Graffiti Art, Street Art and " CRASH "

Recently, several editorials have been published on Graffiti Art. The Huffington Post had a slideshow of cities that have the best street art - Berlin, Philadelphia or Chicago were the cities listed among others such as LA, New york and London.

My pick is Berlin with Mentalgassi, view Mentalgassi, Big in Berlin.

ArtInfo also announced the launch of the Urban Art Foundation in New York, a new organization that aims to protect graffiti artists, and to offer financial backing and legal representation for those arrested for tagging city streets. A hope to procure landmark status for some of the city's finest street art and promote this art form in public schools.

Here is a selection of images shot in various cities by photographer Peter Politanoff.

Madrid

Venice Beach, CA

Downtown LA

This brings me to John Matos ( aka CRASH ), a famous American graffiti artist. Growing up in the Bronx NY, John Matos started his graffiti career traveling the trains on school nights when he was 13. He was first noticed through his murals on subway cars and dilapidated buildings. As he got older, he transferred his art from the street to canvases and has exhibited his work at museum's worldwide. He is now regarded as a pioneer of the Graffiti art movement.

The artist at work

Images courtesy of John Matos personal album.

View more on " CRASH "

To end this post, an image of a new mural in downtown New York by CA-based artist Barry Mc Gee -aka Twist - an homage to graffiti writers.