Man Of Few Words

 . . . or not.
Marcus may or may not be saying anything in his paintings - but he's not saying. By that I mean that he doesn't explain what the words say or do, other than to mention that his works incorporate "graffiti-esque" elements. Either way, I really like what's going on here and the way he treats language in his compositions.

The image is from Craighead Green Galley, but you'll find more images and more info at Markowicz Fine Art.

Beautiful Graffiti

JonOne is another graffiti artist who's came in from the cold to work on canvas and exhibit in galleries.  It's been a real pleasure to follow him; watching as his oeuvre matures. The current Show at Fabien Castanier Gallery is an example of just how beautiful graffiti can be. He still produces pieces with writing and writing gestures and the new abstracts are truly sweet.

This image is from Graffuturism, where you'll find more images of the A Beautiful Madness Exhibition.

Arrested Motion has an even more thorough visual coverage of the show.

From Graffiti To Gallery

If the only thing you know about graffiti is what you see scrawled on walls and trains, you need to hit the Internet and get introduced to this parallel universe in the art world. Many an urban artist has made the cross-over to the gallery and for many, that transition has matured their style and sharpened their skills. HENSE is a young writer from Atlanta and his story is an easy one. Visit his Website, click on Video and get to know him.

And you're sure to enjoy this interview (with studio pics) at PURGE.

This image is from KNOWN Gallery.

ReWriting Graffiti

You've probably heard me say it before; in watching the street art/urban art and graffiti movements, you see all of what's come before in the fine art world, percolating down through and into these Kids works. It's almost as if they're taking classes at night, learning about all the "schools of art" that have shaped our modern-art world. The four works in the above image from his Show at Doze Collective, are by Dale VN Marshall aka "Vermin". If this fascinates you, follow the links to see the three different styles of his work and read about his very fascinating story.

You can start by visiting his Blog. Please take the time to go back though his Blog - there are some amazing works, but they were just too big to put in this post.

 Here's more from Doze and a flickr photostream.

Image from Doze.com.

Pop-Urban

Michael Bevilacqua has it "goin-on" when it comes to capturing the pop-ness of today's urban art. For me, this painting is just a newer version, Rosenquist. Mike can surely paint and some of his very early compositions are even tender, (as evidence Here and Here) but he really hits his stride in this first decade by giving us a clean and clear vision of what main street-urban is, in it's relationship to mainstream fine art.

He's represented by the Gering & Lopez Gallery where you'll find a nice overview of his work.

More images.

Fluid Lines (with meaning)

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Smash 137  -  a fine contemporary Artist who's successfully transitioned his graffigraphy from the street to the gallery; deftly refocusing his abilities. This video from Graffuturism (and still images) gives a pretty good over view of the studio side of his oeuvre. Watching a b&w slideshow (complete with scintillating jazz) at Ruedione shows the strength of his compositions even without color.

I've had a "Smash File" for some time now; collecting links and wondering when I could properly present this artist's work. He is yet another example of how the many, familiar classic styles(schools) of modern and contemporary art are filtering through into street art today. His Diptych on concrete (below), with one panel empty is a familiar Andy Warhol trope. A short video of a Show at Speerstra has other examples that help make my point.

Justifiably proud of his work, his Website has 259 quality images. If that's too daunting for you, try skipping ahead by 3's or change the page number in your browser window. Besides traveling around the world, you'll soon notice that each piece (which is an iteration of his name) is titled and has it's own theme and color palette. The words "practice, practice, practice" come to mind and by-Jove, I think he's "got it". And yet, I much prefer his gallery pieces and hope this is just the beginning.

Asian Calligraphy-Styled Graffiti

This image of works by Tsang Tsou-choi, aka "The King Of Kowloon" is from CNN GO; you can read the Article Here.

More images at Arrested Motion.

Between Graffiti and Calligraphy

"Wishfull thinking"

The proponents of calligraphy and graffiti have been on a collision course for some time now. And by that I mean that there have been rapid advances in style in both camps which are beginning to blur the original descriptions that we still cling to. Although you have a general clue when you hear the words graffiti, street art and urban art, it doesn't begin to specifically convey a meaningful mental image of some of the new hybrid contemporary art that's being made. It's all Fine Art, but the above mentioned words and saying calligraphy and contemporary art still send your mind in quite different directions. It feels like there's a dire need for new and better labels as we make our way through this new hybridized, contemporary art scene.

And all of this makes me wonder where I stand; where I fit in.

The above 14 x 18 studio painting titled "Wishfull thinking" by Dean Aldrich (aka Adeaner), done with acrylics and graphite and colored pencils, seems to fit right in the middle of this whole conversation.
I might not have "street cred", but I certainly march to my own drum.


If you think urban art and street art are just more labels for graffiti, you need to check out the sites below.

Arrested Motion  (surprisingly also carries posts about the likes of Damien Hirst, etc)

Graffuturism ( right away you'll see what I mean about style cross-fertilization and hybridism between genres )

 

Contemporary Urban Calligraphy

Combine calligraphic styling with graffiti attitude and you get Graffigraphy.

This piece, a collaboration by Futura and Crash that was in the Graffiti New York 80's Show in Paris,  has some wonderful flourishes that remind you of oriental paintings of yore. Limiting the palette to red, black and blue gives it some muscle.

Just so you know, Futura had one of his works sell for $56,250 at Auction in December.

Image is from Global14

Confusing Calligraphy

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Continuing in the same vein- interconnected, unreadable script - we have a very talented graffiti artist by the name of sowat1. An interesting oeuvre with several facets that are well worth the time you spend researching him. This image is from his Website and you'll quickly see what I mean as you peruse the images he's provided.
You'll also want to visit the Suben Site to see his works that were in a group show. Scroll down the page to see examples of his homage to Picasso, small works on cardboard, a lighter/open style of writing and his peculiar penchant for taking images of people (from many sources) and blotting out their faces with his unique style of graffiti; very thought provoking.
He also has a fotolog page. Pay attention to the calendar (by year) set-up at the bottom of the page to navigate the site.
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Graffiti Font

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Another artist who uses unreadable script is the well known graffiti artist Marquis Lewis; better known as RETNA. Although his font, based on Latin and Asian calligraphy and Egyptian Hieroglyphics is mysterious and unreadable, he uses it to tell hidden stories for each piece.
This image is from HYPEBEAST's coverage of his shared exhibit at The Don Gallery in Milan. You'll want to see the installation/setup pics from his current Hallelujah World Tour Exhibit.
And check out his large, collaborative wall murals.
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To gain more insight into his life and oeuvre, you can choose from these videos.
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Graffiti Styled Calligraphy

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This video of Raum constructing a painting using words, more than aptly depicts a new category called graffigraphy where the emphasis is on the lettering. For such a short vid, it brings to mind different art movements and main line artists past and present. I like the fact that his execution is so straight-up and straight forward; akin to a construction worker quickly finishing a project.
Be sure to notice the other artwork in the background (starting at 19seconds).
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Unfortunately I could not find anything else about him on the Internet. If you have any leads, please let me know.
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Calligraphic Portrait

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This short video is thoroughly interesting, entertaining and thought provoking, but you'll be totally surprised by the image that's created.
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Whenever my fine art searches wander into the graffiti world, I'm always surprised and amazed to find such skill and raw creativity.
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and . . . We're Back

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During vacation, I had every intention of working on the blog; adding and reviewing some links and changing the overall look a bit. Obviously none of that happened, because I was too busy with my vacation.
Those two weeks were great and now it's time for other things.
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Thanks to all my readers - you are appreciated !
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The above painting, titled "Hi Scotty", is a mixed mediums on Plexiglas that I put in a dumpster in Georgia along with a lot of other paintings that I deemed not having enough merit to bring with me to New York state.
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Trompe l'oeil Graffigraphy

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There is another whole art universe, parallel to the art world we're familiar with and it's filled with graffiti, low brow and street art. And those genre definitions are so encompassing (just like the term abstract) that we're way over due for subset classifications. I really am amazed at how huge, pervasive and entrenched this other "culture" is and admire the way it's growing and maturing. What's happening out there is encouraging and inspiring.
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You'll be forgiven for thinking that the young man is standing in front of a wall sculpture. That's DAIM and that's how he paints. In fact, that's how he paints his name. Visit his Website to be educated and entertained. I personally, really appreciate the dates he's included in the Evolution part of the Wallpaintings Section. There's lots to enjoy here, including videos.  So take your time, snoop around and I'm sure you too will come to appreciate one of the young masters of this other art world.
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Image is from the very interesting site - senseslost.
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Abstract Graffigraphy.

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After making the case that graffiti is just another form of calligraphy, which we'll call graffigraphy, it stands to reason then, that there would also be artists making Abstract, Graffigraphy.
A good case in point would be the work of West One.


I came across his work at the Galerie Magda Danysz quite a while back, but couldn't find out much else about him and wondered if he had just dropped out of the scene. This time 'round though, I came across this short piece in HypeBeast and he's doing just fine. Like many other graffiti artists these days he's learned how to join the system and turn a pretty penny.


You'll find a great slideshow of his work, including installation shots, Here.

When you visit his Website, check out Walls and Trains.

Top image from westonefc.com.
Bottom image from Hypebeast.
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Graffigraphy

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To resume our train of thought about calligraphy and graffiti, I'd like to reiterate that technically, there's no difference between the two. At the moment, and in general, you might say that calligraphy is done by a paid professional indoors using pen and ink or watercolors and that graffiti is done by a non professional, outdoors with spray paint and markers. And, as we all know, that is starting to change. The term Graffiti includes cartooning, wheat pasted images, tagging, lowbrow art and simple defacement, so I'd like to officially introduce the word graffigraphy to identify graffiti that is just writing. The easiest way to make my point is to give you the link to HandSelecta, where you can watch 30 different, short (most are under a minute) videos of graffiti artists writing a word or two - showing their style. Here are two examples from that site.






Even though you're watching graffiti being made, you instantly recognize that this is calligraphy.

So - lets call it Graffigraphy.
Now our conversations on this topic can be clearer and more intelligent since we've identified this part of the genre more precisely
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Ab/Graff

A first look at the canvases of Howard Sherman and we immediately think of Graffiti. His heady mixture of brash strokes, muscular paint-handling and crass titles, sucks us in and then spits us out laughing. Knowing that he was a cartoonist adds some sort of equilibrium to this mix.

I've long suggested that Ab/Ex (abstract expressionism) needs paring down to better identify the many disparate oeuvres within it's shadow; names that would more precisely steer our minds in the right direction. Ab/Graff might also end up being a huge umbrella type label, but it certainly gives a better clue as to the content we'll be experiencing.

The top image is from his Website where you can see many more images of his work from "06 through 2009.
A great review in Art Lies gives us more information on the cartooning aspect in his career.



You'll enjoy the candid studio visit, video above, from chron.com; it really helps to see these large canvases in context.

He's also represented by the McMurtrey Gallery.

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Graffiti IS Calligraphy

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Even though we tend to associate graffiti with vandalism, the truth is that it's just an avantgarde and usually outdoor form of calligraphy. One dictionary describes calligraphy as "fancy penmanship, esp. highly decorative handwriting, . . . " So you could say that using the term CALLIGRAFFITI is really just a bit redundant. I think that there are those who want to take the familiar formalism of what we recognize as calligraphy and give it some street-cred by including drips and brashness. At least that's how I felt about the work of "Shoe" from the last post. There are others though, who might be trying to define a sub-genre. . .

Of all the results from my Image Searches, my favorite work was that of Merrill Shatzman, below(titled Calligraffiti#2 - a woodcut on paper). You'll find this and a dozen other images of her work at Adam Cave Fine Art.



This new term certainly has it's supporters.

The image below is from a Post on Brushsong about the Calligraffiti: Writing in Contemporary Chinese and Latino Art, Show at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena.

Others still, are convinced that their work straddles both worlds and regardless of our opinions, these artists have embraced this description for their oeuvre and consequently any argument becomes a mute point.

The image below from Madny Al Bakry's Website, rounds out our little sampling which I hope has piqued your interest to investigate further.

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Top image is by A1one from Blind Angle.
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Graffiti Is Calligraphy

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Mention the word graffiti and an image comes to mind of spray painted words on city walls, subways, bridges and abandoned buildings. I won't take the time to argue about the root meanings of the words graffiti and calligraphy, but in reality the distinctions are rather blurry. Actually, graffiti is just another form of calligraphy, no matter where it's practiced and the works of JONONE help us to see the similarity, or transition between the two.
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Nowadays, a lot of graffiti artists are coming in from the cold and enjoying successful exhibits in galleries. Just as eastern and Asian calligraphy influenced high art many years ago, graffiti too has made tremendous inroads into the oeuvres of famous and respected artists the world over. Little by little we've come to appreciate the genre's place in art history and started to embrace some of these newly socialized taggers.
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JONONE (technically Jon One - but I pronounce it like I see it) is one such artist whose made the transition from tagger to exhibitor. The above image is from, "Urban Calligrapy" in 2005 at the Gallery Speerstra, where he's exhibited every year since 2002


He's represented by Galerie Magda Danysz where you'll find a slideshow of his work and more.

The top image is from star and drama.

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