The Dead King

Well, it has been said that good things can't last forever, and that is clearly the case with Jerry Misko's 2009 mural of an slightly askew Las Vegas sign in the 18b Arts District. Someone has taken a bucket of white paint and did a half ass and yet complete buff job on his mural, even following the curve of the artwork as they painted his piece and Indian Giver's large wheatpaste that was next to it. With all the amateur artwork on this building, we gotta say it is a total bummer to see them go. We did happen to notice a fresh buff job in the same color on each sides of this building as we were driving up, and some new murals for what its worth. Someone has decided to comment on this buff by writing "THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING.", which reads pretty redundant. Maybe just the one line might have carried more weight, but what does it even matter now? Both of these pieces are dead, rest in paint.

Street Tales

It's Me It's Erik gets up with a rather large collage piece in the 18b Arts District, surrounded by other artists Indian Giver, Recycled Propaganda, You Killed Me First, There She Is and some straight up horrible graffiti. We have no idea the story is with this piece, but it almost tells the story itself with these hand drawn mismatched symbols on kraft paper. Someone then added that black background with blue.....uh, vines? Not too sure what they are, other than some hastily painted addition that was added after the fact. Indian Giver with another tattooed celebrity, and its Marilyn Monroe which as you know has never been used in street art. Obviously that isn't true, she is one of the most overused images in street art so no props from us there. All in all, a solid piece from IE that is being used to its full advantage from other Johnny-come-lately artists. This town is rife with spotjackers, and it ain't getting any better anytime soon from the looks of it.

Fear & Pandering

Another wheatpaste piece from Cheyenne Randall in the 18b Arts District, a little further down the street from his Elvis piece and a little sloppier as well. When we saw this piece from afar we initially thought it was Hunter S. Thomson with a shotgun and kinda dug it, but we got up close and saw it was a photo of Britney Spears during her 2007 meltdown. Which makes us wonder, "if you are gonna pander artwork to someone that has a huge show in town, shouldn't it be complimentary?" Oh well, pandering is pandering we guess. This piece seems like it was rushed to be put up in the streets, or they didn't take any care to tile it beforehand and just let the printing edges ride in a few places. Kind of a sloppy job for a high profile artist, but maybe they were rushed like we said previously. Not really an excuse at this point in a career, but hey shit happens.

Taking Care of Business

Seattle artist Cheyenne Randall came through Las Vegas a few days ago and brought a few pieces with him to get up, and he got up huge! Known mostly for Photoshopping old school tattoos onto celebrities past and present, we knew just what to expect when we heard his name. He certainly didn't disappoint with this giant image of a classic young Elvis and trademark hairdo, but with all the added tattoos and the like. We dig the added touch of the TCB on his ear but the wolf leaves a little to be desired with its placement, but then again we've seen way worse placement and tattoos in real life. This spot seems to get buffed immediately when someone gets up with a piece or tag, we don't know if its the previous artist regulating or not. We did happen to notice that someone tore part of the piece to make it blend with the existing mural, it makes it feel more complete and legit somehow. Be warned if you wanna see this piece, you better get moving cuz they like to keep this wall clean. But this is a damn cool edition to the 18b Arts District, this might be the piece to beat right now!