Panmela Castro, Promoting Women's Rights Through Culture & The Arts

BY ART + TIMES: 
Women all over the world have fought and continue to fight for their rights. The right to vote the right to speak up, the right to hold public office etc. On a recent trip to Madison WI, Brazilian artist Panmela Castro brought some new life to Willy Street with a mural at the popular Mother Fool's Coffeehouse which she says symbolizes the women's rights fight.

“This was my first trip to Madison and I really love the city and the lakes,” Castro tells The Madison Times. “I like the people and how they came up and talked to you. They are very friendly.”

Castro was able to paint the mural in about three hours and then stuck around to mingle with the many onlookers who amassed on Willy Street. Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international NGO based in Washington, D.C., partnered with Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Program (LACIS) to bring Castro to Madison for this unique event. Castro is a young multimedia artist from Brazil who uses graffiti and street art to promote social change and awareness. She has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Hutúz Award, the most important Hip Hop award in Latin America. In March 2012, she was honored at the DVF Awards, supported by the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation to honor extraordinary women, in New York City.

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ROA's Street Critters

Artist ROA leaves his critters every where he goes but no one seems to really mind as these critters are a work of art. Nylon shared some of his street creations and we wanted to share with you.

Afghan Artists Capture War and Oppression via Graffiti

BY ART + TIMES: 
The Afghan people still dream of peace and democracy in their war torn country.  Music, film, Theater and everything else that falls under arts and entertainment are still banned there. But that isn't stopping artists from sharing their vision of their country in its current state, and the world is taking notice.

The female-male duo surreptitiously spray-paint the crumbling and dilapidated walls of buildings in the capital Kabul, abandoned and destroyed during 30 years of war that still rages today. Talking of her woman on the steps, Shamsia Hassani, 24, said: "She is wondering if she can get up, or if she will fall down. Women in Afghanistan need to be careful with every step they take." The sombre depictions of Afghan women on Kabul's rutted streets offer rare public insight into their lives, still marred by violence and injustice despite progress in women's rights since the Taliban was toppled over a decade ago.

source: ahram

Tilt's Panic Room

BY ART + TIMES:
What do you get when you peer artist TILT with an all white hotel room, and cans of spray paint? Well you get a half graffiti masterpiece of course. Check out these cool photos of TILT's work.

[Juxtapoz]

Where'd All The Good Art Go?

By Art + Times: 
Holland Cotter of the New York Times rips the 1% (the ultra rich) a new one for bankrolling and talking up art he calls high-polish mediocrity. He starts off by comparing the art created during the Occupy Wall Street movement in downtown Zuccotti Park  in the form of protest signs, to the cautious overpriced painting hanging on the walls of galleries just a stones throw from Wall Street.

True, art-worldlings did at least adopt one thing from the Occupy Wall Street movement: a new identifying label for the source of particularly noxious vibes emanating from art fairs, V.I.P. galas and museum boardrooms: namely the 1 percent. But why, you’ll ask, dis the ultrarich? Haven’t they historically been the primary bankrollers of great art?

Sure, except we’re not getting great art. By and large we’re getting high-polish mediocrity. You had really, truly, desperately need to believe in the perpetual wondrous newness value of contemporary work to conclude that the New York gallery season just past was anything more than a long flat line, with month after month of young artists rehashing yesteryear’s trends and veterans cannibalizing their own careers. 

 [NYTimes]