Stencil Graffiti --- help, dissertation!

[suga]

Hi everyone!

im fairly new to this forum, so i thought id post my question as im needin a bit of help!!!

im currently at uni studying graphic design final year, and am preparing for my dissertation.. i know a dissertation is all about doing something that really interests you. and iv chosen to look at graffiti/stencil graffiti and the development of it through the past few decades, and how to some people its still not considered a form of art. i like the controversial side to things such as this topic.

iv begun all my research, but was wondering, does anyone here know any good resources i can maybe look at...? books, magazines, or websites of anyone i can contact directly. or more importantly, any ehibitions anyone may know of that any graffiti artists are currently participating in.

id be most grateful!
Suga

[morea]

thread moved to the general section.

[vtwin_gary]

i once spray painted my name on a bridge.

[uncle carbunkle]

www.banksy.co.uk
www.stencilgraffiti.com
www.google.com

[LeftBrain Artist]

I see exhibitions all the time. The freight trains going between Milwaukee and Chicago. Talk about a captive audience, though.

[romancing_layouts]

I have completed five stencil and freehand pieces on canvas using krylon spray cans. One of the five sold within a week for $250 so I must be doing something right.
I do not have extended experience with the media but am an avid fan and was following trends and keeping up with the new and upcoming in Vancouver, BC.

I love the possibilities of smooth and straight or raw, spotted lines and textures possible with spray as well as the whole process from filling the air with pungent toxins to knowing that each stroke counts(more so than with a brush), there really is no allowance to error, on canvas anyway, every drop is quite visible.

Spray is a wonderful form of expression but it has its time and place. If used constructively, it can bring new life to old buildings; brighten pits of dispair along tracks and ghettos.
This said, many people abuse and misuse the paint to deface and soil already great works of architecture and automotive design.

All I can say to new artist who choose the can; practice, plan and be selective of where. There's tons of crap out there and we really need not add more and further the lack of respect for this art form.
I have been painting with brushes for more than ten years, completed many murals in public places and have yet to spray a walls.

I am by no means an expert or pro but feel free to ask me anything I might know.

Hope this helps.

links
http://www.graffiti.org/vanc/vancouver_35.html
http://www.vandalwatch.citysoup.ca/Graffiti/default.htm
http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=4537
http://png.shadowpuppet.net/bbs/galIndex.php?s=0&limit=20&img=1536

[d... c....]

stencilrevolution.com

[Mitch Wood]

Also look at the infinity thread about the mystery infinity sign that is circulating London.

Is mainstream marketing now communicating more effeciently to a nation via this style of art/design?