Icon of a Revolution by Peyton Scott Russell

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Peyton Scott Russell in residence in the gallery from December 13th 2021- February 18th 2022. 

Statement from the artist:

Exploring the abstract aesthetics of graffiti art, and the elimination of it, as an installation & on canvas. "I enjoy looking at public walls that have been painted repeatedly with mis-matched paint to cover unwanted graffiti markings. We call this “The Buff”, a term coined in the 1983 documentary film, Style Wars (Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant). I find this resembles abstract paintings by artists like Hofmann, Rothko, Newman, Reinhardt, Still. The flat simple shapes in what appears to be random placements are dictated by where graffiti tags used to be is a dialogue between Graffiti Writers and city workers/property owners/vigilantes.

As a practicing graffiti artist of 35+ years, The Buff idea has taken me back to studying my favorite fine art movement - Abstract Expressionism. By using concepts of The Buff, I feel I can participate within the abstract movement and continue practicing the craft of graffiti as a personal collaboration. The Buff is another form of graffiti marking adding to the overall contemporary language of graffiti culture and its history. This language is created by the action of graffiti writing and the action of erasing or removing it - highlighting the push and pull dynamic of human interaction with surfaces."

Peyton Scott Russell 

You can see more of Peyton's work  online at https://houseofdaskarone.com/ and @houseofdaskarone