Post Modern

Theme of my virtual exhibit is “Street Art”. This collection represents art that was created on city sidewalks, pavement, or floors. I chose this theme because I absolutely loved the works that were linked on Blackboard and I wanted to see more of them.

The first piece in the collection is called Office Stress which is a chalk drawing created by Kurt Wenner in 2007. Wenner is an American artist that has reached international fame with his chalk drawings. He uses pastel chalks that he creates himself using pure pigments and binder. Wenner was born in Ann Arbor Michigan and went to several different design schools before being hired by NASA. At NASA Wenner was a scientific illustrator and honed his drawing and perspective skills there. In 1982 he moved to Rome, Italy to study art full time and it was there that he began to create street drawings.

The work Office Stress fits into the theme of “Street Art” because it was created on the walkway before a large building. This drawing shows employees chained to their desks by the cords of their computers, and probably echoes the feelings of many 9-5ers. I love the creativity of the piece and the humor that it invokes.

In 2003 Wenner created a floor drawing for Schick, a leading sponsor of that year’s X-Games in Los Angeles. This particular piece was done inside on a tile floor. Although this piece is well done, it isn’t my favorite work. It doesn’t have many bright colors and it just doesn’t seem as exciting or fun to view as some of his other works.

The second artist in my series is Julian Beever. Beever is an English artist that primarily works in Europe, although he has done pavement drawings in the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Australia, and Mexico. Beever’s works are usually quite lively and fascinating to look at. He uses a technique called anamorphosis that makes his drawings appear 3-D if seen from the right angle. I am a huge fan of all of his drawings and I appreciate how much work must go into the creation of each and every one.

Here is a Batman and Robin drawing that Julian Beever did. He is the person sitting on the ledge. This was drawn on a street in London on August 29, 2006.

Another work by Julian Beever is Politicians Meeting Their End. This was drawn outside The Bank of England and was commissioned by the BBC Channel 4’s Midnight Special for the night of Britain’s 1997 general election.

My third artist is the German street painter Edgar Mueller. He has travelled extensively around Europe doing street paintings and has recently begun making 3-D works like Wenner and Beever.  Originally Mueller copied classical art and as a teenager once won a street painting competition after reproducing a work by Caravaggio.

This is a work called Ice Age/The Crevasse created in August 2008 at the “Festival of World Culture” in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. It took 5 days to complete and the finished work covered 250 square meters. I love the appearance of depth this drawing exudes as well as the way he so expertly shades the colors.

Here is a YouTube video that shows the creation of this work:

My final work by Mueller is called Lava Burst, which is my very favorite because it is so creative. It was painted in August 2008 at the International Competition of Streetpainters in Geldern, Germany.

References:

http://www.kurtwenner.com/

https://classes.uaf.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_60839_1%26url%3d

http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/index.html

http://www.european-street-painting.com/

http://www.metanamorph.com/about.html