Arabic Graffiti: An Eastern Voice in the Global Street Art Dialogue

Diplomacy by way of street art, or what Gaza has to do with Banksy.

We love street art, but the majority of coverage on the subject has a severe geographic bias — every street art encyclopedia, every showcase of notable work, every documentary on graffiti culture tends to focus on Western lettering and imagery. Until now. Arabic Graffiti is an ambitious new anthology by Berlin street culture tastemaker Don Karl and Lebanese typographer Pascal Zoghbi exploring the use of Arabic script in urban context. The lush hardcover tome curates graffiti artists and typographers from the Middle East and around the world, who incorporate Arabic calligraphy styles in their artwork – a beautiful intersection of tradition and contemporary creativity.

Images courtesy of Slanted

Part cultural anthropology, part study in creative ingenuity, Arabic Graffiti is one of the most exciting design books to come by this year and a timely cross-cultural bridge of visual communication in the context of today’s global political climate.

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David Clemesha’s Hand-Lettered Nursery Rhymes

Little lambs, little reds, little pigs, and a little hand-lettered typography.

We love children’s books, especially clever remixes and twists to them — from finding philosophy for grown-ups in children’s classics to The Little Red Riding Hood reimagined as an animated infographic to modernist fairy-tales by today’s leading authors to quirky coloring books for grown-ups. So we love the work of San-Diego-based elementary-school-teacher-turned-artist David Clemesha, whose remarkable, vibrant hand-lettered nursery rhymes, fairy tales and fables are equal parts whimsical and artful.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

The Cat and the Fiddle

Where Are You Going, Little Red?

Jonah in the Belly of the Whale

Wee Wee Wee All the Way Home

Mary Had A Little Lamb

This Little Pig Went To Market

Three Blind Mice

Jack Be Nimble

Yankee Doodle Went to Town

Follow Clemesha’s latest work on his lovely Posterous.

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Tony Orrico: The Human Spirograph

Mock-mathematics, or how to turn the human body into a graceful precision instrument.

Tony Orrico — artist, dancer, human spirograph. He creates remarkable large-scale mock-mathematical drawings with a savant’s focus and a marathoner’s endurance, sometimes drawing for up to four hours continuously, hitting our soft spot for the intersection of art and mathematics with delicious precision.

See him in action and marvel:

What makes Orrico’s art most remarkable is the complete grace and fluidity with which he renders seemingly mechanical drawings, transforming the human body at once into a precision instrument and a delicate paintbrush of the abstract.

Watch him work his magic at the National Academy of Sciences in D.C.:

via BOOOOOOOM

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