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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

Citrus Skull

Anilyz Something is back downtown with a new piece off Fremont, and you can't help but notice it all the way down the street! This stencil of a skull is so damn bright, these photos just don't do it justice but trust us. it is BRIGHT! It looks to us like the artist laid down a neon orange with a brush and finished it off with a black stencil image of his skull character. On the cloudy day we were out looking for artwork, this popped off the wall from a full block away. We love eye catching pieces, especially when they are strong images like Anilyz Something uses. As usual this piece is no different, only this time the added color pops to almost immeasurable amounts and really works. Especially against the layers and layers of stickers on these slammed doors, great stuff from Anilyz Something!

Extended Stay

More additions are being added to the boarded up Art Motel from this years Life Is Beautiful festival, this spot has more out of town artists than local at this point too! Kinda cool! First up, San Francisco based artist Strider gets up with a diamond shaped piece of a praying woman in front of flowers. The image of the woman is interesting as it looks like some sort of digital stencil placed on a vectorized flower image, it has sort of a retro feel without relying on nostalgic imagery. Hinting within art is sometimes way more effective, at least to us. Also showing up late to the party, You Killed Me First and There She Is get up with their new pieces. YKMF with paster of the old Life Is Beautiful logo re-appropriated to remind us that in Sin City evil is also beautiful, I'm sure people will love that one. Lastly There She Is who likes to use the same colors to match her partner with her street pieces, she gives us a redhead with purple lips and blue eyes that will meet your gaze from way down the street. As this year comes to a close, the 18b is slowing down with street art and downtown is gaining speed as the location to get up. We wonder if it'll flip again, or will both spots start to even out artwise. We are guessing that only time will tell, and we can't wait!

18Drama

Los Angeles street brand Dissizit makes an Las Vegas appearance with their Diss Lil Piggy design, sorta. Apparently Dekoe got bummed out recently when his piece got capped by Anilyz Something, so he capped back with this OG Slick piece and what looks like a hastily made tiled piece of his own. His piece had been riding for about 2 months, so its actually not a surprise that it got covered cuz nothing lasts forever. Especially in street art! This type of capping and fighting for space happens daily and even hourly in places with a bigger scene, which leads us to our next question. How would some of these touchy artists fare in bigger cities? You have to work 3 times as hard for space and add people stealing your still wet art off the street and reselling it, or even fistfight in the streets, which does happen way more than you'd think. But in the end, we are glad to see these artists fighting it out cuz this shit gets boring seeing the same art every single week.

No Credit

Another artist joins the group of out of town street artists on the Art Motel exterior. We are fast becoming fans of Anilyz Something with his clean black and white images and clean placement. This newest piece with its gritty look is definitely a switch of styles and still keeps the original ingenuity and look of his artwork. While we are not usually fans of the black and white prints that a lot of artists use now a days, we are however a fan of strong design and Anilyz Something can bring it! Also, we find it kinda funny that while buffing the tags on this wall they buffed Apexer's name and credit right off the building. Uh, oops!

Destiny Number 6

Anilyz Something has been making their presence bigger and bigger on the streets of Las Vegas. We've apparently spotted and posted a few of their pieces without knowing who it was, but the artists tagged themselves so we can give proper due credit. This newest piece was found on the wall on Coolidge and 1st amongst the buildup of shitty tags and crap artwork, this piece definitely stands out amongst others. A clean black and white printed graphic with surrounding text, with Anilyz Something's trademark skull with lightening hitting its brain. Definitely a cool image that makes you think and spawns conversation within a group, which is precisely what the artist wants us to do! Can't wait to see more images from this artist.