The Art Institute of Chicago Public Domain Collection

The Art Institute of Chicago has announced a redesign of its website, which entails the opening of its digital archive to the masses. Now, anyone will be able to download, print, or use its new public domain collection of 52,438 artworks and counting. Read more

The Jungle Refugee Camp in Calais, by Banksy

Based on an update to his website this morning it appears Banksy visited the Jungle Refugee Camp in Calais, France, one of the largest refugee camps in western Europe. The artist left behind four new artworks, most notably a piece featuring Steve Jobs carrying an early Macintosh computer and a sack over his shoulder noting his background as a “son of a migrant from Syria,” (Jobs was adopted, but his biological father was from Syria). In another piece he references Géricault’s famous Raft of Medusa painting, depicting an imperiled group of people on a sinking raft as they hail a modern cruise ship just on the horizon. The artist previously brought attention to the refuge crisis in a piece at Dismaland earlier this year.

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(via Colossal)

Mural City

One of the most beautiful and surprising things about my birthday trip to Montreal was how many murals are around the city. The creativity and craftsmanship that went into each was astonishing. I highly recommend a walk down Saint-Laurent Street to see these works of art in person.

NYC Subway Art Collages

Nearly all subway stations have inlays in the tiled walls for advertising. For over a century, these inlays have been plastered with wheat-paste and posters were rolled on top, only to be shredded off, re-plastered, re-rolled, and re-shredded, again and again. The resulting collage of color in this accidental artwork is often quite compelling.

Over the last decade, whenever I encountered one I really enjoyed, I snapped a photo. Mostly, I just put these on my Flickr “Textures” gallery, or temporarily use it as the wallpaper on my phone. But recently, I’ve been thinking of printing/framing some of them and hanging them in my apartment or giving them to friends as gifts. What do you think? Leave a comment below or drop me a line if you’re interested.

Other [d]online “Art Collage” Posts:
January 24, 2009 — NYC Subway Art Collages
November 5, 2018 — NYC Wall Art Collages

David Zinn, Chalk Street Art

Michigan illustrator David Zinn has brightened the streets of Ann Arbor with his off-the-wall (or technically on-the-wall) chalk drawings since 1987. The artist works with chalk or charcoal to create site-specific artworks that usually incorporate surrounding features like cracks, street infrastructure, or found objects. Over the years he’s developed a regular cast of recurring characters including a bright green monster named Sluggo and a “phlegmatic flying pig” named Philomena.

Many of Zinn’s artworks are available as archival prints, and he recently published a new book titled Temporary Preserves. You can follow his almost daily street chalk adventures on Instagram and Facebook.

(via Colossal)