Concrete to Canvas

NYC | AUSTIN

Cover Photo © Alexandre Green; Rome 2015; Blek le Rat

Cey Adams / Charlie Ahearn / Aiiroh / Banksy / JeanMichel Basquiat / Bill Barminski / Mr. Brainwash / Blek le Rat / Henry Chalfant / Richard Corman / DabsMyla / Faile / Richard Hambleton / Keith Haring / Conor Harrington / JonOne / KAWS / Eduardo Kobra / Kool Koor / Barry McGee / OSGEMEOS / Cleon Peterson / PhoebeNewYork / Lady Pink / Rammellzee / RETNA / RISK / Wiley Ross / Schoony / Mila Sketch / Swoon / Matthew Trujillo / Peter Tunney / Vhils

November 6 - January 2 | Austin + NYC

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INDEX FOREWORD ......................................................................................................... 1 - 4 FEATURED ARTISTS ............................................................................................5 - 6 CEY ADAMS........................................................................................................... 7 - 8 CHARLIE AHEARN................................................................................................ 9 - 10 BANKSY.................................................................................................................. 11 - 12 JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT................................................................................... 13 - 14 BILL BARMINSKI.................................................................................................. 15 - 16 MR. BRAINWASH................................................................................................. 17 - 20 BLEK LE RAT......................................................................................................... 21 - 22 HENRY CHALFANT.............................................................................................. 23 - 24 RICHARD CORMAN............................................................................................ 25 - 26 DABSMYLA........................................................................................................... 27 - 28 FAILE...................................................................................................................... 29 - 30 RICHARD HAMBLETON...................................................................................... 31 - 34 KEITH HARING......................................................................................................35 - 36 CONOR HARRINGTON....................................................................................... 37 - 38 JONONE................................................................................................................. 39 - 40 KAWS...................................................................................................................... 41 - 42 KOBRA....................................................................................................................43 - 44 KOOL KOOR......................................................................................................... 45 - 46

BARRY MCGEE..................................................................................................... 47 - 48 OSGEMEOS...........................................................................................................49 - 50 CLEON PETERSON.............................................................................................. 51 - 52 PHOEBENEWYORK............................................................................................. 53 - 54 LADY PINK............................................................................................................. 55 - 56 RAMMELLZEE....................................................................................................... 57 - 58 RETNA.................................................................................................................... 59 - 62 RISK.........................................................................................................................63 - 64 WILEY ROSS.......................................................................................................... 65 - 66 SCHOONY............................................................................................................. 67 - 68 MILA SKETCH....................................................................................................... 69 - 70 SWOON................................................................................................................. 71 - 72 MATTHEW TRUJILLO........................................................................................... 73 - 74 PETER TUNNEY.................................................................................................... 75 - 76 VHILS...................................................................................................................... 77 - 78

*Additional works available by: Cey Adams; Banksy; Bill Barminski; Mr. Brainwash; Blek le Rat; Richard Corman; DabsMyla; FAILE; Richard Hambleton; Conor Harrington; KAWS; Cleon Peterson; PhoebeNewYork; Lady Pink; Rammellzee; RISK; Schoony; Mila Sketch; Swoon; Matthew Trujillo; Peter Tunney; and Vhils

Foreword

West Chelsea Contemporary is proud to present Concrete to Canvas, the gallery’s most comprehensive and large-scale exhibition of Graffiti and Street Art to date. In celebration of the movements’ contributions to the greater art world at large and of their individual achievements, West Chelsea Contemporary will show selections from its 700-piece collection in concurrent exhibitions at the flagship space in Austin, TX, and the newly opened gallery in New York, NY. Contemporary street art exists in two specific and distinct spaces: traditional graffiti, words, names, tags and slogans painted on any material that affords a moment’s visibility; and street art, a more conceptual practice by which the physical world is altered by an artist whose objective is to create a piece that is both complementary to its environment and inextricable from it. The two, while separated primarily by media and intent, are united by their common exhibition space: the street. Unlike any other artistic movement, Graffiti and Street Art afford both their artists and their viewers accessibility never before experienced.

Graffiti and Street Art’s roots reach much deeper into history than immediately obvious: paintings of deer hunts on the walls of caves in France and Spain are, in fact, graffiti’s earliest iteration; scratched into the sides of public baths in Pompeii are phrases not far removed from what might be found on a dive bar in the Lower East Side; deep in Rome’s belly, in the catacombs, are snatches of prayers and symbols left by those fleeing persecution in the fourth century.

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At its most fundamental and elementary levels, graffiti is the single most accessible means by which to leave one’s mark. Graffiti was born on the streets of New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Its earliest practitioners were roving bands of “writers” who competed within their ranks and with rival groups to reach ever greater heights of proliferation, notoriety, and visibility. Stretching its legs, graffiti traveled the city over from Queens to Brooklyn, Manhattan to the Bronx. Crews of writers developed “tags”–small, easily identifiable, and quickly replicate-able names or signatures– and left them anywhere and everywhere: on subway trains, phone booths, and even an elephantat the Philadelphia Zoo. These tags served a dual purpose as an easy tool for transmission and as a nomme de guerre, an assumed name, that protected the writer from graffiti’s technical illegality. No small part of graffiti’s popularity stemmed from the fact that it was then, and is still, illegal to practice.

Therefore, the better an artist can conceal their identity using a tag, the harder to hold them accountable for their trespass.

Out of necessity, graffiti evolved rapidly. This evolution saw artists graduating from paint pens and permanent markers and into the media, which would aid, in part, in the fracturing of the movement from the singular goal of competition between writers into an artistic practice for public consumption. Taggers began to utilize spray paint as a means to create grander pieces with greater staying power, while still more artists departed from these concepts entirely. Street art’s first practitioners took a more deliberate approach to leaving artwork outdoors.

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Artists like Blek le Rat conceived of pieces in their studios and made stencils of imagery so that in large part, the work was whole and finished before it even found its way to the street. Later street artists would use media varying as wildly as mosaic tiles and shards of mirror, to moss and hand-soldered metalwork.

Subsequently, subject matter opened up and embraced nearly every aspect of contemporary life from politics to pop culture. What once aspired only to best the next writer matured into a vehicle for political satire, activism, and protest. Keith Haring made artwork that protested Apartheid in South Africa and brought awareness to the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. Shepard Fairey created the most enduring and recognizable image of an American president in his “HOPE” campaign for Barack Obama since Emanuel Leutze painted George Washington crossing the Delaware (1851). Anonymous British street artist Banksy has made a name for himself traveling the world over from the Occupied Palestinian Territory to London and Washington, D.C. skewering public figures of every stripe in his carefully stenciled works.

Keith Haring was among the first to champion accessibility as the reasoning for his practice. He fervently believed that “the public has a right to art,” so he left armies of glowing babies, barking dogs, and landing UFOs anywhere the public might encounter them. Richard Hambleton, a contemporary of Haring’s, was a masterful manipulator of his environment, using dark alleyways and abandoned corners to heighten the impact of his menacing ‘Shadowmen’.

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These ‘Shadowmen’ were roughly rendered, life-sized figures made of drips and slashes of black paint, meant to provoke a visceral reaction that Hambleton hoped would shock his viewers out of the stupor of the banal nine-to-five grind. As the discipline grows more artists have adopted street art and graffiti’s most integral tenets.

Today, pieces by RETNA refer both to graffiti’s earliest form–the tag–and the calligraphic traditions of Arabic, Japanese, and Hebrew alphabets. The resultant works are simultaneously familiar and foreign, yet universally “legible” as objects of beauty.

Like Pop Art before them, Graffiti and Street Art have captured the imaginations of millions as they transcend art and move into sectors like design, marketing, film, and music. These movements lie in those minds like so many seeds germinating new media and concepts current artists could never begin to conceive of. The implication of a movement so tied to accessibility is that anyone may practice it. Anyone may dream it. Anyone may love it. Anyone may revolutionize it.

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Featured Artists

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Cey Adams

DabsMyla

Charlie Ahearn

FAILE

Banksy

Richard Hambleton

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Keith Haring

Bill Barminksi

Conor Harrington

Mr. Brainwash

JonOne

Blek le Rat

KAWS

Henry Chalfant

Eduardo Kobra

Richard Corman

Kool Koor

Barry McGee

Schoony

OSGEMEOS

Mila Sketch

Cleon Peterson

Swoon

PhoebeNewYork

Matthew Trujillo

Lady Pink

Peter Tunney

Rammellzee

Vhils

RETNA

RISK

Wiley Ross

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Adams, Cey American, b.1962

New York City native Cey Adams emerged from the downtown graffiti movement to exhibit alongside fellow artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. He appeared in the historic 1982 PBS documentary Style Wars which tracks subway graffiti in New York. Cey’s work explores the relationship between transformation and discovery focusing on themes ranging from pop culture to race and gender relations. His practice involves dismantling various imagery and paper elements to build multiple layers of color, texture, shadow, and light. Cey draws inspiration from 60’s pop art, sign painting, comic books, and popular culture. As the Creative Director of hip hop mogul Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Recordings, he co-founded the Drawing Board, the label’s inhouse visual design firm, where he created visual identities, album covers, logos, and advertising campaigns for Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., and Jay-Z. He exhibits, lectures and teaches art workshops at institutions including: MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, Walker Art Center, and MoCA Los Angeles.

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Cey Adams All American (Black Flag No. 4), 2016 Mixed media on wood panel 96 x 192 in

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Ahearn, Charlie American, b.1951

Artist and filmmaker Charlie Ahearn is best known for documenting street culture and the rise of hip hop in 1970s New York City. Through photography, film, and slideshows, Ahearn captures the excitement and raw energy that infused the movement. After moving to New York City to attend the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Studio Program, Ahearn became part of the artists’ group Colab (Collaborative Projects), a multidisciplinary artist collective working to expand the traditional art world. It was at CoLab’s art show -- The Times Square Show -- featuring works by Basquiat, Scharf, and Haring, that Ahearn was approached by graffiti artist Fab 5 Freddy to make a film about hip-hop and graffiti culture.

Ahearn wrote, directed, and produced the iconic featurelength film Wild Style (1983), which is recognized as the first and most beloved movie in the hip-hop industry. Wild Style featured prominent hip-hop music, break dance, and graffiti figures including Futura and Rammellzee.

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Charlie Ahearn RAMMELLZEE in The Battle Station, 2019 Silkscreen and hand painting on canvas 22 x 20 in

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BANKSY British

Whether plastering cities with his trademark parachuting rat, painting imagined openings in the West Bank barrier in Israel, or stenciling “We’re bored of fish” above a penguins’ zoo enclosure, Banksy creates street art with an irreverent wit and an international reputation that precedes his anonymous identity. “TV has made going to the theatre seem pointless, photography has pretty much killed painting,” he says, “but graffiti has remained gloriously unspoilt by progress.” Banksy gained his notoriety through a range of urban interventions, from modifying street signs and printing his own currency to illegally hanging his own works in institutions such as the Louvre and the Museum of Modern Art. Most often using spray paint and stencils, Banksy has crafted a signature, immediately identifiable graphic style—and a recurring cast of cops, soldiers, children, and celebrities—through which he critically examines contemporary issues of consumerism, political authority, terrorism, and the status of art and its display

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available to view in person.

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BASQUIAT, Jean-Michel American, 1960 - 1988

A poet, musician, and graffiti prodigy in late-1970s New York, Jean-Michel Basquiat had honed his signature painting style of obsessive scribbling, elusive symbols, and mask-and-skull imagery by the time he was 20. “I don’t think about art while I work,” he once said. “I think about life.” Basquiat drew his subjects from his own Caribbean heritage—his father was Haitian and his mother of Puerto Rican descent—and a convergence of Black, African, and Aztec cultural histories with Classical themes and contemporary heroes like athletes and musicians. Often associated with Neo-expressionism, Basquiat received massive acclaim in only a few short years, showing alongside artists like Julian Schnabel, David Salle, and Francesco Clemente. In 1983, he met Andy Warhol, who would come to be a mentor and idol. The two collaborated on a series of paintings before Warhol’s death in 1987, followed

by Basquiat’s own untimely passing a year later.

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After Jean-Michel Basquiat Boxer Rebellion (42/60), 2008 Screenprint in colors on BFK Rives paper 29 x 39.50 in

After Jean-Michel Basquiat Ascent (1983/2017) (44/50), 2017 Screenprint in colors on 300gn Somerset Satin paper 22 x 30 in

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Barminski, Bill American, b.1962

Bill Barminski has a long history of playing with cardboard.

Though known as a painter, his increasingly independent sense of humor long ago inspired him to make unlikely things out of cardboard—rockets, motorcycles, mixtapes, gas masks —offerings which always operated on dual levels. On the one hand, the subversive joy of making that recalls childhood in its imagination and raw fun; on the other, an almost nihilistic thumb in the eye of the expense-obsessed out of control art market and its insatiable appetite for junk. Barminski's work has spanned innumerable music videos, movies, magazines and advertisements. Some of the most notable include the Absolut Vodka billboard on Sunset, Baz Lurhmann's iconic Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) video, or the security entryway to Banksy's Dismaland. He has been immensely prolific and influential over the last 30 years, with work spanning the mediums of illustration, painting, sculpting, animation, music composition, video and fully-immersive large-scale installations.

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Bill Barminski 45 Flower Shooter, 2019 Acrylic on cardboard sculpture mounted on wood panel 24 x 36 x 1.50 in

Bill Barminski Magic Kingdom, 2021 Acrylic on wood panel 20 x 24 x 1.50 in 16

Mr. Brainwash French, b.1966

A provocative figure in the world of street art, Mr. Brainwash practices an irreverent brand of appropriation characterized by the use of copyrighted images from history, popular culture, and art history. The artist subtly alters the picture or its context, mischievously undermining the tone of the source material. Brainwash, a pseudonym for Thierry Guetta, is known for producing massive spectacles to display his art. He came to prominence through mounting large-scale public projects in his current home of Los Angeles and as the main figure in the Banksy-directed film Exit Through the Gift Shop.

His work hinges on the idea that anything is possible in his practice. “Art has no walls. Anybody can be an artist,” he says.

“Art has no rules. There’s no manual.”

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Mr. Brainwash Never, Never Give Up!, 2021 Silkscreen and mixed media on fiberglass brick wall 48 x 48 in

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Mr. Brainwash Pop Wall, 2020 Silkscreen and mixed media on canvas 36 x 60 in

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Mr. Brainwash Smile, 2020 Silkscreen and mixed media on framed canvas 33.50 x 29.50 in

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Blek le rat French, b.1951

Pioneering French graffiti artist Blek le Rat counts the infamous Banksy among his many admirers. Born Xavier Prou, the artist was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris and has been described as the “Father of stencil graffiti.” Blek was introduced to graffiti after a trip to New York City in 1971 and was inspired to bring the style back to Paris, adapting the stencil as a more fitting technique for French architecture. He is best known for stenciling a giant graphic image of a rat all over Paris in the early 1980s, which to him symbolized both freedom and the dissemination of art through the city as if it were the plague. In recent years his work has become increasingly political, focusing on the homeless, the environment, and other social causes. Blek’s posters of kidnapped French journalist Florence Aubenas helped raise public awareness of her situation, pressuring politicians and journalists to work harder for her release.

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Blek le Rat Joconda, 2021 Mixed media, aerosol on linen 51 x 39.25 in

Blek le Rat Mask and Helmet, 2013 Spray paint and acrylic on canvas 40 x 30 in 22

CHALFANT, Henry American, b.1940

Urban culture photographer Henry Chalfant is most notable for his graffiti and break dance photography and film. He is highly regarded as one of the foremost authorities on New York Subway art and other aspects of urban youth culture.

Chalfant started out as a sculptor in New York in the 1970s and turned to photography and film to do an in-depth study of hip-hop culture and graffiti art. Due to the ephemeral nature of street art, Chalfant’s photographs act as lasting proof of some of the finest Graffiti art that no longer exists. Chalfant coauthored the definitive account of New York graffiti art, Subway Art and a sequel on the art form’s worldwide diffusion, Spraycan Art. Chalfant also co-produced and did the background research and photo-documentation for the 1983 documentary film, Style Wars, first shown on PBS television in 1984. His photos are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Henry Chalfant Passion by Zephyr (5/25), 1980 Montage of five joined photographs 8 x 40 in

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Corman, Richard

American, b.1954

Portrait photographer Richard Corman has worked with a thrilling breadth of subjects from Nobel Peace Prize recipients Nelson Mandela and Elie Wiesel to esteemed actors such as Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep. Corman also has the unique ability to see the compelling gifts in yet to be celebrated artists. This has led him to working relationships with Madonna, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring as each was on the cusp of showing to the world what Corman already captured. Corman’s desire to capture the beauty of the human spirit extends beyond the commercial and entertainment worlds. Humbling experiences with many socio-cultural projects and non-profit organizations have translated into an extensive portfolio of indelible images.

Most notable is his personal and profoundly compassionate work with the Special Olympics. Richard has traveled the world photographing these inspiring athletes for over two decades.

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Richard Corman Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1984 (4/10), 2019 Silkscreen on 320 gram Coventry Rag paper 30 x 30 in

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DABSMYLA Australian

DABSMYLA (Dabs and Myla) are a husband-and-wife team of artists who create as one. They are known for their whimsical pop-art paintings, illustrations, and a 100% collaborative approach to their work, refusing to be individually credited.

The two moved to Los Angeles in 2009 and have shared their work in massive, public formats from walls in Rio de Janeiro, London, Detroit, Norway, and Tahiti to downtown Los Angeles. DABSMYLA create interactive and playful installations with paintings inspired by graffiti, mid-century illustration and the Golden Age of Comic Books. In 2012 they created a custom mural for Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, Hello Art! event. In 2014 they created a large-scale installation for the first-ever Hello Kitty Con at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. They also designed and created the elaborate set of the 2015 MTV Movie Awards as well as the event’s logo and award statuette.

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DabsMyla Good/Great Morning 1 (HC 2/5), 2020 Color Lithograph 39.40 x 27.60 in

DabsMyla Good/Great Morning 2 (HC 2/5), 2020 Color Lithograph 39.40 x 27.60 in

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FAILE

American, Founded 1999

Since 1999, Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller have collaborated under the name FAILE (an anagram of “a life”) to create kinetic, image-saturated paintings, prints, sculptures, and installations. Their democratic street style features fragmented mash-ups of comic book and cartoon characters, advertising and propaganda slogans, bright patterns and colors, and historical and pop cultural references. At the beginning of their career, FAILE’s work appeared on the streets as stickers, posters, and stenciled images. Since then, the duo has enjoyed exhibitions at Tate Modern, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Brooklyn Museum, the Central Academy of Fine Art Museum in Beijing, and the Mima Museum in Brussels, among other institutions. FAILE has also produced large-scale murals and staged participatory public interventions in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Lyon, France—further blurring the lines between “high” and “low” culture.

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FAILE Untitled, 2008 Acrylic, silkscreen and coffee staining on canvas 79 x 92.50 in

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Hambleton, Richard Canadian, 1952 - 2017

Richard Hambleton, referred to as the “godfather of street art,” was a pioneering Canadian street artist. He is recognized as a pivotal intermediary between Abstract Expressionism and the popular “art for the masses” graffiti that boomed in the 1980s. Hambleton is best known for his grisly “Shadowmen” and “Horse and Rider” figures, which he tagged in alleyways and drug-dealing hotspots in Lower Manhattan throughout the '70s and ’80s. Despite finding early success in New York and showing at the Venice Biennale in 1984 and ’88, Hambleton was largely forgotten in the ’90s and early 2000s, when his personal battles with addiction alienated him from the art world. Hambleton’s work saw a resurgence in the 2010s, with solo shows, major museum retrospectives, and documentaries taking a new look at the seminal role he played in the history of street art.

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Richard Hambleton Battle Scene Painting, 1983 Acrylic and plastic figurines on canvas 96 x 40 in Deft brushstrokes emerge from clouds of dark paint splatters, forming effortless figures captured in a moment of action. Painted on canvas rather than on the side of a building or under a bridge like the majority of the street artist’s early works, Battle Scene Painting is no less dramatic.

Unique in it's medium, Hambleton incorporates small plastic figurines of army men onto the surface of the piece which he then paints over, heightening the sense of tension in both subject matter and media.

Battle Scene Painting was exhibited the same year of its creation at a solo exhibition of the artist's work at Piezo Electric Gallery in New York.

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Richard Hambleton Jumping Shadow Manila, 1982 Acrylic on paper 85.50 x 46 in Hambleton is best known for his ‘Shadowman’ paintings, a series of dark, dynamic silhouetted figures that he painted prolifically around the streets and alleyways of Lower Manhattan. The menacing figures, lurking on street corners or dark alleys, some elevated on walls as if jumping out at you, would appear overnight and frighten passers-by, reflecting the culture of fear and tension that gripped the city at the time. ”They could represent watchmen or danger or the shadows of a human body after a nuclear holocaust or even my own shadow”, he said.

Jumping Shadow Manila is an exquisite example of Hambleton's ability to transform his street-based practice onto canvas and paper. Here, the figure is caught in the air mid-action. Hambleton created his iconic black figures over what appears to be wallpaper that he layers with a red painted wash, heightening the mood of the piece.

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Richard Hambleton Shanghai, 1982 Acrylic on canvas 91 x 54 in Shanghai, an exceptional example of Hambleton's prolific series of expressive, leering figures on canvas, references his figures which were splattered against the walls worldwide. Each work in the Shadowman painting series is titled after a major international city of the world. With Shanghai, Hambleton moves from painting directly on the city streets to engaging with cities cleverly and conceptually from afar.

Shanghai is an outstandingly unique painting, as the figure is rendered in an inverted white shadow, rather than a black silhouette. This format presents a striking contrast of a frenetic figure jumping with raised arms, knees splayed, and head exploding spraying paint upwards. The life size shadow is galvanized into motion with intensity by Hambleton’s quick throws of runny white paint in lines and drips. Created specifically for the important solo exhibition at Alexander Milliken Gallery in 1982, the canvas was stretched soon after it was made, rather than rolled up and shuffled from studio to studio, as was often the case for the nomadic artist.

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Haring, Keith American, 1958 - 1990

American artist and social activist, Keith Haring, is best known for his illustrative depictions of figures and symbols. “I don't think art is propaganda,” he once stated. “It should be something that liberates the soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. It celebrates humanity instead of manipulating it.” Haring was inspired to draw from an early age by Walt Disney cartoons and his father who was an amateur cartoonist. After briefly studying commercial art in Pittsburgh, Haring came across a show of the works of Pierre Alechinksy and decided to pursue a career in fine art instead.

He moved to New York in the late 1970s to attend the School of Visual Arts, and soon immersed himself in the city’s graffiti culture. By the mid-1980s, he had befriended fellow artists Andy Warhol, Kenny Scharf, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and collaborated with celebrities like the singer Grace Jones.

Haring’s prodigious career was brief, and he died of AIDSrelated complications on February 16, 1990 at the age of 31.

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Keith Haring Untitled (Helmet and Invitation), 1987 Marker pen on helmet and printed paper invitation 6.5 x 11 x 8.5 in This unique art object was created during a pre-exhibition party titled 'Pour un déJeuner sur l’herbe,' (a nod to Edouard Manet's 1863 masterpiece) to celebrate the opening of Keith Haring at Casino Knokke, Belgium in 1987. The Elderid mountain climbing helmet was also popular with skateboarders, hence the skating figure rendered by Haring for the helmet’s original owner, one of the party attendees.

The circle surrounding an x, denoted on both the helmet, and invitation, is an indicator that this is an authentic Keith Haring piece. The “X” marking inside the body of Haring's figures was a more general statement against the transformation of humans into targets, as Haring took a strong stand against events of the time, like the AIDS crisis, the state of emergency during the apartheid-era in South Africa, or the war in Vietnam war.

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Harrington, Conor Irish, b.1980

While the military figures in Conor Harrington’s powerful street paintings refer to the masculinity of urban culture, they can also be interpreted as self-portraits of the stoic, pensive persona of the contemporary painter. Harrington’s loose brushwork, seemingly unfinished imagery, dripping paint, and graffiti flourishes provide an antidote to his sometimes sentimental evocations of duty and honor. "I'm interested in the dynamics between opposing elements," he says.

Harrington believes that society views men as redundant, and presents his work as a simple reminder of the emotional contributions men are capable of.

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Conor Harrington Death in the Afternoon Study, 2011 Oil and aerosol on board 26.50 x 20.70 in

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JonONE American, b.1963

JonOne, born John Andrew Perello, is an American street artist known for his Abstract Expressionist-styled graffiti.

While his work shows the influence of Jackson Pollock and Jean Dubuffet, JonOne began his career tagging while growing up in New York inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s early street-based art. The self-taught artist developed his signature colorful abstract style with dynamic brushstrokes, drips, and patterns on the architecture and infrastructure of the city. Upon moving to Paris in 1987, JonOne began creating paintings on canvas and has gone on to exhibit his work at Kolly Gallery in Zürich, Gallery Magda Danysz in Shanghai, and Speerstra Gallery in Paris. In 2015, the artist decorated the entire outer shell of an Air France Boeing 777 airplane. He continues to live and work between New York, NY and Paris, France.

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JonOne Knight Sky, 2018 Oil on canvas 63.78 x 51.18 in A prominent figure in the New York graffiti scene of the late 1970s, JonOne didn't begin painting on canvas until he moved to France in 1987. It was then that he focused his attention on movement and color, rather than figuration, distinguishing himself from his peers, and creating works that retained his roots in graffiti culture while enriched by the influence of modernist painting.

As seen in Knight Sky, JonOne uses oil paint in a non-traditional way, adding layer upon layer until it becomes a three-dimensional material. It wasn't until the late 2010's that the artist began adding such rich texture, in which he sees "both the wall of the cities and the strength of [his] painting."

While the rich explosion of colors seen in Knight Sky speaks to the luminosity that the artist found using oils, the piece retains the same uninhibited energy as his graffiti-inspired work, reflecting JonOne's understanding of both urban walls and the space of the canvas.

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KAWS American, b.1974

KAWS, born Brian Donnelly, is a multi-faceted artist straddling the worlds of art and design in his prolific body of work that ranges from paintings, murals, and large-scale sculptures to product design and toy-making. His iconic “XX” signature has its roots in the beginning of his career as a street artist in the 1990s, when he began altering found advertisements by incorporating his own masterful paintings. KAWS studied illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York and went on to work as an animator at Disney after graduating. Evoking the sensibilities of Pop artists like Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg, KAWS possesses sophisticated humor and thoughtful interplay with consumer products and collaborations with global brands. He often draws inspiration and appropriates from popular culture animations to form a unique artistic vocabulary and influential cast of hybrid cartoon and human characters.

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KAWS NO ONE'S HOME, STAY STEADY, THE THINGS THAT COMFORT (87/250), 2015 Screenprints in colors on wove paper 36 x 29 in

The collection of three silkscreen prints titled NO ONE’S HOME, STAY STEADY and THE THINGS THAT COMFORT demonstrates the animated, illustrative style and propensity for vibrant color signature to KAWS. Using his Snoopy motif in three distinct perspectives, KAWS fills the cartoon icon with the same “x” shapes, teeth, and eyes used throughout his oeuvre.

Contemporary art publisher Pace Prints teamed up with KAWS to present a set of limited prints, released during 2015’s Art Basel Miami. The edition sold out immediately upon release.

His work can be found in the collections at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Rosenblum Collection in Paris. KAWS currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

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KOBRA Brazilian, b.1976

Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra utilizes bright colors and bold lines while staying true to a kaleidoscope theme throughout his art. The technique of repeating squares and triangles allows him to bring to life the famous people he depicts in his images. This checkered pattern, filled with different textures, lines, and shading, builds up to Eduardo Kobra’s final masterpiece, a larger than life photorealistic mural. The artist officially began his career at the age of 12 years old and has painted over 3,000 murals on five different continents since. In 2016 Eduardo Kobra made the headlines for creating his illustrious 32,000 square-foot mural Las Etnias (The Ethnicities) that lined Olympic Boulevard at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

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Eduardo Kobra Pablo Picasso, 2019 Spray paint and acrylic on canvas 60.75 x 77 in

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Kool koor American, b.1963

A monument first generation graffiti artist, Kool Koor is best known for his space-age inspired works that range from surreal scenes to intricate abstractions. Born Charles Hargrove, the artist began his career in the late 1970’s on the subway trains and throughout the urban landscape of New York City while attending the Art and Design School in Manhattan. In doing so, the artist helped bring the South Bronx style to downtown Manhattan, at venues such as Fashion Mod, and transform the graffiti style away from just urban scrawl into an innovative movement in the artistic scene. Along with friends and fellow artists Rammellzee, Crash, and Futura, Kool Koor stands at the basis of the New York graffiti movement. Kool Koor now lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.

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Kool Koor Twins Revisited, 2020 Acrylic spray paint and paint marker on canvas 60 x 48 in

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MCGEE, Barry American, b.1966

A lauded and much-respected cult figure in a bi-coastal subculture that comprises skaters, graffiti artists, and West Coast surfers, Barry McGee makes drawings, paintings, and mixed-media installations inspired by urban culture that incorporate elements such as empty liquor bottles and spraypaint cans, tagged signs, wrenches, and scrap wood or metal.

McGee is also a graffiti artist, having produced work on the streets since the 1980s under the tag name “Twist”; his signature motif is the face of a man with sagging, tired eyes, rendered in an efficient linear style. He views graffiti as a vital mode of communication, one that keeps him in touch with a large and diverse audience. McGee and his wife, artist Margaret Kilgallen were featured in the film Beautiful Losers, a 2008 documentary about Street Art and the DIY aesthetic.

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Barry McGee Untitled (Bull), 2019 Mixed media on wood panel 96 x 48 in

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OSGEMEOS Brazilian, b. 1974

OSGEMEOS (formerly Os Gêmeos), Portuguese for “the Twins,” is the adoptive name of brothers Octavio and Gustavo Pandolfo. As children, the street and studio artists would find themselves drawing on the same sheet of paper and seamlessly completing one another’s work. At the age of 12, the brothers made their public and graffiti projects using whatever materials they had available, including car paint, latex, and spray nozzles. They were influenced by hip-hop and breakdancing, but had little prior knowledge of graffiti culture, which they claim helped them develop their own visual vocabulary. OSGEMEOS’s works often present lyrical, narrative scenes with distinctive characters, often with Brazilian folk art influences. More recently, OSGEMEOS have created a number of immersive indoor installations and paintings. Their fans include Barry McGee and the President of Nike, Mark Parker.

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OSGEMEOS Untitled, 2007 Marker on paper 16.25 x 10.50 in Combining traditional, folkloric, and contemporary elements of Brazilian culture with graffiti, hip-hop, music, dreams and international youth culture, the artists use of symbolic visual language is often inspired by their dreams that, as twins, they claim to share. In addition to the use of bright colors and elaborate patterns, they are best known for their paintings that feature longlimbed yellow-skinned figures with thin outlines, enlarged faces, and simplified features.

The yellow skin color indicates a universal figure, rather than a direct reference to a specific race or culture, which reflects the highly diverse population of Brazil and the world. This universality is mirrored by the anthropomorphism of the sun in this work, wrapped in string and held delicately by the main figure the artists comment on the ubiquitous connection between man and nature.

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Peterson, Cleon American, b.1973

With an aesthetic rooted in graphic design and a style reminiscent of Greco-Roman vases, Cleon Peterson’s work depicts a world in which deviance is the norm. His dystopian scenes evoke Thomas Hobbes’ description of life as a war between individuals and symbolize a struggle between power and submission in the fluctuating architecture of contemporary society. Peterson received his MFA from The Cranbrook Academy of Art in Detroit, MI and BFA from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. He now lives and works in Los Angeles. His allegorical works contrast good with evil, and violence with victim in the tradition of Caravaggio, Goya, and Delacroix. In 2018 Peterson’s work was featured in a solo exhibition, entitled Cleon Peterson: Shadow of Men, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver. His work resides in numerous notable private collections worldwide.

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Cleon Peterson Untitled (Soldier), 2015 Diptych, acrylic on panel 96 x 48 in

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Phoebenewyork American

PhoebeNewYork, an alter ego character for Libby Schoettle, first came to life in collages created with found objects, including vintage photographs, magazine pages, clothing, as well as old books, record covers, and the occasional iconic pop art element. The artist is drawn to materials that have been owned and handled by others, materials that have been touched over time and that will remain intact over time (or not). From the streets of New York City to Philadelphia, Los Angeles, London, and Berlin, Schoettle reveals her own vulnerability, raw emotions, and witty observations through PhoebeNewYork‘s dark and funny explorations into love, feminism, political independence, and finding beauty in the mistaken.

Libby and Pheobe have been featured in publications such as New York Magazine’s The Cut and Nylon and have been the subject of fashion collaborations with Victoria Beckham, Dr. Marten’s, and Lululemon, among others.

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PhoebeNewYork You Got This, 2021 Mixed media collage 22.5 x 11 in

PhoebeNewYork Have Fun, 2021 Mixed media collage 17.50 x 17 in

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LADY PINK Ecuadorian-American, b. 1964

Sandra Fabara, aka, Lady Pink, was born in Ecuador, raised in Queens, New York, and studied at the High School of Art & Design in Manhattan. While a student there, she met a group of graffiti artists and began writing at age fifteen. She was soon well known as the only prominent female capable of competing with the boys in the graffiti subculture. Lady Pink painted subway trains from the years 1979-1985. She appeared in theaters in the starring role of Rose in Charlie Ahearn’s 1983 film Wild Style and quickly acquired hip-hop, cult figure status. Lady Pink’s canvases are in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum, among others. They were featured in the major exhibitions “Art in the Streets” at the LA MOCA and “Graffiti” at the Brooklyn Museum. Lady Pink continues to mature as an artist, selling work internationally and producing ambitious murals commissioned for universities, corporations and institutions

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Lady Pink Unity Tree, 2021 Acrylic on Canvas 112 x 93.25 in In 2018 Lady Pink was commissioned by the city of Gävle, Sweden to paint a mural addressing immigrant issues facing the area. After completing the mural, the artist loved the imagery so much she decided to create a replica inspired by her Gävle commission for an exhibition at Soho Contemporary Art in New York.

Unity Tree depicts a budding tree of life against a black background. Each branch debuts a different flower from countries across the world synthesizing in harmony to act as personal symbols of strength, growth, and beauty. Lady Pink’s current home in the countryside continues to encourage her adoration of the living world. “I grew up around flowers and an abundance of color, which inspires me to use this imagery in my artwork,” the artist says “now, I live in the country, surrounded by nature again. It’s sunny, warm, and wonderful.”

Unity Tree was exhibited in the artist's solo exhibition Lady Pink: Graffiti HerStory at the Museum of Graffiti, Miami in 2021.

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Rammellzee American, 1960 - 2010

First known as a graffiti artist, Rammellzee also recorded and performed as a musician and later worked in sculpture and assemblage. His self-titled Gothic Futurism style was distinguished by the use of bright colors, barbed letters, and its symbolic campaign against standardization. Rammellzee’s self-given name is an esoteric derivation of a math equation.

He first began tagging subway cars during the late 1970s.

Rammellzee went on to release the hip-hop single “Beat Bop” with K-Rob in 1983, and exhibited alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. In the decades that followed, the artist continued to produce experimental music, costume-like sculptures, and spray painted work. In 2004, Rammellzee collaborated with the design brand Supreme to create a release of 20 hand painted backpacks. The artist died on June 27, 2010 in New York, NY.

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Rammellzee Untitled REPRESS (Gargoylian Books of Stock), 1991 Spray paint, epoxy and mixed media collage on canvas and brass hardware, in artist's frames, in 3 parts 48 x 103 in

Recalling the graffiti tags that ubiquitously ornament the urban landscape, Rammellzee’s Untitled REPRESS (Gargoylian Books of Stock) reflects the frenzied and unfettered energy of New York City in the twilight of the 20th century.

Rammellzee integrated the everyday into his art and his art into the everyday, upending the arbitrary stratifications of the formal art world; an emblematic example of the artist’s unrelenting innovation, Untitled REPRESS takes this democratic determination to its zenith as the artist reimagines the canvas and common objects as an extra-dimensional object, bringing together an intergalactic tangle of color and ciphers as four canvases join together as one.

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RETNA American, b.1979

RETNA is an American street artist known for his unique typography and letterforms. RETNA combines visual linguistics, urban poetics, and appropriated fashion imagery to explore an eclectic range of media, including graffiti, photography, and painting. “It is important to have art in the streets as a cultural fabric that is woven into the city for the upliftment of civic pride,” he once stated. Born Marquis Lewis, he joined the Los Angeles mural scene as a teenager, developing his text-based signature style featuring intricate line work, complex layering, and a wide range of color.

Painting with a brush in addition to a spray can, the artist achieves highly detailed line work. He has exhibited at venues throughout the world, notably including L.A. Art Machine in Los Angeles, Don Gallery in Milan, Yves Laroche Galerie d’Art in Montreal, and Art for All in Malaga, among others. The artist continues to live and works in Los Angeles, CA.

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RETNA Untitled, c. 2000 Carved wood and enamel 45.50 x 45.50 in RETNA's carved wood pieces feature some of the most sharp and stylized representations of the artist's intricate text, yet retain his roots as a graffiti artist with the subtle drips carved out below much of the lettering. This work is an early example of the artist's exemplary style.

Filled with bright blue enamel, the wooden letters stand out further against the alluring gloss of the background material. The materiality of Untitled not only highlights the artist's eclectic range of media but also recalls ancient clay tablets reminding viewers of the ancient languages from which his distinctive heiroglyphs are derived.

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RETNA Los Niños De La Calle, 2010-2011 Acrylic on wood relief 96 x 72 x 1.75 in Los Niños De La Calle is executed with RETNA's typographic style while simultaneously displaying his underlying expressionism. The black spraypainted symbols and lines are systemic and thoughtfully arranged with each text block acting as a sophisticated system of hieroglyphs, calligraphy, and illuminated lettering. Alternatively, to the typical canvas background, this work features RETNA's spray painted script on top of a wooden relief of the artist's same iconic lettering. The high-relief carvings are juxtaposed against the thin spray-painted lines with accumulations and drips of paint, resulting in a multilayered and three-dimensional composition laden with symbolism.

The work's title Los Niños De La Calle translates to 'Children of the Street' or 'Street Children' and derives from a documentary by the same title that follows the gritty reality of four children living on the streets of Mexico City in 2001.

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RETNA Violators Will be Escorted Off the Premises, 2010-2011 Acrylic on wood panels 75.50 x 48 in Violators Will be Escorted Off the Premises is a unique work created in the artist's notable typographic style on two found wooden doors. Serving as a base for RETNA's distinctive hieroglyphs, the white painted doors are distressed showing years of ware with sections of paint peeled back and areas of exposed wood. RETNA spray-painted his script on the weathering surface in elongated lines that often bubble up from the crackling paint underneath. The dripping lines of paint express a sense of spontaneity and serve as a symbol of RETNA's artistic freedom.

2011 was an important year for the artist RETNA. He participated in the Art in the Streets exhibition at MOCA, Street Cred at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, and painted the tail of a business jet in Geneva for VistaJet. The present work was created for RETNA's most significant solo exhibition The Hallelujah World Tour, in London in 2011, which featured many of the artist's most important and most imposing works to date.

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RISK

American, b. 1967

Multi-talented fine artist, sculptor, and graffiti pioneer RISK was one of the first artists to exhibit graffiti and street art in galleries. Born Kelly Graval, the artist moved to Los Angeles with his family and made his new high school his personal canvas. He has participated in a number of street art crews, most famously West Coast Artists (WCA) and the Seventh Letter. In the course of his nearly 30-year career, RISK has become one of the most influential figures for subsequent generations of graffiti artists, particularly in Los Angeles. He is also considered one of the first artists to have painted on freight trains, as well as a pioneer of “painting in the heavens”—a graffiti term referring to highly elevated surfaces like billboards, rooftops, and overpasses. His art can be seen in music videos by everyone from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Michael Jackson.

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RISK Peaceful Buddha with throwing knives’ Neon, 2019 Aerosol, kandy car paint, crushed abalone, horse shoes, throwing knives on recycled spray can panel with surfboard resin 48 x 120 in

RISK My America, 2020 Acrylic and spray paint on discarded American flag 53 x 89 in

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ross, Wiley American

Wiley Ross was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri.

Throughout most of his life, Wiley’s focus has been art. Then, while in college on an art scholarship, he decided music was his next step to pursue. So he picked up a guitar, loaded up his van, and hit the road to Austin, TX. Soon, the hard hitting rock trio, Street Light Suzie was born. After touring the country, including a packed house at LA’s Viper Room, and recording their first CD, “Red River Revival”, In September of 2011 the band’s blistering demos got the attention of Guns ‘N Roses alum Gilby Clarke. The union was a resounding success as the band traveled to LA to record in Clarke’s studio. The result is the critically acclaimed “Red Album”. Wiley has also been very successful placing songs in film and television, including credits on CSI, Nikita, Ringer, VH1 and E! shows.

Wiley is a critically acclaimed painter, muralist and musician.

As his reputation has grown, so has the size of his creations.

Austinites can see his murals on many walls throughout the city. For a man who truly believes “the world is a blank canvas”, this has been an exciting and fulfilling experience.

Wiley lives in Austin, TX with his daughter, Veda Moon.

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Wiley Ross Inner Child, 2021 Oil on acrylic, light portrait, custom framing 47 x 69 x 6 in

Wiley Ross Demeter, A Moon Goddess, 2021 Oil portrait on 1/2 inch acrylic with a built in light feature 48 x 72 in 66

Schoony British, b.1974

Schoony, born John Schoonraad, is a commercial and artistic British sculptor. He has had an extensive career in the cinematic special-effects field, which he entered at age 15 and has consisted of working on more than 100 movies over the course of 25 years. As a prosthetics and makeup artist, his film credits include Harry Potter, Gladiator, and Where the Wild Things Are. Schoony rose to art world fame in 2008, thanks to an extensive street art installation composed of his hyperrealistic plastic casts. His fine art sculpture is most often figural, as evidenced by his best-known leitmotif of a shirtless boy soldier wearing an oversized military helmet. Schoony constructs his pieces through extensive life-casting techniques composed in a variety of different materials, including plastic, bronze, and gold. His imagery incorporates themes of commercialism, violence, and kitsch into its content, exploring contemporary Western society’s detached relationship to warfare.

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Schoony Bruiser Spray paint and stencil on canvas 30 x 20 in

Schoony Boy Soldier (2/2), 2019 Hand Painted Multiple on wove paper 27.5 x 19.5 in

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Sketch, Mila Russian, b. 1985

Mila Sketch is an award-winning artist based in Austin, TX. Sketch’s work leads viewers through a milliard of tiny perfectly connected details to a global & whole mechanism. She works with a set of symbols appealing to the viewer of diverse cultural backgrounds and age groups. Mila consistently creates captivating large-scale murals, fine art, and digital design. Her work has been exhibited across the United States as well as in Israel, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Sketch has created art for many reputable clients, such as Mazda USA, Google Fiber, SXSW, Hensel Phelps, and AustinBergstrom International Airport. Mila is currently representing the state of TX in the “Her Flag” 2020 National Art Project.

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Mila Sketch Flourish, 2021 Acrylic, ink on birch canvas 36 x 36 in

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SWOON American, b.1977

American street artist Swoon is best known for her large-scale wheatpaste prints and paper cutouts. Often depicting portraits of her friends and family, her work involves a wideranging practice that includes installation and performance.

Using reclaimed materials whenever possible, Swoon’s images are often printed on recycled newspaper and glued onto abandoned buildings, bridges, and street signs around the world. “There is power on the walls of the city, and I fell in love with every part of that,” said the artist. Born Caledonia Dance Curry, Swoon moved to New York to received her BA in fine arts at the Pratt Institute in 2002. Her work gained recognition after a solo show at Jeffrey Deitch’s Soho gallery in 2005, quickly attracting the attention of gallerists and museum curators. The artist’s site-specific solo show Submerged Motherlands at the Brooklyn Museum in 2014 was the museum’s first exhibition dedicated to a living street artist.

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Swoon Alixa and Naima (Variant A), 2021 2 color silkscreen print 11.75 x 13.50 in

Swoon Street Sweeper, 2008 Silkscreen and gouache on collage laid board 13.75 x 27 in

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Trujillo, Matthew American

Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, 31 year old working-artist Matthew Trujillo now calls Austin, TX his home. Matthew draws influence from fashion, music, architecture, design and beyond. His use of sharp, graphic-style facial expressions, mixed with contemporary design create striking presentations of modern pop art mixed with street style aesthetic. Successfully experimenting with the different light tones that bring more intensity and depth to his painting Tru creates mesmerizing art that sparks the imagination of the viewer and invites them to create their own story. Having gained a strong following across Texas, Tru was featured in the show Concrete to Canvas as a represented artist of HOPE Outdoor Gallery. Following the exhibition Tru was added to West Chelsea Contemporary's represented artist roster.

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Matthew Trujillo The Anticipation, 2021 Acrylic and spray paint on canvas 72 x 60 in

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Tunney, American, b. 1961

Peter

Peter Tunney is a Neo-Pop artist working with language and text. His large-scale paintings are created from collaged packing materials and newspapers. Drawing imagery and phrases from popular media sources, he created block-letter aphorisms such as “DON’T PANIC” and “THE TIME IS ALWAYS NOW.” This technique references the language-based works of both Christopher Wool and Mel Bochner. Born in 1961 in New York, NY, the former Wall Street executive, and friend of Peter Beard currently lives and works between New York, NY and Miami, FL.

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Peter Tunney Grattitude, 2021 Acrylic paint, silkscreen, and collage of mixed media on canvas 36 x 48 in

Peter Tunney The Time Is Always Now, 2021 Acrylic paint and collage of mixed media on canvas 36 x 48 in 76

VHILS Portuguese, b.1987

Vhils, the pseudonym of Portuguese street artist Alexandre Farto, has become synonymous with his signature approach to street portraiture. Working both outdoors and indoors, his large-scale, detailed images are achieved by scratching, drilling, and using bleach to tear away at billboards, walls, and found panels. The subjects therefore become one with the architecture and detritus that Vhils uses as both substrate and medium. His groundbreaking bas-relief carving technique has been hailed as one of the most compelling approaches to art created in the streets in the last decade. Challenging the notion that graffiti art is socially disruptive, Vhils sees the medium as a force to push the boundaries of the politics of communication in the social arena. An avid experimentalist, Vhils has been developing his personal aesthetics in a plurality of media besides his signature carving technique: from stencil painting to metal etching, from pyrotechnic explosions and video to sculptural installations. Since 2005, he has presented his work in over 30 countries around the world.

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Vhils Ataxia 12, 2013 Hand-carved old wooden doors assembled 86 × 59 in Ataxia 12 is an archetypal example of Vhils groundbreaking bas-relief carving technique, here on a remnants of old wooden doors assembled by the artist.

Vhils' striking form of visual poetry has been described as brutal and complex, yet imbued with a simplicity that speaks to the core of human emotions. An ongoing reflection on identity, on life in contemporary urban societies and their saturated environments, it explores themes such as the struggle between the aspirations of the individual and the demands of everyday life, or the erosion of cultural uniqueness in the face of the dominant model of globalized development. It speaks of effacement but also of resistance, of destruction yet also of beauty in this overwhelming setting, exploring the connections and contrasts, similarities and differences, between global and local realities.

The artist explains what inspires him: “I try focusing on the act of destruction to create... I believe that by removing and exposing some of these layers—in fact, by destroying them—we might be able to reach something purer, something of what we used to be and have forgotten all about."

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