My buddy over at photosophic captured some wonderful shots of what could be Banksy stencils right here in San Francisco. I really hope this isn’t a hoax as the appearance of his art in our city is a very important phenomenon. Banksy is without a doubt one of the more controversial and thought-provoking artist to have emerged in quite some time. In classic Banksy fashion, his work has been spotted around San Francisco since Wednesday without anyone catching a glimpse of him doing it.

I consider myself lucky to be getting paid to do what I really enjoy doing for a living. After all, that is one of the reasons why we envy pro athletes and movie starts. Although as designers we’re not in that circle making mega millions, we fall into a really lucky space to make our ends meet all the while exploring our creative endeavors. Many people in the world however, aren’t as lucky which is why we need more movements like Kismot. Kismot is a site that no only explores art in more remote places with less access to artistic resources like say, a simple paintbrush or paper, but exposes said artists via interviews, videos and images of their art. What i like most about Kismot is the simple idea that you dont have to donate your money to sponsor these artists the way you would sponsor a child in a third world country. Kismot provides to these artist by selling you their art directly—on a tee shirt of your very own! That’s right, Kismot gives back a percentage to the artist while exposing their art to a premium audience. Check them out for yourself: Kismot

Porteños are known to be very outspoken by nature, which is why Buenos Aires has been an epicenter for bohemian culture. As one wanders the streets of the city ignoring the made-for-tourism Tango dancers, you can see the walls covered in graffiti. Some of these are rants against the political clout, and others very skillfully done stencils of Maradona and other pop culture icons. One would get a sense that these guerilla style stencil graphics were made by Shepard Fairey or Banksy himself. The modern urban expression is strong in Buenos Aires and I appreciate it. However, there is another art form that exploded in the city over a century ago and it still very prevalent throughout Buenos Aires. Known as the “Filete” or “Fileteado,” this style of Rioplatense art form is more or less a type of hand-painted, blackletter signage and decoration (done by artisans known as fileteadores).