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!

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?

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!

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!

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!

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!

Tiled

Dekoe returns to the 18b Arts District to get up with this tiled piece on the artistically explosive wall on 1st. Dekoe has made a huge mark on Las Vegas with his artwork, and the thing we dig about him is that he uses anything and everything at his disposal. This time using his signature character in different colors up top, and tiling a larger black and white piece below. We've seen him get up with wheatpaste, tags, stickers, aerosol and pretty anything else you can think of! He works hard and he works a lot from what we have seen, so its definitely not going unnoticed. Also below Dekoe we have Drew OTR, we have been seeing more and more of him lately and we aren't sure its him getting up alone or if this was a co-mission. Either way, we are enjoying seeing this image in this city. Drew On The Run has been getting up in and around Southern California for a long while now, and its awesome to see that he has zero plans on stopping. The cool thing about these pieces is that they are both from artists that use a multitude of mediums to get up with, so it is pretty cool to see them up on the same wall with possibly the same paste.

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.