#wk interact

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Dabrye - Two/Three (Ghostly, 2006) Genre: Experimental Hip Hop Artwork: WK Interact Bandcamp

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When asked for our Painting elective to choose artists whose work we may look at in regard to our ‘Movements’ brief, I decided to go with three very different artists as a way to keep things open-minded for the first week back. 

PHIL HALE

Phile Hale is an American figurative painter who lives and works from the U.K.

 Before working as a fine artist, Hale worked as an illustrator. In fact I believe the first time I noticed his work was a cover he did for a comic book when I was younger. Comic book art at the time wasn’t that concerned with realism so seeing art at this level really left a lasting impression on me. 

Hales work depicts figures often performing physical acts of confrontation in somewhat surreal environments. It’s hard to know if you are looking at a moment unfolding in front of you or a glitch in time, whereby different moments are occurring simultaneously in contradiction to each other. The mystery of Hale’s subject matter is pushed further by the use of tenebrism in his paintings, a technique whereby light and dark are highly contrasted to enhance drama and action. 

WK INTERACT

“WK (aka WK Interact) was born in 1969 in Caen, France. He has lived and worked in New York since the early 1990s. WK is interested with the human body in motion, his paintings of figures frozen in a flight of movement reflects this infatuation. The artist’s unique process involves a technique of twisting an original drawing or photograph while it’s being photocopied, resulting in the monochromatic palette and streamlined moment-in-time appearance of his finished work. WK site-determines his placements by finding an appropriate location first, then his imagery is chosen specifically with a concern for encounters in an urban environment or “interactions” (as the artist indicates in his pseudonym). In the late 1990s his images began appearing on building facades in downtown Manhattan, complimenting the constant stir of bodies and the perpetual motion of contemporary urban life in the fast-paced city.”

IAN WOODS

I don’t actually know a whole lot about Ian Woods except that he has a decent enough instagram following and he has influenced my recent infatuation with collage. 

He often makes portraits of an artist or public figure (he tends to lean towards hip-hop culture) by cutting interesting shapes out of magazine editorials of the subject and merging them together. The effect often translates into the subject appearing to be animated on the page, whether through body language or facial expressions. 

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creative photocopying

WK Interact (1969)

Cauction, 2007. Mixed media (collage, burns, and torn paper) on silkscreened ground: 23.62 in. (60 cm.) x 18.90 in. (48 cm.), unique

Project Brave, a 328 foot (100 m) mural for the 10th Anniversary of 9/11,  WK Interact collaborated with NYC’s firefighters -street art news

New series of pieces (2015) by WK Interact in New York City

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For more work by WK Interact check out his website and Instagram.

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WK Interact

DUMBO, Brooklyn More photos: WK Interact, Street Art

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WK Interact (1969)

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For more of WK’s work check out his website and Instagram