Street art has been appearing in Broward County news this week. Earlier, we told you about downtown Hollywood's upcoming mural project expansion.
Up next is Saturday's opening of Inside FACES, at FAT Village's MAC Fine Art Gallery. In case you missed it, MAC is that lime-green building near the train tracks, located at 833 NE Fourth Ave.
FACES' curator Rochi Llaneza admits she's been a longtime street-art fan. She ran the Wynwood Hardcore Art Contemporary Space since 2005 until it shuttered.
So now she is bringing some of Wynwood's brightest to Fort Lauderdale's art walk.
The show opens Saturday, from 7 to 10 p.m., and features 25 faces appearing in manipulated photographs, sculptures, installations, and paintings. Participating artists include 2alas, Claudia Calle, James Brutus, Evoca1, Julie Friel, Stefan Von Fouts, Ruben Ubiera, and Dan Walker.
Llaneza came up with the name as a way to examine the anonymity surrounding the earlier graffiti movement.
She says, "Graffiti artists were really seen as vandals back in the day. Banksy just revealed himself recently, but no one knew who he was in the beginning."
Graffiti and street art are often confused, and the words are incorrectly used interchangeably. The targeted audience is what sharply contrasts these art forms. In sum, street art is commissioned work presented on a wall or public space and is intended for society to view. On the other hand, graffiti is done without permission and is often created in letters or tags. The goal is intended to alert other graffiti writers or graffiti crews that a territory was marked.
And because of this, graffiti artists choose to keep their identities a secret. It's possible for a graffiti artist to be a street artist and vice versa.
The show also deals with looking beyond an individual's face. For example, Stefan Von Fouts created a Mona Lisa visage using found objects. The concept is that ideas, like materials, are recyclable.
Miamian Dan Walker made a 48-by-51-inch portrait out of laundry-detergent bottles, TV dinner boxes, and motor oil bottles. The result is what he calls a "found portrait" of a woman. "She's a mystery," says Walker.
Julie L. Friel made a multimedia piece in vivid pinks featuring a playful, cartoonish illustration in an urban space. Friel wrote in her artist statement, "These feral figures that inhabit my cityscapes are of you!"
And the ever-prolific Broward-based Ruben Ubiera will present The Gorilla in the Room, piece. To him, the gorilla represents the loud and bold street art movement.
Llaneza says, "What's interesting is that people didn't consider street art to be art, but now it's something people are talking about."
Check it out for yourself. Show opens Saturday and is on display through June. Visit here for event information.
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