Thrashbird is a

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

–based

street artist A street artist is a person who makes art in public places. Street artists include portrait artists, caricaturists, graffiti artists, muralists and people making crafts. Street artists can also refer to street performers such as musicians, acr ...

of unverified identity known for his billboard takeovers, stencils and

wheatpaste Wheatpaste (also known as flour and water paste, flour paste, or simply paste) is a gel or liquid adhesive made from wheat flour or starch and water. It has been used since antiquity for various arts and crafts such as bookbinding, ''Decoupage, ...

s. His

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant gr ...

and subversive content combine humor with social observations to highlight issues of media obsession, selfie culture and reliance on technology. In 2016, he was listed on

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

's radio broadcast as being one of the most exciting contemporary street artists to watch.

Urban projects and the clone

Thrashbird is known for putting his work in urban areas where his message can reach a large target audience. The artist became known for his image of the texting clone, a silhouette of a slender figure in a hoodie, glued to his phone and hunched to read the screen. When Blackberry Phones were popular, Thrashbird said that he noticed his friends were more interested in their phones than in the world around them. When the

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

was released, according to Thrashbird this trend got worse, inspiring him to respond through his art.

Desert projects

More recently, Thrashbird has expanded his city practice to the desert, incorporating the natural landscape and its abandoned buildings.

Public activism and auctions

Awareness and activism are central themes in Thrashbird's work and the artist has presented in several symposia to talk about them. In 2016 he was a featured guest at the

LA Art Show The LA Art Show (Los Angeles Art Show) is an international encyclopedic art exhibition which was originally conceived by the Fine Art Dealers Association (FADA). The show annually takes place in Los Angeles, typically in January/February, and is no ...

speaking on a panel on the

Commercialization Commercialisation or commercialization is the process of introducing a new product or production method into commerce—making it available on the market. The term often connotes especially entry into the mass market (as opposed to entry into e ...

of Street Art. His work has been included in street art auctions, including the 2016 Street Art and Contemporary Art sale at

Julien's Auctions Julien's Auctions is a privately held auction house based in Beverly Hills, California founded in 2003 by Darren Julien and co-owned with Martin Nolan. They specialize in auctions of film memorabilia, music memorabilia, sports memorabilia, Fashio ...

alongside works by

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive ep ...

Shepard Fairey Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970) is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989, he designed the " Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker campa ...

and Mr. Brainwash.

References

External links

STREET ART AS A SIGN OF PROTEST AND DISSENT -THRASHBIRD IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thrashbird Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American street artists Artists from Los Angeles