Image Courtesy of Phlegm

DC’s Phlegm molds rage into music on “Anger Management.” What happened to the love and affinity for the bad guy? While rap’s protagonist seems to have been marginalized to make room for more corporate agendas regarding music distribution, Phlegm re-instills poignant vulgarity and brash narratives in a time when it’s most needed. “Anger Management’” is a 9-track work (with production from K.eYe.D, Tedy Brewski, and RESPECK to name a few) displaying his signature gruff, bass tone and slow, methodical flow, introducing his view on the grind and individual take on life. From cuts like Neck In The Whip, P.O.P., and Steak & Lobster the MILF member’s ability to sprinkle just a dose of comedic appeal (intentional or not) to match the sonics is what makes it even more special. “Anger Management” isn’t about humor, but Phlegm’s acumen for the real and obvious brings fourth a refreshing smile that Hip-Hop can still be a counter culture as ever. “Anger Management” is supremely satisfying merely for the fact that it makes you feel implicated in all of it. Being his first release, Phlegm and “Anger Management” are symbiotically (and righteously I may add) forming an anarchist stance on authority, establishment, and the current music climate altogether. You mad?

Listen to “Anger Management” below or buy on iTunes HERE.

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Even though Banksy is undeniably an innovator and a marketing visionary, it’s time to move the spotlight onto other international street artists who deserve as much recognition as the stencil-artist, if not even more. Take a look at the X artists  below. They all have contrasting styles and represent the creme of the crop of street art. Let us know in the comments which are your favorite works from throughout the year.

Felice Varini:

Felice Varini is a Swiss artist, famous for his geometric perspective-localized paintings in various architectural spaces. He understands the complexity of simple shapes and exploration from one vantage point. From the right angle, the whole piece fuses its parts together in harmony, but from certain other angles, the viewer will see a shattered image that proves interesting as well. “My concern,” he says “is what happens outside the vantage point of view.” It is there, perhaps, that his work truly becomes its own animal. You shouldn’t try viewing it as a series of geometrical spaces, but as some beast who has a life of its own. He told Poetic Mind:

“Once the painting is done it starts an independent life, having a relationship with the space, which has nothing to do with me or the viewer. It is a direct relation that the painting has with the space, in a kind of an abstract reality.”

To see more of his work go: here.

Suso 33:

This year, Suso33 produced some of his strongest work. Earlier this month, he layed his spray paint on the walls of Madrid, Spain to create a large mural, composed of soft, ghostly figures colliding with their own shadows. Viewed at large, you will notice that the piece composes one large figure. The artist is a precursor of iconographic graffiti and typically enjoys experimenting with language. He views the public space is “his domain to express what is essential in order to communicate” as an artist to his audience.

Cruz:

Federico Massa‘s most impressive work of the year was commissioned for a cinema wall. The owners of the cinema asked the Italian street artist, based in New York, to include superheroes in his project. The artist decided to follow orders but, of course, added his own twist to the request.

“I tried to maintain my own [original] vision by changing the costumes. I tried making the composition as weird as I could.”

By switching the characters’ costumes, the Federico, who paints under the alias Cruz makes a commentary on super-heroes and their inter-changeable roles, their often bland, product-like reasons for being. Perhaps most notably, Batman and Superman are victim of a direct switch here. Knowing that these two superheroes were the protagonists of two sequels in the past year, it seems more than likely that this piece, painted for a cinema and depicting characters within a theater room, is a harsh commentary on the more repetitive, commercial aspects of the movie industry. This piece is quite a departure from Massa’s traditional pieces, but if you look closer, you will find one of his original characters making an appearance (see above.) “That’s my real signature!” he says.

Invader:

This Pink Panther marked the Parisian street artists’ 1039th invasion in his native city. Invader has been cementing his place in the street art world with mosaics since 1998. His medium resists the test of time which is one of the greatest challenges of street art. Inspired by the 1978 arcade game Space Invaders, he brings subtle color and youth to our streets. Look out for him.

Angry Woebots:

This politically minded member of the Army of Snipers crew completed the large scale piece (above) in Nevada, Las Vegas. His work conveys a strong feeling of anger with a touch of insanity. His name,“Angry Woebots,” came as a reaction to our society reducing us to a “robotic” state. It’s more than just a name, it’s Aaron Martin’s concept behind his art. Moving away from home, Martin brought with him his paint: white, black and a bucket of random small tubes of color. With a limited amount of color, Angry Woebots adapted himself:

“I was supposed to paint a grizzly bear, and I was like, whatever, I’ll paint a panda bear.”

Phlegm: 

The piece on the red brick wall was painted by Phlegm in Lexington, Kentucky for PRHBTN. The second one was painted in Antwerp for the Day one festival organized in Belgium.

“This is the first of a series of creation myths I plan to paint on some big walls. It’s based on some ideas I’m working with for my next book. This is the first of a series of creation myths I plan to paint on some big walls.”

The British artist works as an illustrator and muralist to create mystical pieces. His murals have a sketch-like quality and easiness to them. The contrast between the roughness of his canvas–for instance, brick–and the softness of his lines creates an equilibrium between reality and fantasy.

Blu:

Blu is an Italian street artist. His most impressive piece of the year was spotted in Bologna. Inspired by Lord Of The Rings, Blu incorporates a number of topics, from Star Wars to Sauron as Berlusconi. This piece is part of the Italian political project: XM24. The project has a space in Bologna and is dedicated to support peace movements, vegetarianism and anti-fascism. His use of colors is subtle and mimics the style of water colors. It’s worth spending some time looking at.

ROA:

The DaVinci of The Streets is one of the strongest street artist out there. Some of our favorite work of his is a small series of animals painted in spotted in Panama City. There, he began experimenting with incorporating colorful geometrical shapes in his work.

“I am always very pleased if people get their own interpretation of it. If it can be engaging enough to let people look into those animals and inspire them to be creative, or to get involved with our globe, or just take a look at it, then I am very happy.”

Throughout the year, he continued experimenting with animals and slowly depriving them of life. The piece above of a decomposing coyote was painted on the side of the Pandemic Gallery in the Navy Yard section of Brooklyn. The animal is composed of ROA’s traditional monochromatic style but he incorporated a scarlet red for the animal’s organs.

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Ben Slow is currently in London, where he just completed the new collaboration (above) with Jim McElvaney. The duo is brand new, and is coming. McElvaney has a taste and talent f0r tortured portraits as you can see from some of his artwork, below.

Slow‘s strength lies in his textured portraits. Together they created a unique piece.

Etam Cru produced a new mural in Lodz, Poland reminiscent of some of Aryz‘s work. The artist was able to capture the essence of a culture through a traditional portrait.

Findac produced another of his signature portraits in the UK. You will be amazed by the artist’s attention to detail, in particular in the painting of his “Odettia” character’s jewelery. Very impressive.

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Phelgm

This week has been a little slow in the street-art sphere but a few artists did not fail us and produced memorable pieces. Phlegm, currently in Dulwich (above) and ROA in Peckham, London (below) produced two large monochromatic murals featuring a central character on a blank wall. If the street-art-genie grants us one wish, we would ask for a real Phegm X ROA collaboration. In 2011, the two artists worked on The Bussey Building, a disused warehouse located in Peckham, on an interactive installation called Black/Light with the London-based artist collective including ROA and Phlegm, their independent universe merged in an riveting dark place. (Check out photos: here)

ROA

Franco Fasoli aka. Jaz is surfing on the same  monochromatic-wave and produced a large piece in Vienna. In town for his upcoming solo show “Cult To The Character” at Inoperable Gallery, the Argentinian painter just had to drop some paint onto the walls. Nice.

Jaz

French street artist, Ludo, plastered this new piece as a  critique of consumerism on the Parisian landscape.

 Ludo

Stik was spotted in Japan with his signature  minimalistic figure. His piece  comes in perfect parallel with the window opposite from it. His understanding of architecture contributes to the creation of this ideal structural balance.

Stik

Shepard Fairey was spotted in Vienna, Austria painting the portrait of a woman holding a spray can entitled “Commanda”.

Shepard Fairey

Zed 1 and his surrealistic piece were spotted in Florence, Tuscany.

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This week in the international-street-art-sphere portraiture was the method of choice. Just for you, we’ve compiled the portraits that we found to be most striking. View them below.

Aryz (above) worked on a collaboration with David Choe in L.A. You can clearly distinguish the American’s artist surrealistic style colliding with the Aryz‘s creepy world.

Invader

Last time we heard from Invader he was pasting a mosaic of Spider-man onto the Parisian landscape. The French artist now dropped a new work in London depicting another hero, Luke Skywalker, chilling out with his father, Darth Vader.

Ben Slow & Mear One

Ben Slow and Mear One worked on a politically charged collaboration for the streets of San Francisco. The two street artists portrayed Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan in a light that acknowledges their shadier dealings.

Jack TML

The incredible Israeli artist Jack TML was recently in Germany to paint an indoor piece somewhere in Munich. His figurative work is charged with feelings of distance and proximity.

Aryz, prior to his collaboration with David Choe, worked on a gigantic mural in San Francisco. The Barcelona-based artist worked on merging the insides and outsides of his female character using his signature color pallet.

Stik is currently honoring the Chichester Street Art Festival  alongside Run & Phlegm. Working with his minimalistic stick figures, the British artist produces a piece that creates movement through subtlety.

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In the past week, Phlegm and Run have been producing large solo murals in Chichester. In honor of the Chichester Street Art Festival, the British and Italian street artists have been hard at work on a new collaboration. Knowing more about Run will contribute understanding this piece. First, it’s necessary to trace his roots as a street artist (which are very different from Phlegm’s). “My first big wall was in 2003 while squatting in a building in Italy,” (see below). “The meaning of that painting was we are here now and we haven’t got fear of nobody,” says Run. Back then, his work was simple and carried an effortless innocence and youthfulness. With time and acquired confidence, he “developed some shapes (hands and legs). Then [he] added characters, characters wearing those hands like a fancy dress costume.” As a result, his murals became increasingly surrealistic. However, his original love for organic shapes and simplicity explain why his collaboration with Phlegm was successful.

Run, in 2003 Italy

Phlegm is naturally drawn to a diverse range of themes, saying of his tastes that he is “always drawn to simple things that accumulate and become more complex.” His taste for simplicity brings a rich sensitivity to his murals. Both artists incorporated their signature figures in their collaboration harmoniously, even though their ideologies are quite different. Run believes that “tags and wall writing graffiti are almost invisible in a busy visual environment.” The artist wants to create a contrast between the streets and his work. “If the background is grey, let’s use as much color as we can!” However, Phlegm is one to go for extreme discretion. In fact, his ideal location to paint would be a “ghost island in Japan. Or any deserted city.” Phlegm spends a lot of time painting deserted factories. He appreciates “the idea of wondering around an entire empty city. I’d love to be able to live there for a year and just paint everything.” This contrast in personalities ended up with a mural that mirrors an ideal balance between two characters and their fantasy world. To read more about Run click: here and for Phlegm, click: here

Phlegm

Run

To read more about Run click: here and for Phlegm, click: here

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