Street Art

Edgar Mueller

Edgar Mueller is a street artist. His work is three dimensional. His tools of the trade are paint, chalk, and a sidewalk.

He was born in Mulheim an der Ruhr on July 10th 1968. He grew up in Straelen, a small city on the edge of Germany. The beauty of his home town inspired him to paint.

While in high school, he entered a street art competition. He was sixteen the first time he entered. When he was nineteen, he won the competition with a copy of “Jesus at Emmaus.” He still holds the title maestro madonnari (master street painter).

His paintings are incredibly technical and takes anywhere from three days to a week to create. He has to work fast due to weather conditions. If a drop gets on one of his paintings, it is ruined.

There is a science to his artwork. He paints a three-d picture on a flat surface. Below, is a picture of one of his paintings from the “wrong” angle. Above, is the viewing point of the picture. There is really only one viewing point to admire the painting the way it was meant to be seen.

This painting was done for the movie Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. It was painted on the pavement at the Westfield Shopping Center in London. It broke the world record for the largest 3-D painting; it was 3,440 square feet. It took six days to complete. Edgar said, “I’m not a record hunter, but because I want to change public areas into a different look, to look different from daily life I have to go huge. If I want to change a street, then I have to cover the whole street, so that’s the reason my paintings are so big.”

His paintings are interactive and meant for pictures!

He can turn a simple sidewalk into a winter wonderland.

The shark painting was created for the Illusion of Art Festival in Hong Kong.

The video below gives us a glimpse into his process.

Edgar Mueller is truly a great artist. He takes an everyday object that everyone is too busy to notice and turns it into a remarkable piece of art. I am in love with his artwork, but as much as it makes me happy, it makes me sad too. The art is temporary. Something as simple as a rain shower could remove his masterpiece that took hours to create.

By: Erica Katherine Stewart

Street Artist: Blu

Blu is a so called “street artist” who lives in Bologna, Italy. He goes by the nickname of Blu to conceal his true identity so there is not alot of information about his personal life, but he started painting in the Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy and started doing his street art in 1999. his work has been referred to as “epic scale murals” for they cover the entire sides of buildings. He uses cranes, ladders, and long extended paint brushes so he can reach the farthest parts of the wall. (as seen in this video)

In his art work he shows images of people or landscapes that represent troubling times in the past, like the Holocaust, Civil war, or any worldly misfortunes, but he puts them in a welcoming manner to where it wont frighten the viewer. like in This painting it represents a current struggle in Chile where big companies are building a dam named HidroAysén which threatens to destroy the Pascua and Baker Rivers and no one is doing anything about it.

Since his projects are so huge and take so much time to make he likes to make time lapse videos of his projects like this one (i think this is amazing)

Another thing he does with his art work is that he likes to make them interact with the environment around them and sometimes are a piece of the artwork (below)

Alot of his pieces are very intricate with alot of detail and you have to zoom in just to see it. which to me make the pieces of art more special because you have to stop and look at it for a while to enjoy the piece.

Other pieces:

I like all of his art work because it looks like he put alot of time and effort into the making of these megalithic paintings and they all have meaning and express these meanings very well.

sources:

http://www.streetartbio.com/#!blu/c91a

http://www.streetartbln.com/blog/street-artist-blu-the-mural-legend-in-berlin-fotos-and-report-by-street-art-bln/

http://www.visualtherapyonline.com/?p=29174

By. Nicholas a. Miller

Within the communities of New York City there is a mass variety of artistic expression. From the street of Brooklyn to the outskirts of Queens within the areas of Chinatown and Little Italy spreading to the subway tunnels all the way to Times Square; street art can be found on display from everything as mundane as garbage dumpsters, trains, buses, bridges and building walls. Some of this art may have or may not have been tagged onto objects and surrounding by artist that either had or had not been permitted to place their artwork onto the objects and surroundings. Yet to me it is a sign of an individual’s artistic expressions and ideas being brought into an existing life. Rather it is simple line contours or complex murals filled with a wide array of colors and styles, the street art of New York City is by fall is high on the scale when it comes to variety, style, and individual expression mixed with a melting pot of diverse cultures and views.

While venturing to the PS1, an addition to the MOMA art museum, this form of art was very dominant and respected among the locals within that community. From what I’ve gathered to understand, in order for an artist to have use of the building walls within the community; the artist must first submit a written request or application along with added artwork and detailed description of what the artist plans to create on the wall. This may help encourage graffiti and street artists to continue to pursue their passion for creativity and artistic expression while not being involved in any sort of vandalism or obstruction of property. To view these works up close is a real inspiration to any artist! It shows that a simple idea can easily be manifested in a large scale.

Street art isn’t as prestigious as other forms of art to most, however it helps build a unique and lively atmosphere to the already creative environments and amazing architectural surfaces within some of the inner and outer neighborhoods of New York City.