Warning: If you use wheatpaste to adhere your art or design to an unsecured wall in the city, you will be arrested. (Good, I got that out of the way to please the lawyers.)
I applaud Glitter Milk, the newest gallery on the art map, for their foray into educating our community on the importance of street art and for devoting a portion of the gallery's programming to the education. Glitter Milk tackles some of the tricky legalities that will usher in dialogue locally around what the difference is between this form of art and outright vandalism.
And while many will want to debate me on the legitimacy of this art form, I believe the mission of the street artist is often motivated by a diminishing voice from under-represented populations. It allows them to engage in dialogue with those who intrude on the urban landscape to take from the community, rather than nurture.
The subject of many of these campaigns, born out of the deliberate silencing of diverse voices from within the urban setting, is why street art is so vital right now in our culture.
"I chose artist Ricardo Gonzalez as the first workshop instructor because he reached out to me when Glitter Milk was just forming," says Miranda Sharp, co-owner of the gallery she started with her friend and artist Josh McVety. "Since we wanted something for our next project to be related to the previous exhibition (Die Cut, a sticker-themed art show), Gonzales' portfolio, with his emphasis on wheatpasted street art and advertising, flowed nicely with the work featured in Die Cut."
Ricardo "NACO" Gonzalez is an artist from the Blue Island area of Chicago's south side. He fosters community dialogue with his art, tackling themes like displacement and belonging within the Mexican-American culture of the United States.
Gonzalez's ability to create compelling imagery and then place these iconic and colorful art pieces within urban areas impacted by these themes enables his community's culture to engage in dialogue as they tackle these generalizations and perpetuated stereotypes head on together.
When asked why she'd offer a class on wheatpaste, knowing all the challenges locally, Sharp says, "I really wanted to learn the technique as well!"
As our city continues to grow -- and as more and more folks come either to visit or relocate here -- street art as we know it now will only begin to blossom in exciting new ways. So I think it is great to have a chance to learn more about it in a setting perfect for this exploration but also taught by a real professional of this art form of communication.
Space is limited so please
register in advance here.