Tonight around 8pm, Wooster Collective will stream online a live event featuring artists exchanging ideas on creativity, inspiration, art books, and more. Participating Artists: Chris Stain, Elbow Toe, Pax Paloscia, Ivory Serra, Logan Hicks, Swoon and WK Interact.

You can catch this streaming media event either on the Wooster Collective homepage or on their Facebook account.

Labels: Chris Stain, elbow toe, ivory serra, logan hicks, pax paloscia, swoon, wk interact, wooster collective

Brooklyn's sweetheart of street art, Swoon, has made her way to the streets of North Philadelphia to participate in Philagrafika 2010, a citywide festival celebrating the role of print in contemporary artistic practice. Involving more than 300 artists at more than 80 venues throughout the city, Philagrafika includes etchings and woodcuts, vinyl graphics, comic books, videos and complicated, conceptually driven projects intended to raise social consciousness.

Swoon's colorful woodcuts on brown paper can be found scattered amongst businesses with names such as "Don's Doo Shop", burnt out buildings, art parks, and a long-abandoned gas station. They are, as Swoon says, “a moment of recognition, a wink from another human presence which is there and not there.�

(Big thanks to my brother Daniel for once again indulging my photographic interests, even in the aftermath of a huge snow storm...and for helping to dig out the cars of anyone parked near one of the Swoon pieces.)

detail shot

detail shot

Labels: Philadelphia, philagrafika, philagrafika 2010, swoon

I hold a special place in my heart for Swoon, as it was one of her early pieces that literally stopped me in my tracks and opened my eyes to street art. Rare is the artist, whose work continuously and consistently inspires over the years. I'm often asked to name my favorite street artists … I never hesitate to include Swoon.

Here's a fresh street piece of an image she recently put up in Europe. After participating in back-to-back shows in Norway and Germany, it's not only nice to see her return to Brooklyn, but also take back one of her spots.

Labels: girl, swoon, wheatpaste