Getting Down with Santa Fe

 While John tested out the local skate park, I examined the street art that covered the landscape.

To many this may appear to be a mass of nastiness, and it is, if you read closely, but I found some beauty in it.

John don't care, he just want to ride...

I love the layering in street art.  If you peeled back each layer you would see something totally original, and together the layers form a disparate collaboration.  The dude who made that chicken raptor thing didn't know that the sea foam and grey crazy hyphenated lettering would be placed over top.  I like it.

I like this guy.  He is the ultimate New Mexican warrior.

I like the fizzed out orange boarder against the duller, smaller scripts.  Speaking of script and fonts and things: these artists come up with some really cool designs.  Letters intertwining, transitioning colors, etc.  It's kind of ironic that they often become so intricate and ornate that they are unreadable.  I know that is part of the point, I just like imagining these hard gangsters making pretty pictures.

I also enjoy thinking about the amount of preparation that goes into the design.  I bet the artist sketches all of the time and even if they don't specifically plan the design out sometimes, there has to be a certain amount of practice to get to this point.

Obviously I have never talked to a street artist before.  I don't know why, but we generally don't run in the same circles.

Street art is just so alive, so here and now.  I don't know if this was done 3 years ago, or 3 months ago.

Fluid black and white.

Chu-ching!

I like this affect and the color choice.  The washed out strokes in the back and the matte outline.

In what other style is it okay to just put a few money signs here and there?

How long does it take someone to do this?

This "Waste" one is cool, especially next to that crappy "PRP" one.

Seriously, where do they come up with this stuff?