Lauritz.com proudly presents its first auction of works by leading street artists. The auction offers 40 works by both internationally renowned and lesser known artists, including Seen, Dondi White, Obey, Blek le rat, Martin Burgos, Klister Peter and others. This wide array makes it possible to find works by some of the best known graffiti pioneers as well as less established artists. Graffiti began to grow at the end of the 1960’s as a reaction to the development of social criticism around the world. The Swedish political journal ‘Puss 1968’ wrote about the new ‘Offkonsten’ – posters placed illegally in city surroundings. Parallel to developments in Sweden and the USA, Danish artist Jørgen Nash, who was a member of the Situationist movement, also became a face of the new art genre posing often with a spray can in his hand.
Richard Mirando, later better known as SEEN, worked as a custom car painter in New York, in the early 1970’s. Working daily with spray paint, it felt natural to begin using colours on things other than cars. Today he is considered to be one of the leading figures for what we know as graffiti art. When the graffiti documentary ‘Style Wars’ was released in the early 1980’s, SEEN, a principal person in the film, was significantly older than the other painters making him a bit of a father figure. After the documentary was shown on European television, the consequences were quickly evident as thousands of public spaces were spray painted in one night.
for further details – Street smart
