FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – You don?t need to go to a gallery or a museum to see it.
It?s on your morning commute or causal drive. It?s an art form and accessible to everyone.
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Some call it graffiti. Others call it Urban Art.
?I don't see graffiti as something wrong. I see tagging as separate from graffiti and urban art,? says artist James Damatt.
Over the past few months, over 100 artists are represented in these urban murals that are literally popping up overnight in the Arts District near downtown Fort Lauderdale. They have been creating giant murals, letting people know that this may be the new Wynwood.
?This particular art form is somewhat polarizing, says Rolling Stock Gallery owner Ryan James. "It's here. It's bringing people to this neighborhood.??
Artists Lain Barnes and James DaMatt?s latest canvas is a warehouse wall near downtown. They?re creating a mural about foster parenting and the emotions involved when the kids leave. It?s not easy painting on a large surface. And the tools they use are different than most fine artists. House paint, rollers, and then there?s the spray paint can.
?It's simple in the fact that it portrays one simple element. It sprays. It's complicated in the fact that there's different caps there's different styles, there's wind factors, there's rain factors, there's water there's drips. It?s just as complicated an art form as oil,? says Barnes.
Barnes, a stencil artist, battles the mosquitoes and humidity working at night with a projection monitor to transfer his design onto the large painted background. The next layers of paint create texture, depth, detail and emotion in their work of art.
?You have graffiti artists that were notorious in Miami that are now fine artists. And they are selling their work in New York and Los Angeles. I think it's really become accepted more," Barnes says.
The artists want the public to see that art can be everywhere, not just in a gallery or a museum, to be accepted.
James is impressed with the amount of skill and perseverance it takes to create one of these murals under incredibly adverse conditions.
You can view some these murals in the Downtown Fort Lauderdale Arts District. The area is between Andrews Avenue and Flagler Avenue, from Northwest 4th Street to Northwest 6th Street.