Parisian street artist Blek le Rat hit Subliminal Projects for his first U.S. art show this weekend and although it's been mentioned twice already on LAist, seeing Shepard Fairey's new space in action with the public inside really demonstrated Echo Park's newest arrival in a fascinating light. A line longer than the Short Stop formed outside the Gallery Saturday night as art patrons danced, drank wine and dished out conversation inside about art, Obama and how great it is that the neighborhood now has this institution. Take a look, below, at the new space that shares with Fairey's Studio Number One and Obey (and take note of the old-school brick flooring). The show ends May 2nd followed by Dee Dee Cheriel and Louise Bonnet on May 17th. more ›

Before Banksy and Shepard Fairey there was Blek le Rat. The French street artist is quite possibly the first person to use stencils for graffiti, a style he pioneered to veer away from the NY city tags he had witnessed. His first stencils of life sized rats invaded the streets of Paris in the early 80's. From there he moved to stencils of popular icons of culture and some self portraits. To say he is a mayor influence on current street artists is an understatement. more ›

Earlier this year, Shepard Fairey's design agency, Studio Number One, his company Obey Giant Art Inc. and his gallery co-owned with his wife, Subliminal Projects, moved operations into Echo Park on Sunset Blvd. (see the photos of them putting up huge Obama posters here). This Saturday, the new space's first exhibition features Parisian stencil and street art pioneer, Blek le Rat, who is an influence on street art favorite -- Banksy. more ›

After discovering a massive Shepard Fairey-designed Obama print off Sunset yesterday, we went hunting for the background story, which led straight to the artist himself. more ›

As soon as we arrived at the Obey sale on Saturday in Santa Ana I told my friend, "fuck this, I'm out." The line was longer than anything I'd seen outside Magic Mountain. All you could see were high school and college-aged kids in hoodies and tapered jeans messaging their friends and they were probably saying the same thing I was saying, "fuck this." But my friend was determined. She had Christmas shopping to... more ›

Black Friday has come and gone but there's one more killer sale that you shouldn't miss - the Obey Sale. For the last few years we have been lucky enough to learn about the sale, this year held in a warehouse The OC, and today we are very happy to share the dates with you. When: Friday, December 7th from 9a - 7p & Saturday, December 8th from 9a - 5p Where: 3500 West... more ›

Billy Corgan got the band back together, sorta, and the Smashing Pumpkins are really going to have a new record this summer. James Iha probably won't be on it, and our girlfriend D'arcy or our other girlfriend Melissa Auf der Maur will probably also be replaced, but Billy and Jimmy Chamberlin didn't do us wrong on Zwan, and that rhymes with bring it on. LA street art pioneer and Obey founder Shepard Fairey's official... more ›

Dear LAist, You seem to know it all. I just got paid today and I looked at my paystub after almost a full year I racked up close to $20,000 in taxes. Where does all that cash go? - Pissed Well, Pissed, funny you should ask. Just yesterday a fellow named Michael Rozeff broke it down on the Lew Rockwell website. If you pay $20k in taxes you're making a little more than the... more ›

Hollywood Blvd. always has something interesting to look at. Thank you Kung Pau Kitty for your sweet help wanted sign. The replacement of the Tinkerbell mural on La Brea near Melrose is pretty sweet. Obey has a Posse.... more ›