As promised here’s the second half of the Belin/Smug collaboration wall for the Museum of Public Art in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Yesterday we saw Belin’s take on Smug’s mug and now we have ourselves the finished portrait by Smug of the very expressive Belin. Smug has has this next level talent of creating reflective colors on his photo realistic portraits, as seen with this piece. He brings the real into a super animated surreal world by blending bold colors into features while still holding true to the realism of it.

Tomorrow is the opening of a totally rad group of artists that will be showing at Jonathan Levine Gallery in NYC – Andy Kehoe, Marco Mazzoni, and Souther Salazar. For his “Souvenirs” show at the gallery Souther will be reminiscing of his adventures during the Trading Tortoise project that him and his wife, Monica Choy, did last year. As you may remember the project was a traveling art installation of “trading posts” created by the two, where they exchanged trinkets with locals from each location, hence the show name “souvenirs”; a reflection of the Trading Tortoise as reinterpreted in the imaginary world of Souther’s characters and colors.

Holy shit, this wall is going to be utterly amazing once done! Organized by the Museum of Public Art in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, two spray can beasts, Belin and Smug have been invited to bless the community with their work. With their wild sense of humor the two have decided to paint each other in their hyper realistic styles and so here we have Belin’s completed half with a killer mug of Smug, featuring Belin’s “super hero” look. Check back with us for the portrait of Belin as seen in the eyes of Smug!

The Painted Desert Project is a pretty awesome initiative to get artists to paint vendor stands and abandoned buildings along Highway 89 in northern Arizona, in hopes to draw visitors to the local Navajo community and challenge stereotypes of the people. After his initial billboard painted in the Navajo desert Alexis Diaz of La Pandilla has done a second piece on the side of a vendor stand. This beauty found in Bitter Springs of a conjoined bison and bear, two very important and traditional animals in Navajo culture, bears (no pun intended) an incredible amount of detail of how the industrialization of these environments has affected the people and animals. Check out the details of the piece here… it’s a must!

The Memorie Urbane street art festival is continuing its second edition by inviting more renown street artists to help people “rediscover” the city through contemporary urban art by emphasizing areas of neglect. This wonderful wall has been finished up by Alice Pasquini in Terracina, Italy on the side of the Scuola Elementare Giovanni Paolo II, a totally playful and perfect image for an elementary school. Check out the progress of this adorable wall here.

Photo by Lorenzo Gallitto.

The Painted Desert Project is a pretty awesome initiative to get artists to paint vendor stands and abandoned buildings along Highway 89 in northern Arizona, in hopes to draw visitors to the local Navajo community and challenge stereotypes of the people. The latest to be graced by art is this lonely billboard in Antelope Hills about 25 miles outside of Flagstaff painted by Alexis Diaz of La Pandilla. This incredibly detailed hand-winged raven hybrid is a stunning addition to the sparse environment, looking a bit worn and torn to match the deserts effects. Aside from its visual appeal he painted an animal that is found in Native folklore, with the raven considered a monster bird that eats people in the story of the Navajo way of life. Be sure to follow Alexis’ Instagram for progress shots and his latest ventures.

The Dulwich Street Art Festival in Dulwich, England officially kicks off today with it’s conceptual “Baroque the Streets” theme. Organized by Street Art London they have invited some great international street artists to bless the streets with their own interpretations of paintings that can be found in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, England’s oldest public gallery. England’s own Remi Rough and System are just two of the participating artists who have done this collaborative wall of their modern day version of Rembrandt’s “Girl at a Window.” You can check out details of the piece and more walls from the event here.

Photo by Mary Linley.

How glorious is this collaboration? After his stint in San Francisco Aryz has found his way down to Los Angeles where he painted this beauty with David Choe in two days for LALA Arts. This wall is pure madness with their distinct styles juxtaposed and cut through each other in a bright mess of rough lines and texture. Good luck staring at this cluster-f**k… you’ll need it with the masses of amount of wonderful detail in it.

Tomorrow is the opening of the “LAX/PHL” group show where Thinkspace Gallery will invade Philadelphia with it’s awesome selection of over 40 artists, including a very special installation by Philly’s own NoseGo. The month long invasion will be held at Gallery 309 and is a must see for a taste of what’s to come in the next year at Thinkspace and a promise of awesome work, like this “Amuse-Bouche” painting by Jacub Gagnon, which is a delightful play on tiny animal appetizers laid out in front of the hyena.