The french rococo pattern inspired backgrounds might make you think of renaissance aritsts ; In fact, Kehinde Wiley paints like a renaissance artist while also referencing the poses of characters painted by the old masters. Like the old masters paintings, Kehinde Wiley’s subjects are radiating with power, spirituality, and elegance in the larger than life paintings.

However, unlike the old masters, Kehinde is working in a contemporary world that is run by hip hop culture and its imagery. Kehinde’s work shows the urban black male as the protagonist in our culture. An unsung hero that is now given the same heroic portraiture seen in many art history text books. Kehinde explains why he paints this demographic, “often times when i go to museums around the world, most of the pictures on the wall don’t look like me.”

His models are found in the streets of neighborhoods like Harlem, where he currently resides, or South Los Angeles, where he is from. After finding a model, they are brought to his studio where they are shown a selection of art history books and are asked to choose a painting that speaks to them. A painting that they would like to resemble them. Kehinde then gets to work on immortalizing his model on the canvas. His paintings tackle the issues of race, religion, sexuality head on – no holds barred.

Kehinde Wiley received his MFA from Yale University in 2001. His work has shown at Deitch Projects and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. To see more of Kehinde Wiley’s work please go to his website at www.kehindewiley.com

It is refreshing to see an artist whose work is not the result of years of art instruction by dull art school teachers. While I think that art school has certainly created many artists, there are some whose work is the way it is because of a mere curiosity and drive to experiment.

One particular artist that this rings true for is Paper Monster. At first a scientist and reseracher, Paper Monster began paper cutout stencils primarily as a hobby. A way to cure boredom while concurrently releasing creative energy that he had stored in his day job. Paper Monster draws stencils of women. Whether they have a piercing stare or wondrous awe, their faces are always expressive. While his name might not suggest the beauty that is left behind, the name Paper Monster actually refers to the chaos of the artistic process. A name that is paradoxical in nature because the results are elegant and refined.

He uses bold colors sprayed on top of layers of old japanese comics, currency or other found objects. His goal is to “add greater depth to [his] stencil art pieces so that the audience can have a stronger interaction with the painting.”

While Paper Monster has only been creating stencils for the past four years, his work can already be found in several publications and art galleries. Including a recent show at Art Whino and Dirty Pilot. Keep an eye on Paper Monster’s blog at www.papermonster.org Also check back right here on Curbs and Stoops for an interview with Paper Monster coming soon and a possible print release (Maybe you should reply to this blog post if you love the man so that he will be encouraged!)

Street artists are out to destroy our cities. It is a sad truth, that this is how most of the world, and certainly all authority figures, look at street artists. Ofcourse, street artists are much more than that. They are sharing a part of themselves with their community. Street art is sometimes aesthetic, personal, anti establishment, and emotional. One collective’s work is all of those things, at once. The Destroy and Rebuild Collective, has a deconstructivist attitude towards their street art. They take elements of New York’s urban fabric and make it the crux of their pieces. Parts of what most people recognize only as city infrastructure, is turned into beautiful art.

The collective is made up of three excellent street artists from Brooklyn: Avone, 2Esae, and Ski. Their work is a fusion of various styles and media including photography, graffiti, paints, collage, and silk screen.

All of the artists in the collective were once graffiti artists. The natural evolution for them was to go into a street art setting where they could begin to rebuild the city they once were out to destroy. The fact that the group formed on that premise shows an interesting transformation from a naive creative outlet to a sophisticated cultural experience that demonstrates an mount of intensity, intellect, emotion and craft that is a rare combination found in any artist.

Blek le Rat, commonly known as the godfather of stencil art hails from Paris. It is no surprise that one of the most prolific stencil artists today is also from Paris. Younger than Blek, and fresher – C215 often sprays stencils of people from diverse cultures in streets around the world.

C215 is fairly young to the art. While he had been drawing and painting most of his life, he only started stenciling in 2005. His quick ascent into being an artist known around the world can be attributed to his amazing craft and intricate style.

To see more of C215’s work go to his myspace page here or visit his flickr page here.