Reno River Festival 2006 Urban Art Mural

NOW ON DISPLAY at the Nevada Museum of Art, Nightingale Rooftop Gallery, through October 22.

Join the artists for an informal gallery discussion Friday, October 6, 12 noon at the Nevada Museum of Art.

The Reno River Festival Urban Art Project brought together five contemporary artists for a live art event in Barbara Bennett Park in May 2006. University of Nevada, Reno art professor Tamara Scronce wrangled the energy and talent of five incredible students to create a temporary wall of art in the spirit of the festival. Anthony Alston, Rob Brown, Caedron Burchfield, Nick Larsen, and Brian Porray constructed a 60' x 8' wall and covered it top to bottom with amazing color, line and image. Festival attendees were able to witness the project take form from beginning to end, watching the artists construct, design, and paint throughout the four day celebration. This project presented a rare and valued opportunity for five artists to work collaboratively while still honoring their individuality. The wall became a twist and mix of styles, disciplines, and formal practices as these five artists interacted and created in organic and spontaneous ways.

The rapidly emerging style of urban art has been undergoing a thriving metamorphosis over the past 25 years, evolving from its early direct associations with graffiti into an aesthetic genre all its own. Urban art's visual style is rich, abundant, and eclectic combining and recontextualizing elements of lowbrow culture, punk rock, hip-hop, graffiti, pop culture, and mass media consumerism. These young artists grew up watching the Transformers on television, reading Spiderman and Batman comics, and taking in urban environments covered with graffiti while listening to punk rock and hip-hop music. These cumulative experiences have spawned a new and exciting visual vocabulary that expresses individuality through interpretations of influence, surrounding, and interaction.

Sponsored by the Reno Sparks Convention Authority