A Love Letter for You is literally a love letter painted on the walls facing the a parking lot, park or elevated transit system. 40 Philadelphia-based and international artists painted walls in August and the letters have been on view for one and all to see since Labor Day. The project encompasses 50 painted walls between 63rd and 45th street on Market Street. Additionally, a documentary film with scripted elements, as well as a sign school for area youth, free signage for businesses, and 2 books will accompany the overall project.

One of the books is planned as a small paperback that will be distributed to area businesses free of charge. The other book is described as a larger hardcover book that will document not only the artwork, but the neighborhood and the inspirations of the Love Letter Project. Love Letter is an unprecedented public art project by Steve Powers and The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. It is funded by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative.

Learn Something Everyday is an ongoing, self initiated project from Young. Each day a trivial fact is illustrated with a simple and humorous drawing. Readers are also welcomed to submit their own facts to the site. Personal favourites include: “Picasso’s first word was piz, a shortened word for pencil in Spanish”, and “the Lion used in the MGM logo killed its trainer the day after it was filmed”. A few other gems are displayed below. Young are a design studio based in Manchester, UK, and you can check out more of their work by reviewing their portfolio.

Via Fecal Face: Let’s talk about clowns. I am drawn to your work for a number of reasons, but the first thing I wonder is how you decide on your content and what is said content’s significance to you? “I don’t really know the answer to that. I know that I seem to be drawn to sad characters, the forlorn reject. Something about being on the outside. The outcast. But I also am intrigued by the super confident fool. He too is a reject. I’m not really interested in what’s accepted by people. I like the things, places and characters that have been forsaken. On both sides of the field. The happy genius fool and the pathetic misfit. I guess I like drama.”

Why did you decide you want make art? “My mom, aunt, uncle, everyone in my small family is a painter, or an artist of some kind. So I was painting my whole life, out doing landscape paintings around the beach where I grew up when I was 14-ish. Thus, painting was kind of not what I wanted to do for a while when I went to school, that’s why I went to film school. Also the life as a painter just seemed a little too serious for me, but I’ve managed to make it what I want it to be for myself, I think. I have a healthy balance going on right now, hopefully. Also, my dad’s an architect, that’s probably where the animation bug came from — making little worlds that you create and be supreme leader in, except mine are mini and made from wood and clay. I have always been drawn to fantasy worlds, theatrical worlds, hand-made worlds. This world doesn’t always hold my attention for very long. But I also love animators and comedians. That’s probably another reason I was drawn to animation.”

SWINDLE Magazine recently scored an amazing interview, where the one and only Shepard Fairey sat down with the legendary Banksy. On the topic of his anonymity, Bansky responded: “I have no interest in ever coming out. I figure there are enough self-opinionated assholes trying to get their ugly little faces in front of you as it is. You ask a lot of kids today what they want to be when they grow up, and they say, “I want to be famous.” You ask them for what reason and they don’t know or care. I think Andy Warhol got it wrong: in the future, so many people are going to become famous that one day everybody will end up being anonymous for 15 minutes. I’m just trying to make the pictures look good; I’m not into trying to make myself look good. I’m not into fashion. The pictures generally look better than I do when we’re out on the street together. Plus, I obviously have issues with the cops. And besides, it’s a pretty safe bet that the reality of me would be a crushing disappointment to a couple of 15-year-old kids out there.”

Banksy was later asked if he had a favorite piece of non-traditional art, that wasn’t hanging in a museum. He responded as follows: “The most perfect piece of art I saw in recent times was during an anarchist demonstration in London a couple of years ago. Someone cut a strip of turf from the grass in front of Big Ben and put it on the head of the statue of Winston Churchill. Later, the demo turned into a riot, and photos of Winston with a grass Mohican were on the cover of every single British newspaper the next day. It was the most amazing bit of vandalism, because it was the perfect logo for this eco-punk movement that was trying to reclaim the streets, bring an end to global capitalism, and defend the right to sit in a park all day getting wasted on discount lager.”

‘Art of the Arcade‘ is Nick Dart’s online collection of design and illustration work that took place in the golden era of arcade gaming. The idea behind the site is to try and give exposure to the designers that helped create a billion dollar industry and a new social past time. At present, there’s a modest collection of sketches, ads, illustrations and packaging and logo designs which Nick is adding to on a regular basis. He also hopes to publish interviews with original designers and art directors from Atari in the near future.

Nate Page’s art is really turning some heads. Well, actually, his work is turning pages. By slicing and dicing magazines, Nate’s created three dimensional, topographical pieces that implode the Photoshopped faces of cover models. Regarding his work, Nate says: “I investigate the confrontations between materiality and images, occupied space and presence, potentiality and reality. I use methods of drawing and assemblage to set new rules to my physical surroundings and to alter found objects across my daily path. My immediate environment is inspiration and material. I enjoy transforming an image to become more physical and an object to be more image-like. Personal memories and consumer culture angst inform the works content while generating a visceral dialog between the banality and spectacular of the everyday.” The defacing adds cartoon and comedic elements to the otherwise serious looking personalities.

Via Fecal Face: Matt Furie hails from Ohio, lives in San Francisco, creates the comic book “Boy’s Club”, has shown around the globe. He performs magic, has pet rats, loves Hooters, and knows the best places to swim in San Francisco. When asked to describe his process, Matt responded: “I think about stuff, do some sketches, then draw it! (no Photo Shop or illustrator required!) Often I work in a series. At the moment I’m working on a show called “Monster Family”. Staying true to the title of the show, I’m drawing pictures of monsters with their families. For references I use library books and google image search. sometimes i just draw out of my head. It’s usually a combination.”

Matt was also asked how he would describe his work to a stranger. His response: “I would say “It’s like colored pencil drawings of like monsters and animals and shit” and they would be like “Oh, cool man. You should do a drawing of _________!” and I would say “That would be cool” (not). Then I never draw what the stranger tells me because I have enough crap to draw! Gimme a break!” For more funny and insightful commentary, check out the full interview.