Chicago Street Art Stories: Highlights – Part I

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Above Image: Rahmaan Statik, Orko and Trixster

Event: Chicago Street Art Stories

at Claudia Cassidy Theater [Chicago Cultural Center]

Saturday, January 11, 2014.

The event was an open mic for the artists featured in the exhibition “Paint Paste Sticker: Chicago Street Art”,
and an opportunity for the public to hear their stories and see images of their work.

 

 

In my earlier posts I have covered the exhibition:
Paint Paste Sticker: Chicago Street Art .. click here..
Paint Paste Sticker: Chicago Street Art – II .. click here..
In this post, I will concentrate just on the open mic with artists..

 


 

HIGHLIGHTS of the DAY

 


 

Artists at Paint Paste Sticker

Artists at Paint Paste Sticker

 

Group Shot after the event was over

Some highlights from the show..

 

 


 

 


 

It was such a beautiful thing to stay out of gang violence, to just produce beautiful artwork, to paint the Harold Washington trains, to do all those things. It was an amazing time. – Orko

 

Chicago is a nice playing ground for painting, and coming from Indiana, we took advantage of it. I was very active in the mid 80s doing traditional graffiti that most people are familiar with. Then I switched gear in the 90s. On the the reasons being,  I was in the military jumping off planes in Desert Storm. I have seen a lot of death. I learnt the lesson. It was easier to build. So when I came back, one of my objectives , as somebody who is active in hip-hop culture, was to build. That is one thing my crew make a strong effort in doing. – Ish Muhammad.

 

Why did it take so long for Chicago to start graffiti? If you look at other cities, Philadelphia, New York, they started in the 70s. And I always say, it is because of gangs. We fought. As a group we fought 125,000 gang members of Chicago. – FLASH ABC.

 

Bunch of young kids, going out and stood for something other than ourselves. Using out resources, our skills to go out to do memorial trains, a series of memorial trains, for Harold Washington. He was of course, the first black mayor of Chicago, but also a great mayor. He impacted us even as kids.

Painting and writing at public spaces, since antiquity till now, preceded property ownership. Did you hear me? Writing and painting in public spaces preceded property ownership. – Trixster.

 


 

 VIDEOS of artists speaking..
For more videos, click here..

Part II has videos of  Nick Fury,  Rahmaan Statik, Trixster, Orko, Ish Mohammad, FLASH ABC,
Bil Weyna,  Liz Blove Lazdins,  Tyrue Slang Jones, and  Miguel Aquilar “Kane One”..

Part II, click here..

 


 

 

 

 


 

RELATED LINKS:
Street Art Stories.. Part I..click here..
Street Art Stories.. Part II.. click here..
Paint Paste Sticker: Chicago Street Art.. Part I.. click here..
Paint Paste Sticker: Chicago Street Art.. Part II.. click here..

 When the show is over, documentation remains!

 

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RELATED LINKS

Exhibitions at Chicago Cultural Center.. click here..
Temporary Exhibitions.. click here..
Home: Public Art in Chicago.. click here..

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