws optical illusions that certainly will trick your eyes.

Via Holy Kaw.

The upcoming full feature film "Loving Vincent" (2016) from Oscar-winning studio BreakThru Films is all made up of animated paintings in the style of Van Gogh.

From BreakThru Films' Kickstarter page:

What is truly groundbreaking about "Loving Vincent" is that every frame of the film is an oil painting on canvas, using the very same technique in which Vincent himself painted. And what makes it a great story to experience is the intriguing, tragic, and inspiring story of Vincent Van Gogh himself.

Our kickstarter campaign will allow us to train 40 painters who will then be able to work on the film, bringing the paintings and life of Vincent Van Gogh to swirling life on the big screen!

Via Holy Kaw.

Once thing is for sure – the 2016 United States presidential election keeps us engaged and entertained, sometimes in unexpected and creative ways.

Recently, a manipulated image began circling the net, depicting the portrait of Donald Trump sitting on a wall in the restroom of St Christopher's Inns hostel in Paris, perfectly aligned to one of the existing Rolling Stones-inspired urinals.

Is visually shaming presidential candidates the best way to boycott them? Last week, an image surfaced of US presidential candidate and consummate foulmouth Donald Trump with his face wrapped around a lip-shaped urinal by Dutch designer Meike van Schijndel. It's a snapshot from the men's washroom of Belushi's Bar in the St Christopher's Inns hostel in Paris – but it isn't real. It's a Photoshopped masterpiece by two California-based artists, William Duke and Brandon Griffin.

Ever since Trump stepped up for the Republican candidacy, the megalomaniac billionaire has sparked a fiery, comedic movement of "Trump art". Unlike Shepard Fairey, who painted the Barack Obama Hope poster in 2008, artists are fighting with Photoshop, spray cans and menstrual blood-covered paintbrushes. Trump has become the art world's joker – or, oddly enough, their trump card.

Via Bored Panda. H/t Dangerous Minds.

Love this! New York Magazine's art critic Jerry Saltz hold a spontaneous lecture on the street about graffiti artist Banky's work when finding one of his signature wall paintings on the Upper West Side in New York. And well-known graffiti artist Richard Santiago, also known as Apollo 5, is featured in this clip.

In the following short "Icheon Master Hand" (2013) that was part of a promotion for the American Museum of Ceramic Art's exhibition "ICHEON: Reviving the Korean Ceramics Tradition", five South Korean ceramics masters display their hard-earned skills in action by forming clay into beautiful art. The piano piece is called "Piano".

Via Trending Hot. H/t Laughing Squid.

The tradition of egg painting is passed down by the elders in the Romanian village Ciocăneşti and has been around for a hundred of years. The eggs' decorative motifs are inspired by local folk costumes and houses. In this short documentary "The Egg Painter" by filmmaker Titus-Armand Napirlica, we meet egg painter Elena Craciunescu, who with this art form is able to provide for her family by painting around 500 eggs per year, mostly around Easter.

Via Jungles in Paris.

The photo series "Wayside Poetry" by sculptor and painter Wladyslaw Hasior chronicles the ads, propaganda slogans and bulletin boards found in Poland's public space, a work he mostly undertook in the 70's.

Photograph No.178:

Photograph No.280:

Photograph No.202:

Photograph No.307:

Via Katarzyna Piasecka.

In this cute and adorable short film by stop-motion artist PES, a submarine sandwich is made by using objects such as boxing and baseball gloves and other sports memorabilia.

Image credit: PES' Kickstarter page.

H/t Colossal.

A new artwork from Banksy depicts Steve Jobs as a refugee. The mural can be seen in the Calais refugee camp, and refers to Jobs heritage as the son to a Syrian migrant.

The piece reference the late Apple co-founder's heritage, as he was the son of a Syrian migrant who moved to the US following the Second World War. The anonymous artist released a statement alongside the unveiling of the artwork, saying: "We're often led to believe migration is a drain on the country's resources but Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian migrant. Apple is the world's most profitable company, it pays over $7bn (£4.6bn) a year in taxes – and it only exists because they allowed in a young man from Homs."

Via @vittorpia.