A few days ago I remarked how strange it is that the same artists that are showing some beautiful work in local galleries like Ghettogloss are also throwing their stuff up around town on buildings, construction sites and walls. Gallery = thousands of dollars. Streets = anger of property owners and city and county employees trying to destroy it as fast as it goes up.

Ryan Graeff and Sharktoof have work up right now at Ghettogloss on Glendale in Silver Lake. Click here to see it. All around town though you can find their stuff along the 101, in Echo Park, Hollywood and beyond. More after the jump.

MBW is in the same boat. His art has been a permanent fixture along Melrose for years now, with his solo art show opening next week at the CBS building in Hollywood.

Photos by Mark Mauer

Mr Brainwash is on fire. His solo art show opens in just two weeks, and he's been pasting and painting his icons all over LA.

So which gallery is he showing at? None. Try the recently abandoned CBS TV studio in Hollywood on Sunset Blvd. MBW has been holed up there for weeks preparing for the show, which opens June 18. Here's just a small sample of some of the pieces up around town...

Check his website for details and updates at www.artshow2008.com. He will also be giving away 200 signed prints to people who attend. That's a hell of a lot better than the usual plastic glass of Charles Shaw.

This Billie Holiday painting off the north side of Melrose east of Fairfax is excellent. More after the jump.

All photos by Mark Mauer

Down a little driveway alley next to Brooklyn Projects in Echo Park is an excellent collaborative piece between OBEY and SABER. Enjoy:

All photos by Mark Mauer. More after the jump.

Photo by Shelley Leopold. Spotted on LaBrea over the weekend - Iron Man posters retooled. If there was any pro-Hillary or McCain street art we'd post that too, but darn if we haven't seen any.

While we're at it, here's the big Shepard Fairey Hope piece that was on the wall of his gallery and studio in Echo Park on Sunset. It's since been replaced with the Blek Le Rat poster - though that too might be gone by now.

These were seen recently in the area of Melrose and LaBrea near Gallery1988, PInk's and Babeland.

"Death to the Normals" and then a headless chicken. Weird. On the left side of the box though (what are these gray things called? Does anyone know?) is one of MBW's Martin Luther King posters covered here and here. The fist is for CompoundRadio which has some decent imagery on their website. They seem to be a non-local internet radio station.

Then across on the south side of Melrose Ave. is another Tastes like Gold! work.

Not as dense and detailed as some others we've seen, but I'm still digging the bat heads. And after all, this spot is probably being watched 24/7, so who knows how long he had to create it.

All photos by Mark Mauer. More after the jump.

Brand new MBW stuff up in remembrance of the 40th anniversary of MLK's assassination.* Strong thanks to the artist for marking the day. And of course to the memory of Martin Luther King himself.

These are in Echo Park on Sunset, but I'm guessing they are all over the place.

All photos by Mark Mauer - lurker (@) laweekly.com
NOTE: These photos were completely painted over at some point Saturday, the day after the photos were taken. More here.

Some older ones,some new ones. There's a huge Britney/Madonna piece up that's getting a lot of talk, but I haven't been able to drive down there yet this week. Send a snap if you have one.

All photos by Mark Mauer. More after the jump.

Pasted on a box coming off the 101 offramp into Echo Park is this bi-lingual manifesto.

There's something very honest in the frustration voiced here: An effort to strip down one's life to the barest essentials and to escape the constant bombardment of the media, consumerism, and measuring your worth against that of your neighbor.

Alas, the bottom in English got cut off, because of moving cars and a traffic light, so I'm not sure what the question at the end says. Translation anyone?

Some shots here of various Melrose paste-ups, many by MBW. The Ray Charles and Britney ones are gone by now.

Above and below in Silver Lake on Sunset Blvd.

Below, found in West Hollywood on Santa Monica Blvd.