Street Art ResearchConnor Wake

CranioFabio de Oliveira Parnaiba, better known as Cranio what means skull in english. Was born in 1982 and grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1998 Fabio started to put up his work for everyone to see on the walls of Sao Paulo. Cranio now has a trademark indian character in all of his work. Cranio gets his inspiration from life, cartoons and the famous painter Salvador Dali. The artist has been improving his techniques, innovating in the context, but without losing the style he is known for. Cranio has work all over the world from London to Berlin. Cranio also has one of his art pieces in the biggest street art museum in Amsterdam. I like this work as it is animated and keeps the same style throughout all of his work what i like. His work is also very bold and uses bright colours. I think that this is good as it is effective and draws people's attention to his work.

http://cranioartes.com

SmatesBart Smeets, better known in art world as Smates, is a Belgian street artist who was born 1978 in Asse. He studied graphic design at university and once he graduated he took 2 years taking painting classes as he was a fan of realistic based paintings and this is what he based his work on. At the age of 17 Smates began his graffiti story but then stopped 5 years later at the age of 22 for no apparent reason. Many years later he then went back to his element of street art in 2009 at the age of 31, then Smates in 2013 at the age of 35 became a full time graffiti artist and is still going to this day. I like his work as it is very realistic and detailed. This makes the work stand out and be recognised by many. His work usually contains bright colours so it stands out as it is bold and his work is based on the underwater element.

http://www.widewalls.ch/artist/smates/

FlixRafael Fernandez, better known as Flix, was born in 1976 and raised in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. He is famous for his distinct style of transforming objects, walls and places into strong geometrical colourful art with an evident Aztec influence. He has been active for years on his local streets, and has created many stunning street art projects using a wide range of techniques. Flix dreams of transforming the streets and society through art and culture. He considers himself an observer. When he travels outside of his hometown, he analyses deeply the space and its urban elements while imagining future layouts. Urban elements are the trigger of his creations and the key in the compositions. He locates his work in unobstructed spaces, or at least, where there is no visual impediment for the passers-by. He always aims to leave a mark by transforming forgotten spaces into landmarks. His work can be found sporadically on traffic lights poles, hydrants, pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipes, abandoned ships, fences, walls and façades in isolated spots. I like Flix’s work as it is bright and he uses the aztec theme what inspires me as i like the aztec vibe, shapes and colours usually used to represent it. From this Flix’s work is vibrant and stands out for everyone to see with his style being unique as it is so different and he produces different things using the same aztec style, however he usually bases his work on aztec faces.

http://www.streetartbio.com/flix

RepleteReplete born in the gothic port of Whitby, is an acclaimed international artist of many styles. He spent ten years working from a very early age in the computer games industry as an artist and animator. Having worked on various games including the home versions of Street Fighter 2, Road Rash and Alien 3 he then progressed into the music industry. Working on various art/music projects with such varied talented musicians as Coldcut and their record lable Ninja Tune. For over 20 years he has been experimenting with Graffiti in all it's forms, including aerosol, hand painted, sculpted and animated. Replete has made artwork for exhibits in Leeds, London, Manchester and Barcelona and he has had work sell all around the world from big cities such as Sydney to New York. Replete work is good as even though it isn’t bright or vibrant it is an illusion what makes people stop for a second glance to work it out so this makes the work stand out, be unique and powerful. The work is usually in black and white but sometimes does include some aspects of colour. There is no street artist who has work like Replete so he is well known for what he has done.

http://www.repletes.net/about.htm