DENVER 2016 ~ On a short trip to Denver, Colorado back in April, I took some time to wonder the streets and captured some of the vibrant street art scene there.
I stayed on E. Colfax near Park Avenue and the first thing I noticed right off-the-bat was the strong sticker game going on there. Being a big sticker fan myself, I got a little obsessed trying to document all the slaps. Every sign, newspaper box, dumpster and drainpipe were plastered with plenty of great sticker work.
Names like MESR, INVIZ, SPB (Silly Pink Bunny / Jeremy Fish), YESM (tribute?), AEKS and HB9, led me from sign to sign.
YESM ? (tribute?) WKT, EMT
INVIZ, FTSK – Label 228
IMOK (If Mother Only Knew) – Jive
SPB (Silly Pink Bunny / Jeremy Fish)
FTSK Label 228 & Hello my name is BERT
Some nice 228 Labels, hand styles and graphics were seen in some out-of-the way places too.
Then I made my way over to the Larimer Street area near 27th St. where there are tons of sanctioned murals but even more unsanctioned stuff. There are two alleyways on either side of Larimer St. that are chock-full of tags, murals, wheatpastes, throwies, and just about anything else you can think of.
Trashbird, Lomax and??
One of my favorite discoveries there was the “Kwiatkowski Press” prints. A project by Brian Bradley, working under the name Frank Kwiatkowski, he carves his designs on sections of old traffic cones to make the prints. I saw at least five of them up on walls and other surfaces. He has a very unique style that reminds me of the raw and revolutionary work of Emory Douglas in the 1970s. Kwiatkowski often centers his work around the healthcare industrial complex and his struggles in dealing with diabetes.
Another wonderful discovery was the work of Koko Bayer (@kokonofilter). The grandchild of groundbreaking Modern Bauhaus Artist Herbert Bayer, Koko’s project “brings his work back to life” by reproducing images and getting them up out in the streets, and adding a contemporary twist here and there. Now a whole new generation can be introduced to his masterworks through this collaboration that defies the bounds of time and mortality.
Koko Bayer also documents the weathering of the pieces over time.
While walking through one of the alleys I was surprised to see a huge piece by one of my longtime favorite artists: GATS (Graffiti Against the System). @GATSPTV
I first came across the work of GATS while visiting ROME in 2010. The East Bay artist has one of the most recognizable styles on the streets. This double-faced piece behind The Meadowlark Bar music venue was so rad, I did my best to move the dumpsters out of the way to get a full shot, but the left one was full of cooking oil, so it was no-go.
So I shot this Impossible Project / Polaroid of one face.
There was waaay too much wonderful stuff to mention all of it in this post. So I’ll show a few more here, then you can click the link at the bottom of the page (or here) if you’d like to flip through my Flickr Gallery of 80 photos.
CORPSE ART (@c0rpse___)
YEN34
OhYeah !!
Scot LeFavor WHAM! mural
There’s tons more to see, so click through the gallery below to fully immerse yourself in the Denver street scene.
Check back soon for the next installment of our “On the Street in:” series. Hint: it’s often preceded by “Moon’s Over…”
Stay Up! ~ Peace.
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ALL TEXT AND PHOTOS BY LANCE ARAM ROTHSTEIN
lance aram rothstein
Labeauratoire Blog 