Banksy in Amsterdam

One of my favorite modern visual artists has come to Amsterdam...Banksy! If you're unfamiliar with Banksy here's what I know. He is originally from the UK. He makes grafitti, stencil art, sculptures, and directs movies. His identity is currently a mystery and he has an exhibition here in Amsterdam from July 18th - September 30th.  

To my knowledge Banksy doesn't reproduce or sell any of his creations. Most feature satirical images of war and instruments of violence. He uses humor and amazing visuals to get people talking about subjects that are often considered taboo. His unique style has achieved international success. Below are some Banksy images I shot by Centraal Station mixed with a few favorites I found on google. If you would like to know more about the artist or see more if his art go to his webpage Banksy.co.uk.

AniManga: Boku dake ga Inai Machi (Erased)

Boku dake ga Inai Machi, literally translates into "The Town Where Only I am Missing" and is most commonly referred to as Erased.

Erased, is a manga series written and illustrated Kei Sanbe serialized from June 2012 to March 2016. The story was converted into a twelve episode anime which ran January 2016 - March 2016. The story is about an average man named Satoru Fujinuma with an extraordinary ability. Satoru has the unique ability to travel through time. His ability works unconsciously and lacks control, but it does save lives.

Whenever a life-threatening accident occurs in Satoru's vicinity he is forced back in time to a point before the accident. Once sent back Satoru has a limited amount of time to solve the problem before he returns to the present. Whenever Satoru alters the past only he knows what changed from the timeline.

15 years before the series starts, several girls from Satoru's middle school disappeared and were murdered. The cases remained unsolved. When Satoru's mother gets killed, and the killer tries to frame Satoru, he realizes that the murderer is someone he knows. Aside from his mother, all the people close to Satoru get dragged into a murder case more than a decade old.

What follows is a hair-raising, suspense, thriller that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. Satoru faces one tragedy after another while being sent back to middle school with all the memories of a twenty-eight-year-old. He has to find the killer and stop him from murdering his mother and several of his middle school classmates before he runs out of time.

The anime is an excellent adaption of the manga series and worth watching. 

Local Graff Art 3

Today was a good day. It started with me finding a dope skate park covered in graffiti (which will be used for a video location), then I found out Four Walls peaked at number 9 on the UK charts. Finally I finished a verse that's hotter than chicken with Cajun spices.

While scouting for video locations and travelling I've found enough graffiti to make a Local Graff 3 post. If you've been following the blog, you know my criteria for good Graff. If not here is a short synopsis "What I like to see in good pieces of graff work is a strong technique. Meaning if you're doing letters, the letters have good borders, colors and are easy to read. If you're combining text with images the same rules apply accept the image has to be creatively done to compliment whatever the text says." Also check out the posts Local Graff Art, Local Graff 2, and Eye Bombing. 

Below are a mix of murals, bubble letters and art, that I found in various locations. Check out the pics and if you like what you see or know the graff writer drop a comment below.