Commissioned by Oakland Museum of California, an awesome video with a glimpse of Barry’s studio and a time lapse of the installation at the museum. It’s great to see his studio, all the order/disorder and to see the process and head scratching involved in putting one of his large installations together.

If you are in LA, you’ve probably seen the many street banners of Barry McGee’s work advertising an exhibition at The Hammer. Currently on view is Outside The Box, an exhibtion with master print maker, Jacob Samuel. One might wonder, why is Barry McGee’s work on the banners? From the Hammer website,

Working primarily in series in intaglio mediums such as etching, drypoint, and aquatint, Samuel has invited artists to create prints in his Santa Monica studio but has also traveled internationally to collaborate with artists in their own studios. The number of prints included in each portfolio range from 6 to 36, with more than 550 individual prints included in the 43 portfolios.

Barry McGee is one of the artists that Samuel has collaborated with in a series of new prints, there is a video where you can see the process and collaboration between Samuel and many of the artists.

Pothole: A deep natural underground cavity formed by the erosion of rock, esp. by the action of water. There’s nothing holy about potholes. Currently in his final year at University of Brighton, Pete Dungey, takes action to beautify such imperfections. Take a gander!

Walking Men 99 is a 500-foot-long public art installation by New York-based Israeli artist Maya Barkai. The project features 99 international variations of the ubiquitous traffic light symbol in a life-size installation that wraps around a construction site at 99 Church Street. She elaborates on her website, “The ‘walking man’ is an international celebrity and one of our most recognizable figures. Standardized yet diverse, they commonly show us the safe way of travel.” Diverse indeed–these walking men, placed next to each other in a life-sized photo-collage, come in various colors, types of lighting, styles, and states of undress.

Image courtesy of Maya Barkai

The project came to life through a collaboration with Barkai and amateur photographers from around the world.

Image courtesy of Maya Barkai

I’m particularly curious about the cultural background behind each country’s walking-man icon and the decisions that went into each design. Perhaps a book should be made… but until then, fellow pedestrians can view the installation through January 15th, 2011 and infer for themselves!