Thursday, March 20, 2008

Wooster Collective

The Wooster Collective, founded in 2001 and updated by Marc and Sara Schiller, is the blog-of-record for street art. Wooster is a street in New York City's SoHo (as well as how 'Worcestershire' was meant to be written), but the site shows street art from around the world.

Street art is art of the streets. However, it is distinguished from run-of-the-mill gang-related territorial graffiti, corporate branding, and angsty teenage vandalism by... common sense. You know it when you see it, and you'll see it at the Wooster Collective.

The blog covers all types of street art: wheatpasting, stickers, stencil graffiti, mosaic tiling, video projection and street installations. Personal highlights include the melty ice-cream truck of Adelaide, the invader descending upon Kathmandu, and the public service announcement, The City of Santa Ana Asks, 'Is Your Child a Tagger?' This last bit of PSA gold was clearly made by the infographic staff of The Onion. Or a dry, ironic tagger. Perhaps both.

The site's giant ugly Mac-inspired header should not prevent you from delving further. Despite its alleged 2001 founding, the archives only go back to 2003. However, the site's many links make a great jumping off point for street art on the interwebs. (Warning: following through on links will land you on the City of Santa Ana's watched-internaut list.)
(Street art by 1. Someone in Melbourne 2. Hannibal Vector 3. Mark Jenkins 4. Little People 5. 6emeia 6. Banksy)

(Sources: boingboing, Wikipedia, and Wikipedia)

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