Veteran New York Street Artist WK Interact has been depicting the rush and clamor and violence of the streets of New York since the 80s. With stark black and white imagery that captures and distorts the action layered with precise mechanical renderings and computerized symbology, WK creates a portrait of the kinetic chaos of the life on the street and delivers it back.
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
His new project installed in Brooklyn on 9/9/11 commemorates the events marked citywide 2 days later, when WK watched our streets convulse. With 10 years distance, the memory is just as close as ever for some, including firefighters who plunged themselves into the disaster instead of running from it. While WK is highly gifted verbally, he is most powerful when he uses his Street Art to talk about the impact of that day and pays tribute here to those firefighters while looking at the disaster. “Project Brave” is not his work in solitary – WK did this in partnership with the Yonkers Fire Department and the support of the Fire Commissioner Anthony Pagano and his Deputy Chief William Fitzpatrick and other firefighters in the city.
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The huge installation expanse alludes to the overwhelming nature of the events and gives viewers the opportunity to contemplate the loss of firefighters and the people they left. Without musty museum stilted pomp, this modern depiction casts the events in a contemporary context fitting for the times; one more example of the contribution that Street Art can make to the culture and life of the city.
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)
(all photos copyright Jaime Rojo)
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See our 2 part interview from September 2009 with WK Interact;
The 25 Year War: WK Interact in New York, Part 1 : Brooklyn Street Art
The 25 Year War: WK Interact in New York, Part 2 : Brooklyn Street Art
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