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!

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!

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?!

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.

The Red Lady

This image at first glace sprang many thoughts, ideas and questions. But mostly, who was this lady? Could this be the face of the Virgin Mary, or was this the classically anguished beauty of oil paintings from long ago? This stenciled sticker high atop a street light at Charleston and 3rd definitely gives off a religious vibe. Those concerned sad eyes looking solemnly down at the street artists roaming the streets. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.  ....ya know, just in case!

Get Lifted

Local artist/musician Dave Dave gets up with one of his signature LIFTED pieces on the Coolidge and First building in the 18b Arts District. If you are unfamiliar with his story of survival, I suggest you have a look as it is extremely inspiring. Using spray paint and the artists own self portrait cut into the stencil,  these pieces have a sort of Art Deco meets Picasso feel, while maintaining a street level aesthetic amongst the tags and other pieces. We dig it!

Street Anime

Atomsk returns to the 18b Arts District with another large sized piece. An image of Satsuki Kiryuin, one of the main characters in the Anime cartoon Kill la Kill, stenciled in white & red spray paint and finished in what looks like a Sharpie...or some sort of black pen! We gotta say that is a technique we've never seen used to finish a street piece, interesting!

Jungle Walls

Big thanks to MowgliArt for sending in these photos of some of his latest work. A little backstory: Before we moved from LA to Vegas we would regularly make trips to the 18b Arts District to soak in the local color, art and search for spots to get up. Mowgli is one artist that always stuck with us. We dug it and are glad to showcase his work on our blog. Thanks again for the photos, stay up!

Don't Walk

Another stencil spotted from Los Angeles artist Thrashbird at the corner of Boulder and 1st in the 18b Arts District. We aren't sure if this is from Thrashbird's past visit with Teacher or if this spot was hit recently passing through town. One thing we do know is that we keep spotting these and we always appreciate finding new pieces of his work around the city!

Raw Stencil

We came across this older piece baking downtown on 8th street recently. A spray paint stenciled image of the word RAW and....Who the hell is that?! Tupac and Justin Bieber or Michael Jackson? Someone has drawn a mustache and uni-brow on the face on the left, which isn't helping with identification. Other than those newer additions, it looks like it has been here for a good long while. Artist unknown.

Fire Woman

A woman stares out waiting to meet your gaze from a doorway in the 18b Arts District, a striking and quite beautiful piece using nine postal slaps layered onto each other to create one large sticker. Stenciled with an image of a woman who really stands out against the background. Found on 1st Street, artist unknown. 

Stencil G

A number of stencil pieces from an unknown artist have been popping up around the 18b Arts District, this recent image of a woman's face seems to be less rushed, cleaner and more solid than previously seen work. But then again the work looks very much like Olsenink's style of stencil, but we aren't 100% sure. Nor are we sure if someone spray painted that red letter G after the fact, but it does give a more finished feel to it.

Corner Stop

Another Thrashbird piece located in the 18b, patiently waiting to cross the street at Coolidge and Casino.
Thrashbird has been getting up huge in high profile Los Angeles spots for some time now, only recently taking his art beyond the borders of California. Known more for his larger pieces in high profile locations, this smaller stenciled piece is a cool find for sure.

No Trespassing

Another year, another round of new Life is Beautiful murals but lets stay focused on the illegal artwork.
D*Face's Card Shark stencil pieces have been riding since last year, they look so solid and blend perfectly with the scenery that the buffman keeps missing them. Olsenink up top with a larger color sticker of a hairy legged women joining in on the fun, with Missy Elliot lyrics "Put my thang down, flip it and reverse it." Found downtown.

The Lady In Purple

Another find in another alley in the 18b, a beautiful stencil of a woman on a purple background.
This striking image is spray painted in white and joined by some tags and web address stickers.
Funny how artists spend so much time cutting out an stencil, then hit the streets painting as fast as possible.
Well, when your choices are commit or get caught? You kinda get in a rush sometimes, artist unknown. 

Half-Hearted

A freshly stenciled female face that appears to be wearing a burka on a telephone pole in the 18b.
We've seen this image a few times around town, usually with a reverse image on the other side
to form a heart. This time, just half-hearted. Artist unknown.

Red Doors On Fremont

A set of doors were stenciled onto red panels on the closed entrance of the Western Hotel on Fremont,
to us it gives the hotel an old theater or concert venue exit type feel. Artist unknown, but we love it!

Space Stencils

Coolridge Avenue in the 18b Arts District keeps getting more artwork with each passing week,
this visit we found these colorful but loose and rather amateur stencils of Space Ghost characters from Atomsk

Munsters In The Art District

Spotted a decent Al Lewis as Grandpa Munster stencil down low on 1st Street in the 18b,
we almost walked right past and missed it since its low placement but luckily we caught it. Enjoy!