BLU!

For my final piece I would like to do a profile of the graffiti artist Blu. Blu is an Italian street-artist who is revolutionizing the world of street-art, especially with his animated graffiti-art. His unique style moves away from the conventional ‘tagging’ style of most street-artists. He uses many plain colors; white, light blue, grey, to paint an arsenal of surreal characters on walls all around the world.
There are several key points I would like to focus on for this piece. Fist, I would like to talk about the evolving world of street and graffiti-art. New technology and a rising acceptance of graffiti-art have completely revolutionized the discipline. This, combined with rising acceptance of graffiti-art and the rise of new street-art festivals around the world (Fame Festival, Names Festival) have expanded the opportunities for graffiti-artists. This fact has morphed the identity of a street-artist from a hooligan to a potentially famous artist (as is the case with Blu.) Blu himself has traveled the world to do his art.
Animated graffiti-art especially brings a whole new notion of what is possible in art, and is an up-and-coming style. I would like to use specific videos of single and collaborative animated street-art from Blu to talk about this discipline specifically. I would also like to use several interviews with Blu’s contemporaries (using a pseudonym he does not do interviews) as further research on the current state of graffiti-art.
I would also like to touch on Blu’s use of a pseudonym, his rise to fame, and his large breadth of work. A very important part of his pieces come in the political message he works into the paintings; this is a key point in my article. My main sources include Blu’s website (blublu.org), which includes a large collection of his work, the wide compilation of videos of his work, video-interviews with his contemporaries and collaborators, and the websites of street-art festivals.
This is relevant because it is a currently changing and evolving discipline of art and Blu is one of the flagships of these changes. I have been following Blu for several years now and am aware of many of his pieces, even ones that are not on his website. This makes me the perfect person to write this article.