JMR: As a Brooklyn native, I am inspired by the flux of the city: memories and photographs of painted elevated trains, illuminated windows in nocturnal cityscapes, broken glass shimmering in dull sidewalks, and the panoply of cultural pluralism, increasing by the day, even in a city already as diverse as New York. In the public space of the city, street artists appropriate the urban environment by layering ideas on top of one another. Wheat pasted posters, aerosol designs, white rolled lettering, advertisements, stickers, peeling and decaying paper, brick. The process I use in my work is an attempt to mimic this. I collage the initial surface or leave it clean, and then paint projected drawings over it. This layering technique results in an interplay of tangled, swooping, and jutting lines, which coalesce into unexpected shapes, emerging as vivid fields of color. Ultimately these images are informed by urban iconography, but they also contain a more personal narrative. Much time is spent filling pages with autonomous ink drawings, rendered and defined, before projection. The viewer is presented with a dichotomy, as, despite its condensed and chaotic appearance, the work strikes the eye as both simple and open. The projections abstract the original surface image; the process creates a nocturnal environment, leading me beyond the physicality of the urban landscape.
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
You've been seeing a new direction for Brooklyn Street Artist JMR recently. Instead of huge multi-colored abstracts that sometimes contain a portrait within, we have seen a number of smaller black and...
Black Heart in the Sun (Bishop 203) (photo Steven P. Harrington) Yo, check out the color! (JMR) (photo Jaime Rojo) Department of Parks Pool Rules: No. 4: Please check ...
“He’s pissed off. He’s like… he has an attitude. He’s ornery. In my work I’m always looking to relate my own feelings to the images that I see and try to express them through painting.” Chris Sta...
Paradigm Shifting and Cave Writings Looking back at the powerful changes in '08, it's not hard to see their reflection on the Brooklyn streets, which may serve as tea leaves revealing the messages sw...
This year represents a high-water mark for current Street Artists being represented at the New York fairs if what we have just seen over the last couple of days is any indication. For those who have b...