5 reasons why celebrities + fashion folks love graffiti art
Leave it to Justin Bieber and Chris Brown to get people talking about graffiti again. Last fall Biebs launched his comeback album, Promise, with a graffiti campaign that spread around the world. Granted, San Francisco residents took exception to a mainstream company like Universal Music spray-painting details about the young star’s album on their sidewalks. But for what it’s worth, Bieber has been a longtime fan of the art form. His Instagram feed features him tagging various walls while on the road—often under a bodyguard’s watchful eye—and domestic abuser Chris Brown appreciates graffiti so much he covered the exterior wall of his former home in cartoonish blobs. Apparently his neighbors weren’t impressed either. But Brown continues to seek out creative legitimacy, selling some of his pieces at auction for more than $60,000.
Fashion insiders have long embraced graffiti in their collections. Alexander McQueen used robots to tag model Shalom Harlow at his Spring 1999 collection and Steven Sprouse gave graffiti a touch of luxe when he collaborated with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton. And this season, Jacobs encouraged people to tag his new advertising campaign. It makes you wonder what a graffiti purist might think.
The Artist Project art fair returns to Toronto for its ninth year. In addition to the 250 artists featured on-site to sell their wares, special ‘art chats’ on various topics are held over the four-day affair. We checked in with Toronto’s Tour Guide of Graffiti Alley, Jason Kucherawy, who talks “Graffiti and what Lies Ahead,” on February 21st.
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