Monday, March 5, 2007

Highraff

Rafael Calazans (Highraff), creates imagery of cities and colorful landscapes, with vibrant results. In his latest body of works, Highraff develops his drawings by adding a three-dimensional component. Through the use of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) material, he turns murals imagery into elaborate sceneries and sculptures. His process creates depth and design of monumental proportions.

- Jonathan LeVine Art Gallery





Speto

Paulo Cesar Silva (Speto), is one of Brazil’s most popular street artists. He attributes his visual style to influences from hip-hop, local pop culture, and eclectic world styles. Speto’s original graffiti, blends lines of traditional northeastern Brazilian wood carving styles, with sophisticated textures and figurative imagery. Working in a variety of mediums such as, murals, illustrations, and graphics, Speto fuses modern techniques with Brazilian cultural heritage, to create a distinctive form of street art.

- Jonathan LeVine Art Gallery










Bronx Mural Project

The Bronx Mural Project, is a collaboration of eight Brazilian artists (Fefe, Titi Freak, Kboco, Highraff, Speto, Onesto, Zezao, and Boleta), the Jonathan LeVine Gallery, and the Choque Cultural Gallery.

As a cross-cultural development project, the artists painted five walls at the Holcome L. Rucker School, in the Bronx New York. The artists were visiting the Jonathan LeVine gallery for their debut exhibit, Ruas de Sao Paulo: A survey of Brazilian Street Art, which ran from February 17 to March 17, 2007.

All the students that were involved in the Mural Project, assisted in the painting of the murals, leaned about Brazilian art, culture, and wrote about their experiences. Students will continue the project, painting murals at another school in a different location.
The students that were selected for the project showed strong interest in graffiti and the arts. It was developed as a way for them to learn, and be recognized for contributing to their community.