Spurn

Hi-Graff Hybrids Through the Lens of Carlos Gonzalez

May 16, 2011 Artists

It may seem impossible to imagine, but rock music never dated classical till the Beatles, and before Run DMC married rock and rap there was no love between the two. Hardly seems worth mentioning now as the subgenres of music propagate nearly weekly – have you seen the Techno Hippie Disco people in your neighborhood yet?

Cryptic, Chor Boogie (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Likewise, it seems like only a decade ago the chasm could not have been wider between hardcore graffiti writers and the relatively new Street Artists popping up on the street. It’s not that the two didn’t know each other and see each other at barbecues and even get drunk together sometimes, but their divisions and personal alliances disallowed hanging out regularly. Those Cold War years are being chopped away brick by brick like the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, and a new language borrowing vocabulary from graffiti, street art, fine art, advertising, and pop/punk/hiphop/skater/cholo/tattoo culture continues to emerge in ways we never thought of before.

Cryptik, Chor Boogie (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

The current show at Hold Up Gallery in the Arts District of downtown LA called “Hi-Graff” reveals the lengths that artists will go to work together these days, and the results are a surprising hybrid. Photographer Carlos Gonzalez took these shots to illustrate what curator Brian Lee refers to as graffiti’s “embellishment period”.

Says Gonzalez, “Hi-Graff” is “an impressive show featuring some of graffiti’s greats as well as some notable up and comers. ” It’s a thrilling sign to see everyone can actually get along, and with frequently stunning results.

Foreground detail NICNAK, Background Cryptik, Chor Boogie (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

“Clearly, the show succeeds in more ways than one and it points very much toward a street art movement where trends and talents can all merge into one cohesive unit, both inside a gallery space and on the concrete streets,” Carlos Gonzalez

Left -Vyal, Defer, Slick. Right -Cryptik (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Right Wall -Cyrcle. Left Wall -Risky, OG Abel (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Left Wall -Cyrcle, Teal. Center Wall -Augor, Zes, Bonks, Right Wall – Vyal, Defer, Slick (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Bonks (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Augor, Zes, Bonks (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Left -RTSYSTM, Right-Andy Rios (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

James Haunt (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

(let to Right) NICNAK, Axis, Rick Ordonez (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Left Wall -Vyal, Defer, Slick. Right Wall -Spurn, Codak, Kym CBS (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Left Wall -Spurn, Codak, Kym CBS. Right Wall -Risky (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Spurn, Codak, Kym CBS (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Codak, Spurn (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Carlos Gonzalez is a contributor photographer to BSA. To see more of his work click on the link below:

www.facebook.com/CarlosGonzalezPhotography

“Hi-Graff” at Hold Up Art

Featuring the work of Alec Monopoly,Augor,Cache,Chor Boogie,Codak,Coto,Cryptik,Cyrcle,Defer,Free Humanity,Midtz,Rick Ordoñez,RISK,ROOTSYSTM,Slick,Spurn,Teal,Vyal, and Zes

358 E.2nd St., Los Angeles, CA, 90012

URL: http://www.holdupart.com/

On View May 7th-June 2nd, 2011

Holdup Art Gallery Presents: “Hi-Graff” (Los Angeles, CA)

April 27, 2011 Artists, California, Events, Gallery, L.A., Los Angeles, Opening

Hi-Graff

“Hi-Graff” is an installation-based street art exhibition that explores the concept of Graffiti as a contemporary art movement…

The exhibition, which opens on May 7th 7-11pm, showcases graffiti in its most original form –collaborative murals applied directly to walls. Though LA has seen hundreds of street art exhibitions in the past 5 years, there has always existed a growing disconnect between the artwork shown in the gallery shows and what these street artists produce on the streets. “Forcing a street artist to produce canvas or panel works as the only way of showcasing in a fine art gallery seriously compromises the quality of work, and direction these artists are taking. We wanted to open up our walls to these artists so the final product will closely mimic the actual art production of these artists on the streets, in an in-door environment” (Curator Lee). This allows the audience to truly understand and juxtapose where their talents and aesthetic differences lie. For “Hi-Graff”, Hold Up Art has brought together over 20 street artists to produce 10 separate collaborative murals highlighting unique trends and styles in Graffiti.

The artists that were selected for “Hi-Graff” embody a range of styles and techniques, showcasing the varying stylistic directions taken by contemporary graffiti artists. As with any art movement, Graffiti has evolved much since it had truly taken a hold in Los Angeles back in the 80’s. According to Curator Brian Lee, “We are now entering into a high point, the embellishment period, in the artistic movement of Graffiti. Not only are we witnessing the rise of a third generation of graffiti writers, a generation that actively looks forwards as much as it does backwards, but the public perception and reception of graffiti has grown increasingly warmer. With the release and world wide success of the movie “Exit through the Gift Shop,” Museum retrospectives on Street art as a culture like at the MOCA, and the ever present force of street art designers like Shepard Fairey–designing for everyone and everything from album covers to billboards for the Grammys–street art has permeated into every facet of American youth culture” (Curator Lee).

“Hi-Graff” Details
Opening May 7th, 7-11pm
On Display May 7th-June 2nd, 2011

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