Street artists who have broken mainstream

A guest curated show by Brian Swarts, President of Taglialatella Galleries, NY

“Growing up in rural Ohio I wasn’t exposed to a lot of graffiti art but had always been fascinated by pop art and comic-like imagery. After all, Ohio is the birthplace of Superman and Pop Art legend Tom Wesselmann, as well as the fine art education of Roy Lichtenstein, among others. So it wasn’t until I moved to Brooklyn in 2006 that I became acquainted with and captivated by the ever-changing public installations on walls, cars, phone kiosks, train stations and other mediums that I hadn’t studied as a part of art history. These images of the street had the comic-like style that I loved, but also meaningful text laced with irony and cynicism and soaked with peaceful rebellion, whether it be political, societal or cultural, and it was always displayed on a street corner near you.

Since then I have made an effort to share that enthusiasm for the linguistics and hieroglyphs of today’s urban atmosphere and been one of the many countless to revel in the phenomena we in the art world call the “urban art” or “street art” movement. And even though there’s an undeniable anti-commercialism element to this art, nothing makes more sense in America than people collecting what shouldn’t be collected. So, as a gallerist, I find a lot satisfaction and drive to cover my walls with images deriving from the walls of the streets, so appreciators like me can bring those images to the walls of their homes.”

The following works are from artists made from the streets and made it in the streets, but also have made it to print.