A nice little insight into 5 street artists favourite street artists from The Guardian featuring Faile, Swoon, Aiko, Sickboy and Blek Le Rat.
Here's Faile on Bäst.
"We first came across Bäst's work on the streets of Manhattan in 1998. There was something so alive about his art, and the fact that he worked in a variety of media, that really set it apart. Bäst's combinations and appropriation of pop culture were refreshing and raw. Older pieces such as Molotov Dwarf – a man with the head of a Disney dwarf, holding a molotov cocktail – pre-dated Banksy's Flower Thrower and instilled the same kind of emotional contrast through image-pairing. He has an ability to deconstruct mass media in a way that is dirty and violent, yet beautiful and sincere.
His studio work has evolved in an equally compelling direction. Botulism, at London's Lazarides Gallery last year, featured collages of images and advertising, giving the impression of an ever-expanding, media-driven bacteria. The relationship between street and studio is important: Bäst is just as energetic at 2am in an alleyway as he is on the wall of a gallery".
Faile is a New York street art collective, formed in 1999.
Check out the whole article on the Guardian's webiste
