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!