Dtr Modern Galleries Brainwash

Mr. Brainwash is a French street Pop artist and videographer known for his large-scale installations and prints of celebrities like Madonna, Kate Moss and Marilyn Monroe. His practice of subverting cultural iconography and appropriation borrows from Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Bansky.

Fellow street artist Alec Monopoly has said that he considers Mr. Brainwash a mentor. He is perhaps best known for his role in Banksy’s documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010), which features Mr. Brainwash’s rise to success in the street art scene. Much like Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, Mr. Brainwash's popularity in Pop art happened almost overnight after the premiere of the film, in which he remarks, “Banksy captured me becoming an artist. In the end, I became his biggest work of art.”

Born Thierry Guetta, Mr. Brainwash moved to Los Angeles when he was 15, where he attended high school before dropping out. The artist later ran a successful vintage clothing store in the city. His interest in street art was spurred by a visit to France in 1999, where he learned that his cousin was the famed graffiti artist Space Invader. Having developed a knack for filming, Mr. Brainwash started to record the nightly escapades of Invader and other street artists such as Shepard Fairey.

In 2013, Mr. Brainwash was included in the exhibition “Art Wars” at Saatchi Gallery in London. He has since developed an exceptional international reputation beyond hype-culture; his followers are captivated by his use of positive messages, an uplifting outlook and a retrospection of life through street and contemporary art alike, of which his global growing fan base can't get enough.

In the present day, Mr. Brainwash's international fan base of collectors has propelled his blue-chip artwork into the upper tier of desirability where he has joined the ranks of contemporary Pop art masters such as KAWS, Roy Lichtenstein and Jeff Koons.

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(Biography provided by Arton Contemporary)

Street art is a style created for city walls, subway trains and other public spaces. Sometimes it is commissioned, yet most often it is an individual statement of defiant free expression. Although mostly an urban style, street art can be found all over the world, including JR’s pasted portraits on the separation wall in Palestine, Invader’s playful ceramic tile mosaics in Paris and the provocative stencil and spray-paint works by Banksy in London.

The Philadelphia-based Cornbread — aka Darryl McCray — is considered the first modern graffiti artist. He began tagging his name around the city in the 1960s. Graffiti art later flourished in New York City in the 1970s. There, young artists used spray paint and markers to create tags and large-scale graphic works, with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring both developing their distinctive styles through the graffiti scene, which would evolve into street art. Artists such as Tracy 168 and Lady Pink pioneered the Wild Style of complex graffiti writing in the 1980s, pushing the movement forward.

Because of its unsanctioned, improvisational and frequently covert nature, street art involves a range of techniques and aesthetics. Some street artists use quick and effective stenciling, whereas others wheat-paste posters, commandeer video projectors or freehand draw elaborate illustrations and murals. Shepard Fairey made his mark with street art stickers before designing the iconic “Hope” poster for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

While the origins of street art are rooted in a strictly noncommercial creative act that confronted political issues, sexuality and more for a general audience of passersby, the art form has moved inside the galleries over the years. Today, just as Basquiat and Haring took their works from Manhattan’s Lower East Side alleyways into Soho galleries, artists including KAWS, Barry McGee and Osgemeos are in demand with collectors of fine art.

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Mixed media is a type of art that sees artists using a range of materials or more than one medium. Find a range of mixed media paintings and other artworks for your space today on 1stDibs.

Mixed media is distinct from multimedia, which describes art involving electronic media, including video, computers and digital elements. Artists combine painting, drawing, photography and sculpture for mixed media art. Instead of sticking to one form, they aim to break boundaries and create unique pieces. Pop art is one of the vibrant periods for mixed media art, with Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg among its most fabled producers. Rauschenberg, like many mixed media artists, used found objects in his work, from cast-off furniture to newspapers.

Collage is one of the most well-known areas of mixed media. Artists use various types of paper, fabric, photographs and more to create one cohesive work. A type of collage is assemblage, which involves 3D objects.

While artists may use fabric in collage, it can be the very substance of the art itself. Fabric art makes extensive use of texture. Artists may paint or embroider on fabric to create layers of texture and color to evoke a specific feeling. They can also transfer photos onto fabric for innovative ways to display visuals.

Resin-based art has clean, sharp lines and a definitive shape. Resin is a liquid that hardens to a high-gloss surface and is used to seal wood, counters and floors. Resin can also seal artwork, and many artists tint it using pigment powder, ink, spray paint and other vivid materials. If water is added, the resin will turn milky instead of being completely transparent. It’s common for artists working in mixed media to use resin on nontraditional surfaces like glass, wood, metal and stone. This creates a shine that’s perfect to brighten a dull space in the home or office.

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