Press Dispensary - July 31, 2008 - Street art has undergone a dramatic image change in recent years, with work by its finest practitioners as likely to be found gracing galleries as urban underpasses. Now, a specialist web mapping site, StreetArtLocator.com ( http://www.streetartlocator.com ), will help fans locate the latest street art anywhere in the world.
Marrying Google mapping technology and input from the street art community, the site aims to create a definitive global directory of stencils, sculpture, guerrilla art and graffiti.
StreetArtLocator.com will showcase the genre in all its forms, whether made in secret, sanctioned by corporate sponsors or accepted by the art establishment. Users can move from a world map to street level in just a couple of clicks to see everything from aerosol art by spray-can virtuosos to gallery installations. The site is stocked by members, who find, photograph and upload street art images, tagged to a specific location.
Andy Clark, creator of StreetArtLocator.com, explains: “As an artist and web designer with a passion for street art, I started documenting great graffiti, stickers and stencils as I spotted them. I was sure that others were doing the same and that, if this information was shared, we could create a map showing where to find the best street art in every continent, country and city. So StreetArtLocator.com was born.”
Members can create a profile page showing their own street art, or examples they have found and photographed. The mapping mashup technology enables them to upload a photo to its exact geographical location. Each image has its own page, allowing visitors to post comments, and members can put maps on their own blogs or add StreetArtLocator.com to social networking sites such as Facebook.
Dating back to ancient civilisations, street art has lost none of its relevancy today. The Tate Modern is currently hosting the first major public museum display of street art in London, Barack Obama has commissioned Shepard Fairey to produce posters for his presidential campaign, and works by the artist Banksy fetch substantial sums at auction.
Andy Clark adds: “Used by artists to claim social space, street art can be potent, political or profane. From gang identifiers and stencilled subversions of pop-culture to commissioned public art installations, it’s part of the modern cityscape, and has generated a roll call of renowned artists. StreetArtLocator.com creates a forum for this vibrant global street art community, and a virtual showcase of their work.”
A media kit can be found at http://www.streetartlocator.com/mediakit/index.html
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Notes for editors
For further information, please contact:
Andy Clark
Tel: 07906292373
Email: andy@pencilsandpixels.com
Site: www.pencilsandpixels.com
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