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!

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.

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!

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......

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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? 

No Trespassing

Whoa, another Marty McFly from Back To The Future? What are the chances? Apparently pretty good, but this one looks like it has been on this No Trespassing sign for a damn long time. This artist unknown piece was found in a huge vacant lot in North Las Vegas, we had to park and walk for a bit to be able to photograph it. From a distance this looks like it might have been a stenciled piece, but when we got up close we saw it was a digital image that had been tiled. Quite the colorful and almost patriotic looking piece, but the missing piece in the face makes it feel unfinished to us. If we knew the artist we would investigate and see what is up with that! But we don't, so we won't. A fairly good example of an image that works from distance and from a speeding car, but you can't really make out who it is to be honest. We had no idea who or what it was til we got up close, but it still caught our attention with the reds and blues. As faded as they were, they still were working at catching someones eye.

Rebirth

Well thank God for small miracles! They finally buffed the horrible Coolridge wall and we gotta say it looks way better without all the crappy tags that looked like some first year artists sketch pad. We spotted the first piece on the wall, and it ain't too bad. It comes off like the first flower that blooms years after the bombs drop in some weird post-apocalyptic movie, at least to us it does. This wall became a straight up disaster with all the fighting between wheatpaste and aerosol artists, no idea who the hell won that fight. But the wall DID get buffed a little while after all of the tags went up, so that might be a clue who the city wants to win. Sadly, sometimes the street art scene can get intertwined with gentrification of the neighborhood. Kinda weird how artists find the spots first and then the money comes in and tries to take it all away with Starbucks and the like. We really hope that isn't what is happening here, but we kinda know that it is. Enjoy the streets to yourself while you can artists, and get the hell up!

Ransom Face

Chicago artist Lolo Popacopolous (A.K.A Popacop) recently came though Las Vegas, and we've spotted a few of their "Monkey see" stickers around the 18b Arts District. This design is a crazy mashup of imagery that looks like a collaged image that has been inked and painted, this design is pretty interesting all the way around when you first see it. We don't have a clue what its all about but its eyecatching, even at a distance. It looks like this guy is puking illegible strips of text, even though he has a joint in his mouth which must be tough. There are little weird things all over this guy, piercings, a star mustache and teardrop tattoos, baseball cap, a cigarette behind the ear, money for eyes and that quarter on the forehead. With more smudged and illegible text, we don't know what this guy is saying but somehow we are still listening.

Street Testing

We found this series of images that resemble Rorschach tests under the decaying Indecline piece in the 18b. These artist unknown pieces look sorta like someone spray painted some parts or shapes and liked the leftovers, or these could look way different to you depending on your psychological make up. We've been looking pretty hard for anything to post on the building on Coolidge and 1st, you have to read between the lines with all the crap all over that place. Seems like artists are kinda letting their pieces go and hitting other spots since people are just writing their own shit on other peoples art. Sadly the 18b Arts District is rife with spot jackers and people that think adding some bullshit stencil or tag to another artists piece is somehow ok. We've seen one of the same stencils used on these walls in an artists artwork during a First Friday event, in fact they pointed it out to us as we walked by. "This is my artwork!" "Uh, sorry" was our only reply.

Pink Hippo

We found another hippo looking character roaming the streets of Las Vegas. This piece has been seen in a few places around town, this recent one was found in the 18b. This unknown artist went way larger this time with their piece and it really looks great with the addition of the bright pink color. Looking quite tranquil surrounded by art and tags, we really enjoy this piece. Placed in a chaotic setting and its eyes closed in disregard to it all, it (whatever it is) gives off a calming and soothing effect that we really enjoy.