2013 Temporary Exhibit: Chicago Cultural Center [Paint Paste Sticker – by Various Artists. PART

Above Image: Paint Paste Sticker – Chicago Street Art [at Chicago Cultural Center]

Temporary Exhibition: Paint Paste Sticker: Chicago Street Art

Location: Exhibit Hall, 4th Floor of Chicago Cultural Center

October 19, 2013 – January 12, 2014

PART II : Photo Gallery

This post is continued from my earlier post on Paint Paste Sticker.. click here..

Curator: Nathan Mason [Paint Paste Sticker – Chicago Street Art]

Keith Haring, Banksy and Jean-Michel Basquiat have been some of the most successful proponents of graffiti as urban street art.

The city has long maintained, No community in Chicago has to tolerate graffiti. Please join us in eliminating graffiti and maintaining the beauty of Chicago. [as stated in its website, click here..]..

Graffiti : Vandalism or Art?
Graffiti reflects a Run-Down Neighborhood, or, a Vibrant-Healthy-Exciting neighborhood?

Making a case for graffiti as Urban Art reflecting vibrant exciting neighborhood is the ongoing exhibit..

Paint, Paste Sticker: Chicago Street Art

Featuring works by some prominent Chicago Street Artists..

Zore, ZorZorZor, Jeff Zimmerman, You Are Beautiful, Uneek, Tselone, Traz, Trane & Shaggy, Thor, Teel, Secret Sticker Club, Stef, Statik, Chris Silva, Slang, Risk, Cartoon Da Pharo, Pawn Works, Orange Walls, Nick, Fury, Nice One, Lake Effect, Kane One, Ish Muhammad, International Meeting of Styles, The Grocer, Brooks Golden, G.P., Galerie F, Flex, Flash ABC, Erik DeBat, Don’t Fret, Chicago Urban Art Society, The Champ, Casper, C3PO, Hebru Brantley, Beloved, Oscar Arriola, Ruben Aguirre, Nick Adam, 83ism.

Group of Art Students at the exhibition Paint-Paste-Sticker

Chicago is an artful construct. A city grown from an onion-infested swamp, burnt to the ground and rebuilt. A city shaped by industry and railroads, then shaped by urban renewal and interstate highway construction. A city shaped by segregation and neighborhoods seemingly transported whole from some distant motherland. The parks and lakefronts, lovely meadows and beaches, coyly looking natural but all designed in some workshop and built on landfill, over railroad tracks and on the site of defunct factories. The city with its miles of walls and rolling stock challenges artists to create.

Graffiti writing began proliferating in the 70s as spray can technology improved not only the quality of the paint but also refined the nozzle, and the ability to control the paint flow. In the 80s and 90s graffiti, primarily an art centered on the letter, blossomed further and image based Street Art entered the scene. The works in this exhibition are by a multi-ethnic, intergenerational gathering of Chicago artists, many of whom were first connected by the “L”, and whose disciplines are Graffiti and Street Art. Most of these artists started their careers, simply as youth looking for creative outlets. For some graffiti writing was a way to participate in community and stay out of gangs. Several of these artists now run small businesses, are veterans, teach in public schools, or colleges. Some support their families solely from their artwork, and are showing in galleries and museums internationally. Today, as evidenced by the support of local business, associations and aldermen, artist creating graffiti and street art are embraced as signs of healthy and exciting neighborhoods.

This post is continued from my earlier post on Paint Paste Sticker.. click here..

PHOTO GALLERY