Huffington Magazine Issue 29-30 | Page 14

JAIME ROJO FOR BROOKLYN STREET ART 2012 1. As ever, we saw bodies exposed and a range of emotion expressed, but this year we noticed a thick swelling of sexual themes and sensual depictions, surprising because of the (duh) public nature of the work — and because it sparks so little outrage or censoring as it competes with advertising that is always pushing the envelope. Ironically, one of our photo essays this year contained so many blatantly sexual works found on the public street that we had to label the posting as NSFW. Finally, and most significantly for the formalists, we saw a sizeable number of artists working abstractly — embracing color, pattern, geometry and grand scale simultaneously. Almost overnight, the work is the signature, and the signature is the work in these eyepopping asymetric vibrations that marry the clarity of a modern 20th mid-century with the irrational colorful explosions of the disco hippies. We were so blown away by this non-figurative, non-tagged cacophony we mounted our own small show called Geometricks this fall in New York, while unbeknownst to us a larger and similar show called Graffuturism was being culled by very like-minded ob- servers of the street in LA. For 2013 we’re forecasting more interest in sharing this digital eyecandy, a greater inclusion of influences, the further growth of commercialism, and a regular parade of Street Artists marching into galleries, museums, and private collections. Periodically over the last decade or so we have heard someone declaring to have discovered the signpost for the Death Of Street Art, but they have ejaculated their pronouncement prema- ABOVE: German artist ECB. BELOW: Spanish street artist Okuda