7/21: Super Street (Art) Fighter Mario

A few days ago I tweetered this little bit of magic in Toronto. For those who don't live in a big enough city to experience it, this is street art. it kinda looks like graffiti, and depending upon the police officer/building superintendant you talk to it is vandalism, but it also beautifies and spritzens up a regular day.

The excellent documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop tells the story of street art, most notably via Banksy (who directed it) and Stephan Fairly (who gave the world not only the Obey Giant icon but the Obama Hope poster). Also in the mix is a French guy called Space Invader, whose thing is 8-bit (and earlier) art, mostly Space Invaders, hence his name.

Playing off that theme (street art is a very small world, with a lot of homages) is OakOak, another Frenchman. He's tagging Duck Hunt, He's tagging Game Boys, he's tagging Mario. One of many, many questions modern art thus brings to the table: is the only difference between art and a viral Nintendo ad campaign that Nintendo is not paying for this? Is pro bono bombing for the Big N still an ad?



That Spider-Man one is pretty rad, though.