Ahead of the much-anticipated exhibition's opening on January 13, here's five things you might not know about Art From The Streets.

1. It’s one of ArtScience Museum’s most daring exhibitions

Tatler Asia
Above Sheryo & Yok, Outlaws of Style. Image: Marina Bay Sands

According to executive director Honor Harger, it brings together over 200 artworks spanning the movement’s growth from its inception in Philadelphia (not, as commonly believed, New York) in the late 1960s, to some of the most exciting artists active today. Many of these artists are being exhibited in Singapore for the very first time. This daringness is deliberate; the exhibition aims to reframe public perceptions of this dynamic art form.

 

2. It’s not just graffiti

Tatler Asia
Above Felipe Pantone, Untitled. Image: Felipe Pantone

Although spray paint is an iconic signature of the movement, street art has evolved to encompass many ways of making art, from intricate stencilling to calligraphy to Invader’s signature mosaics. It’s now a diverse and dynamic cultural movement which rubs shoulders with mainstream fine art.

 

3. Street art engages with its locations, its contexts and its communities

Tatler Asia
Above Vhils, Untitled

For example, local street artist Speak Cryptic inserts locations into his art which have been important to him personally (such as independent venue The Substation, where he spent much of his youth listening to bands), and Vhils, who engraves or etches walls and surfaces to create new meaning in them. Often he unearths old posters behind new in a kind of cultural archaeology.

 

4. It's for everyone.

Tatler Asia
Above Speak Cryptic at work. Image: Marina Bay Sands

Guest curator and street art expert Magda Denysz highlights how street art has grown to become the first truly global art movement; from Italy to Africa, you’ll see street art wherever you go. Artists inspire and are informed by one another across the world. At Art From The Streets, you can try your hand at creating your own piece of street art on the gallery’s wall.

 

 

5. You'll see works appearing for the first time at this exhibition

Tatler Asia
Above Eko Nugroho, Garden Full of Blooming Democracy (detail)

Ten leading street artists from all over the world, including Ludo, Speak Cryptic, M-City and Felipe Pantone, were commissioned to create on-site works on the gallery’s walls. Following the exhibition’s end, these works will vanish, highlighting the fleeting and ephemeral nature of street art. Catch them before they go!

Art From The Streets runs from January 13 to June 3, at ArtScience Museum

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