18Demon

A new demon has been summoned by an unknown artist in the 18B Arts District. This black and white image completely reminds us of tattoo flash artwork right off the bat, and makes us wonder if it might be someone just like that. We've seen quite a few different tattoo artists getting up using their own artwork in the Las Vegas streets, and usually they don't come off as an advertisement. And that is the case here, in fact we have no idea who put this up. Aside from an cursive uppercase "L" over some Kanji, the artist is a mystery to us. We do rather enjoy the time and effort it must have taken the artist to add all that great heavy stippling. Combined with strong and solid lines, we really enjoy this piece. When will we see more from this artist? And an even better question, who is this artist?! We will most definitely be on the lookout for new artwork in this style, so we'll see you when we do!

On The Down Low

Man, this guy! Dekoe shows us that no place is too high, low, big or small to hit! Using a color sticker with his character, he hits a small outlet of some sort. Dekoe has really been keeping busy doing legit work on The Strip all the while keeping it street by getting up illegally, and it doesn't look like he plans on stopping any time soon! By hitting small places like this, he is starting to come up fast on Indecline with the familiarity of seeing his images. We always enjoy all the different mediums the artists chooses to use, cuz you can count on it being different each time. Something we enjoy in street art is a constant changing background, and more often than not. A constant changing foreground as well, and it seems that since we've started this blog the scene has really picked up. We are awful proud to have captured some of it, for even just a small moment. The Las Vegas street art scene is growing, we love it and like to think that we might even have played a small part! Whether that is true or not, who knows? But here we are, still taking photos and posting them. Thanks all!

Gray Balloon

An artist going by the name "TM" has been going around drawing little balloons like this one found in the 18b Arts District. Ah yes, the good old overused balloon in street art. It seems since Banksy's version first appeared, countless people have started drawing balloons. Some artists have used it and made it their own, we are guessing cuz none are really coming to mind right off the bat. But come on, there has to be someone. Right? This version surrounded by older pieces from Dekoe and Drew OTR looks to be drawn in a fat tip marker of some sort, with the added text "CLAW YOURS". To be honest, we couldn't figure out why someone would write "CLAW YOURS" with a balloon. But after looking at it for awhile, we finally got the message. CLAIM YOURS, duh! Our favorite thing about this post though, is the how the sun catches the layers of artwork that have been buffed. Artists are getting up here in Las Vegas with a building ferocity, and the battle of artist vs. buffman is our favorite game to watch. Game on!

Paste Oddity

Wow, another celebrity sighting but this time we had to look a little higher. Well, figuratively speaking that is.
While looking at these barred windows in the 18b Arts District, we happened to spot a tiny hand painted portrait of Chris Hadfield. The Canadian astronaut that famously recorded a cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity while aboard the International Space Station, and even made a video to accompany the song! We love his tribute and we love this little tribute on a 228 to him. Which looks like a mix of (from what we can tell) ink, paint and some watercolors that make this a fun find from There She Is. Who has been putting up flyers as well as artwork for a gallery show with her art partner You Killed Me First at Eden Art Studio & Gallery, seems like these two are trying to make a leap from the grime to the gallery. We wonder how that'll all go down, stay tuned to find out.

Are You Experienced?

Another celebrity sighting in the 18b Arts District, sorta. We found another poster behind bars, and from what the same unknown artist and/or artists. This time it is non other than Jimi Hendrix, the incredible and mind blowing guitarist from the 60's that was taken way too soon from an overdose. We really enjoy this image of Jimi, and think its way more effective than the previous John Lennon piece from this artist. His eyes grab you right away, it seems as if you've caught him starting at you from behind those metal bars. Is their a message with this piece? If so, we couldn't find it anywhere. So this kinda comes off as just some fan art on the street, come to think of it...Most artwork is fan art in some way or another. Sometimes its obvious like what we have here, and sometimes far more cryptic. We gotta say we do enjoy trying to decipher most of the artwork we've seen, but its really good to just hit them over the head...HARD! But first...Are You Experienced?

Inverted

An older piece from It's Me It's Erik gets an update via some mystery person armed with yellow spray paint. This piece has been riding since January and has been left alone, well pretty much. The piece has been deteriorating in the cold, rain and heat for months and the distressing on it looks amazing. We've seen artists work quite a long time to get that look on their artwork, but real time aging just can't be topped! But recently someone decided that it was time to make that cross more noticeable, for whatever reasons we are guessing. Using a completely different yellow, they added a drippy version inverted cross on top of the previous one. We did notice a few crappy tags in the same color but we didn't even bother to read or photograph them. Poorly done tags are just something of no interest to us, but we've include their "collab" with It's Me It's Erik in this post for what its worth. Interesting, I wonder what else (if anything) got a random update? Time will tell.

Watch Out

We spotted this new piece from Drew OTR on an 18b Arts District traffic sign. This placement is obviously perfect for his image of the family from the Immigration highway safety sign. The artist has been using this image for quote awhile now, and with great effect. he is an artist with many styles and uses many mediums to get up in the streets. Be it graffiti, street art, stencils or stickers, he is always getting out and up there. This familiar image of a family running across the freeway brings up a whole entourage of ideas and/or possible meanings behind this, we love that this piece makes us think about quite a few things. We've always said that we love artwork that can be viewed in several ways, and that is most certainly what we have here. Stenciled in black onto the yellow sign right at the crosswalk, this image cannot NOT be seen or denied. We still aren't 100% sure if the artist is getting some local help from another artist to get up, but if so? Great team effort, we can't wait to see more!

Give Paste a Chance

A very familiar face peaks out at you between some bars on an 18b Arts District window. It is the famous face of John Lennon, wearing his infamous NYC shirt. We've seen several artists use this very same image for art, and we guess this won't be the last either. A store bought black and white poster with some added orange and black spray paint. We're guessing in an attempt to make this more then some stolen image poster they bought and pasted up, with a poorly placed peace sign has been sprayed and is dripping right into the quote for this image. This feel to us like some pretty novice work, with random dots and lines painted all over the place. Maybe it is just us, but it doesn't come off great. We do however enjoy the feeling of catching someone starting at you out of a window, and then you realize its just art. We love that part, and with a little work this could be done way better. We hope we get to see that, when and if!

All That Glitters

We spotted these unusual pieces on the side of the Coolidge building in the 18b Arts District recently. Three gold spray painted shapes with three crudely painted black outlines, finished off by an additional canvas glued in the middle of each shape. We aren't sure who the artist is, but it does seem oddly familiar to us. The first piece on the left is of a woman that looks to be drawn in crayon or colored pencil, with all sorts of shapes and faces decoupaged in consecutive layers. An added shredded base of orange paper really makes this piece come to life and our favorite of the bunch. The middle piece is of a fiery woman with the text "sometimes I get so freakin angry i just want to scream", ok then. Finally we have this little odd fellow that looks like some sorta of bug or crustacean with those claws on a black and green background. We can't help but wonder if this was a final image we saw from an artist on this day, or was this a piece that had layers added to it over time? Since we have no idea who the artist is, we can't really be sure. But we are sure happy to see new artwork being put up, so keep it up!

Birthday Bunny

First off, yes we know we've only posted twice this week. Not really too much artwork and/or photos happening, plus we might be losing stream with this blog since we've been doing it for about three years now with no break. There have been times where we had to search for hours just to find something to post on this site, so we feel that we might have reached an impasse. I guess if we keep posting, then we are still here! Til then, Milk The Bunny made a run recently in the 18b Arts Disctrict. Around Keith Haring's past birthday to be exact, and gave us this tribute to the late artist. A direct copy of one of Haring's most popular images, but she has added her trademark bunny ears in an effort to make it her own. We have to be honest, sometimes when we see artists paying tribute to other artists it is just usually a fairly bad ripoff of said artist. We don't think that is the case here with MTB, she has added her own charm and flair to keep this piece original even though its a tribute. Good job! But what about that heart that was left by Jennifer Korsen in 2013 still riding up above this piece?! All the paint is gone and only a wooden piece in the shape of a heart remains, we love it. But damn, she needs to come back with fresh artwork and get back up soon and regulate!

Blickhead

Um, ok then. What is really going here? We spotted a few pasters with the Blick's logo on it of all things! We know that a ton of artists go to and/or use their products, but did someones district manager think this was a good idea or something?  We like to imagine it would go something like "Hey everyone, I know how we can hit the urban street art demographic" Ha ha ha, seems rather unlikely but then again we've seen weirder things. But anyway, we've got three pasters with Blick art materials printed on it. We don't have any idea who this person was that put these up though, was it an artist? Was it an employee? We don't really care either way, but we can tell you one thing. We REALLY hate it when companies that have money for legit advertising try this kinda thing on the streets, exactly like what we have going on here. You people have the money, you people have the means but you don't have the skills nor the wit to pull it off with any success. Found pasted to a light pole on Art Way in the 18b Arts District, how apropos......or so they thought!

Window Display

Man, Dekoe is one busy individual! Between doing live painting events and huge murals, he still finds time to get up with some new wheatpaste pieces. This grouping of artists was spotted on the corner of Casino and Charleston in the 18b Arts District, and this spot always seems to have something pasted on it as of late. It is good to see these staying up and new artwork being added on the regular, they seem to buff all the larger pieces that were just to the left of these. But these can stay, no idea why but we are just glad they are there. Dekoe gives us four versions of his trademark character, one large tiled black and white combined with a few different colored versions below. Also on the scene, we have There She Is and You Killed Me First with new art as well. There She Is with a hand painted Madame Leota from Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, and well that is a switch! Usually its her art partner YKMF that would be the one paying tribute to the theme park ride, but not this time and we like it! YKMF with another one of his spooky looking Quija pieces in the shape of a coffin to dig a little deeper into the unknown, so to speak. Finally we have a bunch of the usual boring tags and some ads for some show we don't even care about, so yeah those flyers are working great! Great job!

The New Boss

Ha ha ha, this is so great!!! Dekoe gets up in the 18b Arts District using Jerry Misko's self-buffed mural as a canvas with great results. After Seattle artist Indian Giver came through town and added one of his 'shopped tattooed Elvis pieces uninvited. Seems like Misko the original artist didn't take to kindly and buffed it himself within a month's time, even going so far to buff his own artwork. But adding the message "THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING." before he was finished, and we thought that was pretty much the last word on this wall. Oh sure we've seen a few random and amateurish things drawn on the blank head of Elvis, but Dekoe's new and updated version just killed it for us! Spraying his signature character face in purple, blue and yellow aerosol and placed perfectly with in the head, but leaving the top blank to use Elvis's hair to make his own. It makes us laugh every time and we appreciate the cleverness of the artist! Finishing it up by spraying "Say hello to the new boss! Same as the ol' boss..." A line made famous by The Who in their song Won't Get Fooled Again is a great way to announce his takeover, and we hope this piece stays just how it is for awhile. Thank you, thank you very much!

Samo Thing

We saw this smaller paster on the Coolidge building, it was a rather bad print of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Upon closer inspection we saw this was from someone named Tazmatic618, we aren't 100% sure this is a painting though to be honest. It looks exactly like a Photoshop effect we've seen numerous times, and we aren't sure if the artist is trying to pass it off as a painting. We have seen artists like Jerry Misko use Photoshop to their advantage and make stock looking images have an original feel. So like we said, we aren't too sure what is going on here. Well besides like we said, a rather bad print of some artwork with a red rectangle added with artist info. Not the cleanest delivery we've seen, and certainly not the worst but this leads us to this question. With people idolizing past urban artists mostly known for artwork in the street, will we have to see things like Shepard Fairey's face next to Andre the Giant's up huge somewhere on some billboard? Now that would be kind of bizarre, but that is pretty much we are getting here. No? We are sort of interested in seeing more of Tazmatic6087's artwork in the future, just to see what is exactly going on honestly. Found in the 18b Arts District.

Brows

We saw a couple of girls with some big eyebrows hanging out in the 18b Arts District recently.  This new offering from an artist we've never seen, well so far that is. These pieces are from an artist named Ashley Vegas, which we are guessing must be a local artist from the name. I know, I know we must be detectives right? Well anyway, this new piece that looks like its ink on kraft paper. To be honest we thought this was a new piece from Avantarded or maybe It's Me It's Erik, these three artists kinda have the same thing going on with their artwork being black ink on Kraft paper. So we aren't THAT crazy in assuming we wouldn't think, but we have to say that we do like this new offering. Two girls with rather forlorn faces, or maybe that are just copping a model pose. One thing for sure though, they have some mighty big manicured eyebrows. We enjoy the deliberate thinner lines and the almost haphazardly applied thicker lines as hair, the one on the left looks like shes bald with two locks handing on either side. Did the artist mean to have some a punk looking image? Who care, we dig it! But it almost feels like the girl is dreaming of being someone else, is the girl on the left her ideal image of herself? A lot of questions with this piece, and we enjoy all the possibilities.

The Beast From Anaheim

We spotted a familiar face on this utility meter while walking around the 18b Arts District. Looking a little like something from a 50's Sci-Fi movie, with the head of Mickey Mouse and the body of a wasp with a rather large stinger. We have a product of mad street scientist Zork, who we haven't seen in the streets in awhile so it is a welcome and frightening sight. He offers us a smiling and happy Mickey who is sorta of showcasing the artists name with his hand, but is he giving a warning with that dangerous looking stinger? We really enjoy this black and white and almost retro looking piece. Zork had really been going large with his pieces and doing some cool new things before he disappeared from the street, so we hope to see more and soon. The utility meter's neighbor is absolutely slammed with so many stickers that we won't even attempt to name any of the people and artists, so just check em out if you get a chance! Or better yet, get some stickers of your own and join em!

The Cleaners

We spotted a couple of new hand painted pasters from There She Is and You Killed Me First in between downtown and The Strip. Right in front of Super Cleaners, on Las Vegas Blvd and Gass to be exact. Since relocating from Los Angeles to Las Vegas a few years ago, these two have been working together hand and hand in the streets to make their presence known. Be it with small black and white pasters or with huge neon colored pieces, they are felt on the streets to be sure. There She Is offers us an image of the Gorgon sister better known as Medusa, with her trademark large eyes and pouty lips make this a striking portrait. Complete with snakes slithering around on her head as hair, she beckons you closer with her gaze to meet your fate. What will it be, hmmm? You Killed Me First continues his tour of Disneyland (so to speak) with another on of his Haunted Mansion plaque takeovers. YKMF has been using the Disney theme park as inspiration for street art for years, and apparently he isn't going to let up any time soon. It seems to us that these two have been inspired as of late, as we keep spotting new pieces from the duo around town. We can't wait to see what new and well, sometimes warped new artwork they will get up with. Stay tuned!

Headless Children

At first glace we were kinda horrified at this latest piece, but after closer inspection it wasn't some kid cut in half like our warped minds thought.. Well it IS technically, but it is half of a whole piece from Milk The Bunny. Had we not caught her show at Twisted Gallery, we might have not known this was a smaller version of her "Swinging Baby Omy" canvas piece from said show. This self portrait of the artist as a small child was also used to promote her show, and we just happened to catch it on the street. It was kinda tough to spot on this wall on 1st, cuz that spot is getting jam packed with artwork of all kinds. Some great, some good but seemingly mostly bad. So to us, this is a little bright spot on the wall or window rather. The artist has this to say about this piece, "Swinging Baby Omy depicts the magic of being free". We can relate to the feeling of being young and free, but at this point its just a feeling to relate to with us. Artwork can transport you to a different time and/or feeling, but sometimes you just need to know where to look. Be it in the world or within yourself, and this time we found it!

Corner Crossing

We found another new piece is from Drew OTR in the 18b Arts District, on the corner of Boulder and 1st. This spot gets a lot of action from what we've seen and keeps changing and changing. New pieces will show up, pieces get removed and pieces get replaced and so on. Seems like someone finally figured out that Begsonland piece was printed on one of those removable stickers, and took it right on the pole! The funny thing to us is that the most consistent piece is advertising a show thats already over. And it is made from the same sticker material! Guess no one wanted to try to take that one, or maybe they are too scared since its a high profile spot? People put it up, so people can take it. Don't be scared. I guess we will see if anyone takes us up on that offer, seems like they might have in the past since the others we've mentioned are now missing from the street. Damn, does that make us half accountable for its disappearance? Oops!

Dead Flowers

The wall on Coolridge has been getting its fair share of time in the spotlight, as its being hit on the regular by the same local crew. Looks like the buffman wants to get into the game, cuz they have been hitting back and bringing out the old gray paint to cover tags and throwies left and right. But these framed flowers somehow alway survive wave after wave of paint and buff, only to appear as if they have sprouted up once again in the 18b Arts District. It almost looks ghostly all alone, and surrounded by a completely buff gray wall. A few lines are still viable on the edges of the piece, but it looks awful lonely there by itself. I bet we won't have to wait long for another round of graffiti, cuz that Vegas crew is making the rounds. But then again, so is the Buffman. So good luck with that, and watch your back!

Neighbors

We recently noticed the stenciled Grandpa Munster piece that has been riding forever in the 18b Arts District has some new neighbors, or spot jackers depending on who you ask. To the left we have some barely legible text in bright pink that reads "Remain", kinda hard to remain somewhere when you didn't really finish the job of spraying your piece, no? Then to the right we have a little tighter piece with this 50s styled image of a burning match, with quite a lot of overspray around the edges of their stencil though. The older Grandpa Munster piece even after all this time, still looks great and makes these new additions pale in comparison. The purple burning match isn't all that bad, it just kinda looks like a burning french fry to us. Kinda weird, but we get it. Now, the real question is will we have to wait another full year before someone else joins this crew? We'll see......

Gone Fishin'

We spotted these beautiful Koi fish while taking a stroll around the Coolridge building in the 18b. Just one glance at these and we instantly knew they were from The Stencil Artista, the details and beautiful blended colors gave it away. Using what looks like house paint as a blue base, he makes these little splashes (no pun intended) of color to make puddles for the Koi. Then a white base for the body and then our favorite part, the beautifully done gradients of red, orange and gold! This little touch just makes these pieces a step above others. Finished off with a black layer of details like scales and eyes. The Stencil Artista proudly advertising that he uses "No Printers,No Machines, No Technology! Everything is drawn, cut, and painted by hand!".  We aren't the hugest fans of some of the stencil pieces we've seen around, and especially when they are poorly done with blown out lines and the like. But these to us are straight up quality and this talent just can't be denied. We want to see more!

Tiled

Dekoe returns to the 18b Arts District to get up with this tiled piece on the artistically explosive wall on 1st. Dekoe has made a huge mark on Las Vegas with his artwork, and the thing we dig about him is that he uses anything and everything at his disposal. This time using his signature character in different colors up top, and tiling a larger black and white piece below. We've seen him get up with wheatpaste, tags, stickers, aerosol and pretty anything else you can think of! He works hard and he works a lot from what we have seen, so its definitely not going unnoticed. Also below Dekoe we have Drew OTR, we have been seeing more and more of him lately and we aren't sure its him getting up alone or if this was a co-mission. Either way, we are enjoying seeing this image in this city. Drew On The Run has been getting up in and around Southern California for a long while now, and its awesome to see that he has zero plans on stopping. The cool thing about these pieces is that they are both from artists that use a multitude of mediums to get up with, so it is pretty cool to see them up on the same wall with possibly the same paste.

Hidden Heart

We were so close to missing this little guy on Charleston on our last visit, only by chance did we look up to discover him. While are aren't 100% sure who the artist is that left this cute little heart, but we sure as hell love it. His little shocked "o face" and his X'ed out eyes make him look very cute but also very dead. We are kinda tripping out a little bit on the choice of placement the artist decided to go with though. Could a random passerby have messed with the original placement of this sticker, or was this really this unknown artists first choice? We have quite a few questions about who, what, when and where with this spot and piece. Mostly just cuz we like, even if a little puzzled by it! But all in all, a fun little find on the corner of Charleston and Casino in the 18b Arts District.

Asian Eyes

Another trip Downtown to the Art Motel finds the entrance updated with another round of fresh artwork. Joining Anilyz Something and Skull Capper on the front we have new pieces from There She Is and You Killed Me First. YKMF with another one of his Frankenstein movie posters, this time updating it to a red version. We still enjoy the addition of the Las Vegas skyline under The Monster's feet, a fun little detail that makes this piece feel complete. But this time it is the piece from There She Is that really grabbed our attention. Known for using completely hand-painted pieces to get up all around town, she sticks to her normal M.O. but gives us a little something new with this piece by using Asian newsprint to paint her latest portrait on. The perfect placement of the Asian characters under her painted eyes make it look as if she has been crying, like her eyeliner is running or something. Combined with that sad look on her face, it just completely makes this piece for us. What a wonderful new addition to this spot, can't wait to see more!

Checkered Cone

Directly catty-corner from our last post, we find this collection of mismatched images and art. Below the flyers and ads for local businesses we have peeled stickers and tags of all colors. We can make out a few of them, like we see the I.S.I. tiger image and a Blue Swan Records sticker under a pink tag. The favorite one of ours and also the one to grab our attention is that little ice cream cone sticker. We have not one clue on who this is, or what "Free Cauwod" even means! Honestly, we are pretty much guessing that is what it says. Hmmm, could be the letter D, could be the letter P. But still, a fun little black and white drawn image either way, and we love that checkerboard cone pattern too. We might have to look at more of these pedestrian crossing buttons for sure, seems like there is more action happening here than we thought!

Don't Walk

While waiting on the corner of Casino and Charleston in the 18b Arts District, we just happened to look up and saw these guys. A little orange bug guy that looks sorta like a grasshopper, then again it could almost be letters and that would kinda make sense. Illegible as they may be. It looks like he was draw then cut out of some kinda of foam material to be attached with adhesive somewhere, we haven't seen too much of that technique. But we do remember when Thrashbird got up with that big cross using brightly colored children's playmats in the 18b last year, this has that same sorta vibe. Just without the blasphemy. A few different stickers are stuck up and around the light pole as well, from heavy hitters like Visual Bluff to people we've never heard of like Asslete, Transmission, a childlike drawing and some weed sticker. But our favorite has to be the part of an Priority Mail sticker, with nothing on it! Ha ha ha, now that is getting street! Just the sticker part and no name. Now just try and top that! Hilarious.

Compliant

Anilyz Something has been one busy guy in the Vegas streets, we are seeing him far and wide in this city. Now he is giving a little bit of help to Houston, Texas artist Thieve to get up on this 18b Arts District dumpster. We are digging the black and white images on the blue and tagged up dumpster, they really pop in your face. With some added red spray paint over the skulls eyes and the phrase "Compliant Silence" stenciled on Thieve's skull, they just look and work great together. The combination of a human skull next to an.....what is that thing, a alien skull or what? Well anyway, they look great together and beckon you to photograph them. We know we've already said it but, Anilyz Something is really going for it with the amount of pieces he is putting out. Combine that will killer high profile spots with quality artwork, and you got a man on a successful mission. Killer work, keep it up!

Green Box

We spotted a few familiar faces on this box off Sunset, just south of the Strip. Hit by stickers, tags and a few pasters from a wide selection of artists and people. We like the Elbert Einsteinish looking one the best, the look on his face is neither friendly or unfriendly. Just sorta indifferent, and we like that. Next to an older piece from Visual Bluff, who we haven't seen in awhile come to think of it. So it is a welcome site to see them again. On the other side we have one of those Enovizin pasters all the way back from 2014, a quick check (cuz we forgot who they are) learns that they are now defunct. Seems like they were a film company and/or some street brand. Hmm, does anyone do street art for art anymore? Wrapped in tags and stickers this box looks pretty decent, they do a ridiculous amount of buffing around the strip. So they further you get away from the casinos, the more artwork and stickers you can find. Sometimes its worth taking the time to look, just like we lucked out finding this one. Keep looking people!

Neon Nights

There She Is and You Killed Me First hit the 18b Arts District with some large new pieces to announce their return to the street. These pieces have been painted such bright neon colors that we could see them a few blocks away, a technique that these two have used before with much success. We always enjoy how the two artists paint with the same colors to match the others piece, they take being a couple to new levels within their artwork. There She Is offers us one of her painted ladies with her always present large eyes, with all the paint drips all around she appears to be crying. The pieces she paints can have the most forlorn and yet beautiful faces to them, combined with the almost subliminal tears really makes this piece grab your attention. Plus the fact that its about 4 foot tall doesn't hurt either! You Killed Me First with another tribute piece to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. We've seen him use quite a bit of artwork based on the theme park ride, so we are definitely feeling the artists love when we spot them. Using pieces from the Haunted Mansion clock and an eroded typeface from the attraction ride, then adding a distressed and splattered effect by hand to finish it off. These two pieces work really well together, just like these two apparently work well together in real life. Let's hope we see more artwork from them around town, and soon.

Faded

While on another one of our casino adventure debacles, we happened to spot this sticker in the Stratosphere parking garage stairwell. What were we doing hanging out in the stairwell, more than likely we were up to no good. This sticker from KBF "Kant Be Faded Mob" is simple with design and font choice, but it works. You can usually find a good amount of stickers that haven't been found and removed in the casino parking garages around town. With the huge amount of people that travel through this town, its always interesting to stop and have a look. You can always find some cool stuff, as well as some boring and terrible stuff for that matter. But that is pretty much the name of the game, isn't it? Good and/or bad, we enjoy seeing it all. We tried to look up who this was, but couldn't really find anything about who/what/why. So there ya go, can't be faded and can't be found. Gotcha!

Relabeled

The mysterious artist we call Skull Capper has made another wheatpaste run downtown in the Fremont East District. We aren't exactly too sure who this person is but we definitely know their artistic agenda. They like to cap people! Seems like this artists mission is almost solely covering other peoples art, so we kinda figure there must be some artwork covered up on this can. We are pretty much going with the law of averages on this one, and you can't really blame us. Always using the same bad copied image of a white skull, sometimes with an added X and sometimes not. The one thing you just can't deny, is that you can always count on Skull Capper getting up around town. This guy never lets up, and you gotta admire that right? I don't know how capped artists feel about it, but we are enjoying the action on the streets and walls. Joined by a large piece from Anilyz Something, and that one must be new too cuz we see its on top of those others. Nice!

Torn Away

Another visit to the North side of town reveals a piece that has seen better days. This ripped image of a woman's face looks like the logo of RM "Serene" AKA Skyn3t, if not then someone is ripping him off. No pun intended. We love how it almost looks like the woman is peaking out from behind the torn edges, it kinda makes the piece to us! She has a very sultry look in her eyes as she peaks at you, almost to let you know that she is still a beautiful woman. No matter what scars she has, she is still confidant and definitely lets you know it with one look. The environment and/or some random passerby can sometimes elevate a piece of work to another level simply by touching it or tearing it. It looks to us that someone took the time to pick at both of these and we have to thank them, they made these pieces stand out. We highly doubt that was their intent, but it is what it is now.

Maintenance

The boarded up entrance to the Art Motel downtown has been on fire lately, lots of back and forth between the buffman and artists. Hell, at some points its pretty much been artist against artist if you wanna get down to it. The war between aerosol and paste is a constant, and will can find yourself in some deep waters if you don't know or care about the rules of street art. But here, the buffman gave Anilyz Something and that Skull Capper person a fresh new canvas to work with. Anilyz Something with the large inverted skull piece that we really have been enjoying seeing around town, we enjoy him regulating his spots even more so. He is making sure that he has a new piece up quick when he gets buffed or capped, and that is a tough hustle to keep up. But he is doing it, and doing it well. No idea if this was a co-op mission between the two artists or not, but we might think so since those skulls aren't covering Anilyz Something's piece. A total assumption on our part, but it does look strange when Skull Capper isn't......Well, capping someone!

Gloomy Girl

Just a few days ago we were cruising around North Vegas and we just so happened to spot a beautiful face on the side of the road. This artist unknown piece really grabbed out attention with this simple yet detailed image of a woman with braids and buns in her hair. Surrounded by a halo of dots that make the image of the woman just leap off the piece, we really enjoy this style and wish we knew who made this! On closer inspection we see that some incredibly smart individual felt the need to draw a penis and write "thes nuts" under where the artist tilted the piece "Rain". This mystery artist leaves a lot to be desired and for the life of us we just can't figure out why someone would do this. I mean, unless you are 12 years old or something. Drawing and spelling skills might give us a clue to who or what they are, so thanks but no thanks! You can't really see those additions when you are driving past this piece on Craig and Buffalo, so all in all. It ain't too bad!

Street B.S.

Another new piece from Recycled Propaganda spotted in the 18b Arts District, and he is still Feeling The Bern! This four color piece is subtle in design and yet hard hitting in message, we are digging this cleaner design from Recycled Propaganda we gotta say. The image of Bernie Sanders holding his arm up in almost a protest pose, with added text "The Right Kind Of B.S." This design is a leftover from the Feel The Bern event at Eden Gallery from last month, and is printed on the same reusable sticker material from this post. Which again, makes us wanna steal it from the streets and we wonder if someone has stolen ALL of these designs!? We've said it before, and we'll say it again. These easily removable stickers make it awful tempting to not take them, especially when they have great and strong designs on them. But as you can tell, we just photographed them and left them for Las Vegas fans of street art to enjoy. So get the hell out there and enjoy them!

Sad Monster

We recently spotted a familiar face while walking around the Fremont East District, it was Yerman the Sad Yeti. Those unfamiliar with the brainchild of Las Vegas artist Ryan Brunty, it is his artistic creation "to depict the face of depression in an approachable way to alleviate the stigma surrounding mental health". Recently coming off a win at Secret Walls LV, a 6 person art battle royale. It is cool to see his artwork in the streets and not on the usual clothing. A lot of artists miss opportunities to real people in the streets or sometimes they just have no desire. But lucky for us, that isn't the case with Yerman. It is however the first thing we have noticed from him on the Vegas streets but hopefully we will get to see more and possibly larger pieces as well. This guy is interesting with its inverted stenciled image, its like someone actually held Yerman up to the wall and sprayed painted brown... More than likely not, but its still a fun thought. No idea how long this piece has been riding, but it looks like it might have been a good while. Then again, the desert can age pieces here to dust in weeks! How long will he last?!

She Can Do it!

Another trip and yet another new find from Milk The Bunny in the 18b Arts District. It is the familiar face of Rosie the Riveter, the Wolrd War II cultural icon used to represent the American woman working in factories. Just like in the J. Howard Miller Westinghouse version of this poster, we have Rosie showing her muscle and moxie with the words "We Can Do It!". An inspirational image taken over by Omayra Amador and given a MTB makeover of sorts with this smaller print on the Coolridge building. Little things like her bunny ear logo on Rosie's bottom make us smile, cuz sometimes to us the subtle details can make a way bigger picture and we like that. Staying true to her almost psychedelic color pallet, we have her using yellows and pinks to make this piece really work and really her own. Omayra Amador has really let us all know that "She Can Do It" by being so visual with many new pieces updating old spots around town, she makes us feel lazy when we see all the new pieces and spots. Keep it up, cuz you ARE doing it Milk The Bunny!

Found Bottle

Back in the 18b in the parking lot of the Coolridge building, we found this bottle surrounded by tags and pasters. This unknown artist piece caught our attention, but just barely! With all its colors and paint drips, it almost blends right in with the environment. We wonder if the artist intended to blend in somewhat with the background and for that matter, we wonder who the artist is?! We have seen a few different artists use re-purposed bottles as artwork in the Las Vegas streets, but this one is unsigned and was left without a clue as to whom it was. The glass bottle has been painted white and then splattered with a few different neon colors, then literally topped off with a black spray finish running down the sides. This wall has really been the site of a lot of work being done as of late. From local artists painting huge murals, to a whole other set of artists sneaking over at night and getting up with tags and burners. This addition of a tiny bottle installation and a welcome change from the norm, we enjoy that a few artists are using techniques other than spray paint and/or wheatpaste. Variety, that is what we are talking about and that is thankfully what we get! Can't wait to see what this spot offers up next artwise.

18Bern

This past February saw a Bernie Sanders themed event happen at the Eden Gallery in the 18b Arts District full of local Las Vegas artists. The larger of these pieces is actually the ad from said event, and its another one of those temporary stickers like Recycled Propaganda used in this post. So we are assuming it was him that put these up on his last run? Hmmm, could be? Either way these four colorful pieces are holding this spot down past the run of the show. We dig all the different styles between the artists, the main Bernie image is rather striking with its painted gaze meeting yours. We wish we knew who did that main poster image, anyone? From bottom left to right, we have a patriotic Begsonland design with his trademark multiple image tiled pieces. We've actually seen knockoff versions of his designs around town, yeah they are that good! Next to him we have an artist unknown image but the message is certainly known with this one! Dump Trump with a....well a big stinking dump on his head, and using the infamous "immigrants crossing" image for a background is rather effective. Then last but not least, we have Dekoe with his trademark image done in purple and green. We aren't too sure if this piece has anything to do with the others, but it fits in the corner making it all feel symmetrical and we dig that. We admit we aren't that political, but we love these politically themed pieces and hell we even made it out to this show!

Totem Tagger

We found another leftover from last year's Life Is Beautiful festival, and it is another D*Face! We can't believe how much work he did last year, we are still finding previously unseen pieces of all kinds. This time we found a tag on an electrical pole in front of his huge "Peace Gun" mural off Fremont Street. Using the same gray color can he used in his drop shadow in this piece, he took a moment too keep it street by catching an illegal tag in the middle of painting a paid mural. Which is how a lot of high profile artists do it, get a paid gig and get up on the side. We've seen D*Face do 4-5 street installations around town when he'd have a show at a gallery, and we mean good sized pieces ranging from wheatpastes to 5 foot tall headstones! This artist is pretty much fearless when it comes to his artwork and his range of styles, an artist that bridge the gap between street and galleries like it is nothing. We hope we can keep finding more pieces as the days pass, I doubt we will have a problem.

Pink Bunny

We found another piece from the ever-present Milk The Bunny on the streets of downtown Las Vegas, this time we get a pink uni-bunny with a bright yellow hat. The artist also known around town as Omayra Amador has been getting up more and more, and doing some solid work in the most visual places. This piece we found on the edge of some construction on Fremont Street and across from the The El Cortez is a damn good spot to be seen my locals and visitors alike! From what we can tell she seems to be using more color prints more so rather than hand painted as of late, and we can't even hate on that. Well since we caught her gallery show at Twisted Artist Gallery in the 18b Arts District. She had some of the original pieces that she has used for the street and they are like quadruple the size of what she is using in the street, fairly impressive. But back out on the streets, she is still doing work and doesn't appear to be stopping anytime soon. Keep it up and stay up!

Psychedelic Lamp

Well it has been awhile, but on the other side of this post we find Avantarded with a piece that we can only describe as some sorta psychedelic lamp or some piece of surreal furniture. This building has only had a few street art pieces on it and actually even less advertisements, if you can even believe that! Avantarded uses his trademark black ink on Kraft paper here once again, but completely going off in a cosmic direction this time. From what we've seen over the years, there has always been elements of space and cosmic themes in his artwork and we always enjoy peering into these small windows into other worlds. When looking at this piece, it almost has a form and identity of its own that it is trying to convey to you as you pass by. Is it trying to look as human as possible to get you to move closer til it grabs you in its clutches mentally and possibly psychically?! Better stay a few feet away just in case! Found on Las Vegas Boulevard, between the Strip and Downtown.

Ellen DeCerberus

Typical Banidto returns from his apparently unending travels between Los Angeles and Las Vegas to put up this new piece in the 18B Arts District. A tri-faced image of a woman, and that woman has the unmistakable face of Ellen DeGeneres. With all the extras and lines the artist likes to paint on his images, its sorta interesting to us that he chose to use a very recognizable person in his artwork. Maybe his is making a statement or sending a message but we just aren't getting it, but maybe this is just the first person we've recognized in his artwork and its us that isn't getting it. Hmm, well anyway! We love how the paste and dirt has mixed together on the white door during application and how it almost makes a new design on top of the artwork. With the image being dark and the wall lighter, it looks as if the paste swirl is behind the piece and it gives it even more depth. As if it wasn't enough that the artist has already added paper layers, we get the added bonus of something artful that was pure happenstance. You gotta love when unplanned art just happens like that, I know we sure do.

A Warning

A new warning has appeared in the 18b Arts District, and it is pretty damn awesome. Hack The Mack gets up with a Neighborhood Watch type sticker, only his program supports all suspicious activities! At first glace we thought this was just a normal sticker and we are glad we took another look, cuz its hilarious. A hooded man with the name Trap Man emblazoned on his ski-mask greets you with a smile under the text warning, with all the correct colors to make this sticker really work. After some investigation, we found out that this is a sticker for some rapper or musician or whatever. Which kinda sucks, cuz we feel that this is far more interesting as a piece of artwork instead of another advertisement. But then again, it did grab our attention and held in for a good while. Well, until we figured out who and what it was for. But hey looks like this sticker design worked either way, so you fully got us this time. Nice job!

Roots Radical

Another trip around town and a stop in the 18b Arts District reveals a new piece of art from Recycled Propaganda. A defiant blue fist thrusting out of the ground, attached to a group of growing roots with the text "Political Revolution". Sort of a greener take on one of those old propaganda posters from the past, but updated to a time where we almost need to look at ourselves more so than the person next to us. We have to mention we are enjoying the hell outta Recycled Propaganda getting up in new spots and being more visual, we love to see artists push other artists to get up and stay up. That is just what RP has been doing as of late, and like we said earlier. We are enjoying the hell outta it and his new artwork pieces! Upon closer inspection we found out this wasn't a wheatpaste though, it was a print made on some reusable sticker material. Kind of weird, but then again kind of cool since any person could just take it home and put it on their wall. Which has been a problem for some artists in other cities, pieces just stolen from walls and resold means pissed off artists. But will we see people taking more artwork from the streets with stuff like this? We really have no idea, but with this reusable material. It is quite tempting, even to us!!

Electrical Disconnect

As much as the city likes to keep Las Vegas clean, you just can't escape the multitude of people getting up with stickers. This spot in the 18b Arts District is usually slammed with stickers til it got buffed recently, but as you can tell it is building up steam again. From stencils to tags to stickers, this spot is fast becoming the best roll call spot to be seen and noticed when you are in the 18b. We always enjoy the sometimes vast differences between artists styles and sticker choices, be it a homemade job or a professionally printed sticker. It is always interesting to see how people like to get their message out there, no matter what it is! What can be seen as blight to some can be seen as hardwork and art to others, we like to take the time to enjoy the art and effort of these artists. But then again, of course we would! We run a street art blog, so much for that..

Blackened Bones

Anilyz Something has been going back and forth with different artists on this spot, and for some time now. But he is the one that is up and holding this spot down right now, amongst the tags with his trademark skull logo. We really like the inverted skull look with these larger pasters, it really pops and looks great on top of that dark red door. The surrounding tags somehow help this look like a finished piece or something, they almost make it symmetrical. We always enjoy when pieces interact with each other, and especially when its unintended as it is here. This spot on the old Western Hotel exterior is a great spot, but it also gets a quick art to buffed turnaround which makes it a great place to check for new artwork when you are downtown. So make sure to add it to your list, artists and street art enthusiasts alike.

Red & Orange

Milk The Bunny is back with another new piece, this time it is recently passed away star Roberto Gómez Bolaños as superhero El Chapulín Colorado from the Mexican television comedy series of the same name. This seems to be a smaller print version of one of her larger paintings, we'd like to know what happened to the original though. Is she selling her original paintings and putting these print versions out in the streets? If so, then that is a damn great idea to get peoples attention and get your artwork into the hands of people that will appreciate it! Also on the scene, we find a wooden piece from Dan45 still riding in this same spot for over a year now. This orange puzzle piece still has its artwork and message still clear as day one, but the sun has been beating the hell outta it for over a year and it shows. We love how it looks and as more time passes this piece will continue to be weathered from the elements and continue to look cooler and more interesting. Two cool and completely different artists and styles, showing their diversity with another unconscious collab in the Las Vegas streets.   

Desert Bloom

Wow, well what do you know? What started out as a single flower stuck right in the middle of this frame has blossomed into a full blown bouquet with the help of an unknown artist. When we came upon this piece in the 18b Arts District, it was almost unsettling. We we taken aback at the image and thought of just how could these plastic flowers reproduce and multiple?! Well the answer is obviously that can not and did not do that, but it was a pretty strange few milliseconds of wonder at first. Anyway, more red flowers with new purple and blue highlights that show the age of the original flower that is starting to look sun-weathered. The multitude of different colored eyes seem to stare right back at you as you view this piece, we love this one and how its progressing. We hope to see it continue to develop on the wall, but we wonder how long it'll last?