CONT.’D
riding the subways and wandering the streets of North American cities-but, THIS...this was different somehow. It really
POPPED!
The walls along the tracks were colorful living murals with
some of the most imaginative, original and inventive scenes
and characters this side of standing outside of someone’s head
with a serious penchant for seeing the world from a perspective of living and moving color and sound.
That was my first real appreciation of how powerful some of
this style of art can be, and it got me thinking into the dedication that goes into it...what made it really interesting for me
too was seeing some of the parallels shared in the culture of
“street art” and those gardeners in the world of “hydro” in contrast to conventional gardening or agriculture.
Both have been considered at times by popular culture to be in
light of “underground” or even “subversive” in extreme examples, and yet, continue to grow and at this time even flourish
as an accepted and often admired part of modern culture and
society.
A very strong parallel is the fondness, dedication and the “live
it an love it” attitude that a lot of creative people share in these
and other traditionally less walked paths of expression.
However, popular culture has found it difficult to ignore the
appeal of both hydroponics and street art and has made them
household terms in recent years. Take for example household
names like Mark Ecko, the “Obey” guy, and thanks to plenty
of TV shows, commercials and even Hollywood movie placements, there are hydroponics companies and concepts that
share a similar level of acceptance and popularity.
All of this means change-and in a changing world.
To preserve some “original seeds” as street art has established
roots across the globe, Grozine was lucky to track down and
speak at length with Amy of Multi-Syndicate Amsterdam.
Amy, who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and getting to
know through the international hydroponics industry is part
of a group of international artists working together under the
banner of Multi-Syndicate. The background of the fellowship
spans the world, and has been working collectively out of
Amsterdam in the Netherlands for several years.
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