You can see more of BTOY's work here.

From Filippo Minelli:

"I'm actually in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritanie and as you may know yesterday the army made a coup d'etat. I'm passing in Mauritanie following a route through Western Africa, and for an unknown reason some days ago i stopped in Nouadhibou boats cemetery to make an painting on DEMOCRACY.

I chose the cemetery to represent democracy as a smashed boat, still quite strong even if full of leaks and unable to go far from this point.

This is not my opinion, but the synthesis of a high-level international philosophical dispute with subject "Is Democracy, with all his contradictions, the best political solution?"

But then, minute after minute, as the army closed the airport, the tv, the radio and put in jail the President with the Prime Minister this word "Democracy" i wrote, completely un-linked to the Mauritanie politics became of huge actuality, as Democracy here right now is a smashed boat in a sea of garbage.

The most crazy thing about this performance made by the fate is that on the boat i painted i met four young boys, cutting the boat into pieces to re-sell them, and yesterday after one week they were probably smashing with their hammers what i painted, sad metaphor of what the army is doing here in the capital, smashing Democracy, and not even to re-sell it."

The piece above is on Federation Square and was painted as a part of the Melbourne
Stencil Festival.

"A few days ago members of the Melbourne Revolutionary Craft Circle went out armed with bags of finger knitted wool, seeds, painted banners, ribbons, thermoses, cups, cameras, chocolate and some sneaky hip flasks to engage in some creative resistance against the rampant speculation which is wreaking havoc in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray.."

Read the full story here.

Probably no better articulation of the DIY mindset in contemporary art is Beautiful Losers, Aaron Rose's fantastic traveling exhibition and book that brings together the work of an amazing group of artists including Terry Richardson, ESPO, Ed Templeton, Barry McGee, Jo Jackson, Margaret Killgallen, and many others.

If you saw the exhibition or have the book then you undoubtedly walked away inspired and motivated to not only enjoy art, but to create it.

This coming Friday night in New York at the IFC Center marks the US theatrical debut of Beautiful Losers, the movie. Like the exhibition and book that proceeded it, Beautiful Losers is a true labor of love that makes you want to go out and create something. It's wonderfully shot and includes a ton of terrific interviews with a fantastic group of artists. The film is the perfect companion to the exhibition and book.

Here's an exclusive clip:

The Price of Success from beautifullosersfilm on

Following it's NYC run which begins this weekend, Beautiful Losers has been booked in theaters in LA, San Francisco Chicago, and Portland. Check out their official website here for more info.

More work here.

From Ironic Sans:

Bunge Grain complex in Quebec City is made up of 81 individual silos 30 meters tall. In celebration of Quebec’s 400th Anniversary, artist Robert Lepage used the complex as a screen for an incredible site-specific motion picture called The Image Mill. The film tells the story of Quebec’s 400 years through video, pictures, and sound. I expected a cheesy patriotic movie. But what I saw was subtle and elegant. The video, which shows 10 minutes of the 40 minute film, gives a good idea of what the movie was like. It shows how Lepage made innovative use of the contours of the silos, turning them into bullets, candles, a printing press, cigarettes, etc, and how he turned the entire complex into other kinds of buildings completely, such as a factory and an airport.

From Above:

"From time to time I like to take a break from being so serious and just mix things up and get loose! This abstract, and very fun style is a good example. The intense color combinations, shapes and loose free flowing lines make your eyes move around a lot and mix the colorful forms. -Mexico City, Mexico"

Artist: Rems182