Tuesday, February 1, 2011

STREET ART FOR PROMOTION?

Have any of you seen the movie EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP?


(This is HUGE and beautiful!)

If not, I won't get into particulars but it's based on the London street artist Banksy. This is some of his art:


I entertain myself by documenting NYC street art:




(This was all done with drips of paint on the sidewalk!)













You never know what you might see and some of the stuff is really creative. I have an idea for my own stencil - a 1950s woman winking - but I won't say more about that.

I do have a point to all of this that is children's book related believe it or not. Is there ever a way to use street art to promote a children's book? OF COURSE you do not want to promote or encourage kids to vandalize! But are there kinds of street art that one could do that are removable and not damaging to the environment that could work? Some might be very effective for teen books. A long time ago when my book Show Dog came out I thought of putting up "Wanted" posters in the subways. Like--"Lost Show Dog" and then the flyer would advertise the book. That's kind of street art-ish and completely removable.

I just thought I'd throw out the idea since this type of art is very "in"!

3 comments:

  1. I'm convinced that there would be a way to do believable kids book-centric street art, absolutely. Do you read the blog Color Me Katie at all? She'd be the person with the ideas. It would have to be funny and removable but not so removable that someone took it down on the first day. Your "Show Dog" idea is right on track. I wish you'd done it. Let me know if you're ever tempted to try again. I'll help.

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  2. Yeah, I'll let you know! Street art! Well, there's the paste stuff. That's removable. Shepard Fairey does it that way....

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  3. Watched this movie with my kids and we all loved it. However, my daughter Gracie (10) is now adamant about becoming a street artist when she grows up.
    Z-Dad

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