Austin’s West Chelsea Contemporary Unite Graffiti & Street Art In 4th Annual ‘Concrete to Canvas’ Exhibit
West Chelsea Contemporary (WCC), a prominent contemporary art gallery located in Austin, Texas, has found a way to bring street art and graffiti to the city of Austin, which is currently showcasing its 4th Annual ‘Concrete to Canvas’ gallery.
With works by over 50 artists spanning across four decades, Concrete to Canvas features the stylistic range, immense influence, and immersive experience of this evolution of graffiti and street art.
Having attended a private viewing of Concrete to Canvas before its July 22 public debut, I found myself really enjoying pieces from Richard Hambleton, Sandra Chevrier, Mr. Brainwash, Fab 5 Freddy, RISK, Lady Pink, Blek le Rat, and Swoon.
Other featured artists include: Banksy, DAZE, Charlie Ahearn, Scott Campbell, Cope2, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Futura, Ghost, Giz, Doze Green, Keith Haring, Lee Jaffe, JonOne, KAWS, Eduardo Kobra, Kool Koor, Chris Levine, Brendan Murphy, Yoshitomo Nara, PhoebeNewYork, Lee Quinones, RETNA, King Saladeen, SABER, Kenny Scharf, Sage Vaughn, Vhils, Zephyr, Dondi White, and more.
WCC’s vast collection that spans over 1,200 pieces includes artists that are influential to Pop Art, Street Art, Graffiti, Post-Graffiti, and Contemporary Art – while also remembering to showcase the historical tastemakers of these movements.
Regardless of the exhibition you’re attending, you will see a novel display of represented, emerging, and mid-career artists that sit alongside blue-chip masters, which only increases each and every artist’s exposure to today’s younger generations of art aficionados.
Graffiti & Street Art: A Showcase of Transformation
It has taken quite some time for people to accept that street art and graffiti is art, and if you’ve ever visited Austin, Texas, it doesn’t take much convincing for Austin-ites to recognize it as such.
Since the 1960s, canvases have stretched far beyond wooden frames, transforming into tunnels, bridges, train cars, and brick walls. While subversive in nature, often political in messaging, and deeply personal in practice, Graffiti and Street Art continue to yearn for a more democratized art world – one that is open, honest, and free to all people regardless of race, gender, class, or age.
Over the past few years, graffiti and street art have begun to rediscover their place in today’s world, serving as more than just another “art movement” – not only do they challenge you to think outside the box, but they go deeper, asking us to:
Tear down only to rebuild. Obstruct the old only to reconstruct something new.
Modern graffiti, which was forged by Black and Latino communities in 1970’s New York, has surrounded us so quickly that we see these “tags” from today’s most respected Graffiti writers – from Fab 5 Freddy and Lee Quinones (Fabulous 5), Kool Koor and Delta 2 (“Tag Master Killers”) to Doze Green, Cey Adams, Lady Pink, and RISK.
Street Art, unlike Graffiti, bases itself in imagery and works to capture attention in a public affair, exploring themes of allegory, activism, and identity.
From Richard Hambleton’s “Shadowman” paintings that are splashed across New York City, Paris and Rome, and Blek le Rat, whose motifs of rats and allusions of irony, to the infamous Banksy and other contemporary street artists – both art movements are symbolic of evolution and transformation that find their way into fine art, marketing, politics, and music.
And ‘Concrete to Canvas’ is no different in its tribute to graffiti and street art.
Concrete to Canvas
WCC first started Concrete to Canvas in November 2020, with over 25,000 people attending the first show.
“We really see graffiti and street art as two separate movements,” said Lindsay Hamm, WCC’s art curator, in an interview with CBS Austin. “They complement each other in a lot of ways, but they are very different. We wanted to find a way to highlight that distinction and celebrate the artists that have been born from both of those phenomenal movements.”
Having attended a private showing of Concrete to Canvas prior to its public opening, the ability to get up-close-and-personal with these incredible monuments of work was like stepping outside for fresh air. You could feel what these art pieces are communicating, while absorbing the energy of other gallery attendees who were also emoting in their own way.
On opening weekend, attendees were confronted with a 15-foot tall inflatable sculpture by renowned New York artist PhoebeNewYork. Throughout the space on the walls, attendees are able to see artists from all over the world, including Austin, New York, Portugal, France, and more.
Diving into the tasteful curation of Concrete to Canvas, Hamm said they looked at the relationships between artists who have influenced one another. She referenced the late Richard Hambleton, the godfather of street art, who directly influenced Blek le Rat in bringing his street art to France and developed the “stencil method” that art collectors most often associate with Banksy.
WCC, which is open seven days a week, undoubtedly offers more than your typical gallery and redefines whatever expectations and perceptions you may have around art galleries. Its world-class art is always offered year-round in a dynamic, interactive setting that includes fun programming – but most importantly, it’s free and open to the public.
In June, WCC featured local Austin artist Mila Sketch as part of its “Editions” showcase. Sketch, whose work has been exhibited across the U.S., France, Israel, Russia, and the UK, has integrated multiple different art mediums, including pointillism. She has recently turned to designing augmented reality (AR) digital animations to go along with her physical pieces.
Concrete to Canvas runs from July 22 to September 17, alongside WCC’s concurrently running open events that recently included Austin Speed Shop (with RISK) and a panel with ATX Urban Art.
