For those of you in NYC: Vanity Fair and Cadillac unveiled “Art in the Streets 2012: New York,” a commission of original street art by Barry McGee. Cadillac provided the artist with points of inspiration based on the core tenets of its ideology: uniquely American, bold creativity that surpasses expectation, and daring ingenuity that breaks all boundaries. The resulting mural, called Untitled 2012, installed in September on an exterior wall of the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, New York, is showcased in a six-page custom advertising portfolio(photographed by Jason Schmidt) that appears in the December issue of Vanity Fair. In addition, Vanity Fair produced a short documentary-style behind-the-scenes video of the project that can be viewed beginning on November TK athttp://vf.com/artinthestreets.
A cult figure who emerged from San Francisco’s Mission School art scene, Barry McGee first drew interest with his tagging and street art. He has since evolved into a globally recognized fine artist who possesses a uniquely ebullient aesthetic. McGee regularly experiments with a mixture of media and techniques to push the boundaries of what art is—and what it can be. A retrospective of his work is currently on exhibit at the U.C. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, in California.
Last year, Vanity Fair and Cadillac partnered to create three public murals by Shepard Fairey, Retna, and Kenny Scharf on the West Hollywood Public Library, in Los Angeles. David LaChapelle captured the artists and their murals for an eight-page custom portfolio that appeared in the November 2011 issue of Vanity Fair. More on last year’s edition of “Art in the Streets” can be found on the 2011 program site:http://vanityfairagenda.com/artinthestreets
Vanity Fair and Cadillac are also sponsoring an “Art in the Streets” Instagram contest, which runs through December 6. Entrants can photograph inspiring street art and upload it to their Instagram feed with the hashtag #vfstreetart for a chance to win a trip to New York to see McGee’s mural.
