It’s always cool to learn about an artist’s process and the story behind his or her work. Street Artist Chris Stain shares with you here where he gained inspiration for his gallery piece called “Give ‘Em Hell”.
Give ‘Em Hell, by Chris Stain, currently on view at “Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories”. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)
“When I was a kid growing up in Baltimore we always played baseball and pretended we were Eddie Murray or Rick Dempsey when stepping up to bat. It wasn’t until later that I realized that a baseball bat could be used as an equalizer when the bigger kids thought it was a good idea to kick my ass for the fun of it.
This piece represents for me standing up for yourself and the things you believe in. The boy in the picture was originally photographed by Boogie. The background photos were taken by me during a trip to Baltimore. I hand cut the image out of rubylith and screen printed it onto an old table I used to work on. Then I hand colored it with thinned out spray paint and wood stain.”
<<><><><><><>>><
From our interview with Chris for Juxtapoz:
“Born in 1972 and raised in East Baltimore, Chris Stain is a New York-based, self taught stencil artist and print maker influenced by social realism, the plight of working people, and skateboarder culture. His straight-forward portraits in urban or industrial settings harken back to the Depression, when bankers and masters of industry declared war on the blue collar and poor. With blunt realism and everyday protagonists, Stain encourages passersby on the street to draw direct connections between social and economic conditions of then and today.”
Read Chris’s answers to the Back Talk questions on Juxtapoz here:
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening:1. Guido Van Helten - L'attesa - (The Wait) - 20172. "Spaciba" INO in Athens, Greece.3. TrueSchoo...
It is an age of self-discovery, and the twins continue to be surprised by what they find as they attack huge walls with zeal and precision in New York, LA, Miami, Stavanger, Prague, Las Vegas, Rochest...
There are a few walls you remember over the years, and this one in Borås, Sweden stays fresh in our minds from our trip there in 2015 for the NoLimit Festival (@nolimitboras), originated by the fanta...
It’s not all about the murals! A sacrilegious thing to say perhaps, especially on a Sunday, especially when we are in town to see fresh new murals at the Wall\Therapy festival in Rochester. But ...
Here are new pieces on street walls from the Street Artist named #Tag in Israel, who is interpreting art-world and TV icons through the lense of the current Covid-19 crises. With new pieces on the st...