These first two pieces where created by Kurt Wenner. He was born in Ann Arbor Michigan, and most well known for his anamorphosis pieces. Wenner also went to school at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Art Center College of Design, giving him a very good background in art.
This first piece called Perseus was created in 2007, this is also considered to be one of Kurt Wenner’s pieces of Sacred Art. This piece is of Perseus, which was one of the Greek Gods, killing Medusa, which is one of the things he is known for in mythology. I enjoyed this piece because of how much it reminds me of some of the Renaissance pieces we looked at, as well as the incredible amount of detail.
This second piece is also by Kurt Wenner, and this one is called Gluttony.Gluttony is Wenner’s representation of Gluttony, one of the 7 deadly sins in Christianity. I like this piece for its incredible amount of detail, along with how well I think it represents some of the forms of gluttony. This piece was created in July 28, 2008 and is in Mantula, Italy.
Worldcard - Julian Beever
The next artist is named Julian Beever was born in the United Kingdom in 1959 and like Wenner he is well known for his anamorphosis pieces. He attended Leeds University and studied fine art, giving Beever his interesting background.
The first piece I have by Beever is called Worldcard and is in Istanbul. This one of his many pieces with a specific meaning. Like much of street art I enjoyed this particular piece because of how interesting the artist made it.
Make Poverty History by Julian Beever
This second piece is called Make Poverty History created in Edinburgh to support the pressure campaign for the G8 in 2005. This piece had it specific purpose, but other than that I think it also has an interesting meaning behind it, with something like Make Poverty History written on it would make anyone take a second look and try to figure out what it meant.
Change - Banksy
The final artist is named Banksy, this is an anonymous graffiti artist, and no one knows his real name, but it is believed to be Robert Banks. It is believed that he was a native of Yate, South Gloucestershire and he was born in 1974. It is hard to give a good biography of him because of how little is actually known about him.
The first piece I have is Change, created in Claremont, California in 2007. This piece was interesting to me because of the message on it, “Keep your coins, I want change,” the message seems pretty strait forward, he wants the world to change more than money.
Banksy anarchist rat in Sloane Square.
The last piece in this is called Anarchist Rat, there are many of these pieces, this particular one was created in Sloane Square in London. This piece is suppose to have many meanings among them, it is considered to be a good thing for a graffiti artists to be compared to rats because there are many qualities that are similar between the two, such as cleverness, superhuman drive, among others. I enjoyed this particular piece because I have always thought of rats of a bad thing, but after reading a little about this piece I found some good qualities about them.
November 17, 2009 at 7:28 am
I love the works of Wenner and Beever. I have always found the amazing visual effects that these amazing artists are able to create are fantastic. I would love to see these any of their pieces in person, just to see how realistic they are. Too bad they are created with chalk and are only preserved in photos.
I am glad you added Banksy’s works as well. Very seldom is a graffiti artists’ work showcased. I would love to see more of the uniquely, interesting pieces of graffiti that match the illusionistic art of Beever and Wenner. Some other artists that might interest you are the works of Leonardo Delafuente and Anderson Augusto. Over the past year and a half the duo, known as 6emeia, have creatively painted over 50 storm drains in a region of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Here is a link to a few of their pieces: http://www.saynotocrack.com/index.php/2007/10/06/storm-drain-graffiti/.
Thank you for the information on these artists. I would like to see an exhibit like this with maybe just a little bit more correlation in the style of street art. There is such a extreme difference between the realistic, illusionist chalk creations of Beever and Wenner to the simplistic, though I know complex, art by Bansky.
November 17, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Nice pieces of art i like how you lumped the graffitti art in with the street art. Its becoming a new sort of pop culture or something and its important that it is recognized. .,Great job on the biography and finding all the relevant information about each peice. I personally know how hard it is to find on some peices. I love the anarchist rat and worldcard pieces that you showed. It seems like all the pieces you picked have some sort of underlying message, societal or moral. Did you mean to do that? Anyway i think you did a great job. You get a 100 from me. Thanks for sharing!