Issue 006: Urban Intervention ft. SpY
Letter from the Curators
We check in weekly with each other, and with ourselves, to ensure our content stays true to our original vision. At the heart of it, we aim to dive deeper, offering both our audience and ourselves a chance to forge a closer bond with artists we admire. All of us are interested to know more about what goes into producing captivating convergent artwork.
This goal has evolved, as we've come to also use it as an opportunity to remind ourselves to slow down, be present, ask questions, and keenly observe (perhaps even shape) the world around us. This overarching theme is evident in much of our content and our approach to interviews.
So the theme this week is particularly potent, because we believe Urban Intervention is itself a powerful convergence of our missions. Artists in this space aim to disrupt the daily grind, if only for a second, to broadcast a broader message, or shift how audiences perceive something in their environment.
It's a nudge reminding us that art can, without invitation, weave into our daily lives and influence our senses, thoughts, and perceptions. This comes with the responsibility to be mindful and deliberate.
We hope today's newsletter encourages you to pause, explore works you're unfamiliar with, and contemplate how you might disrupt your own environment.
Thanks for joining us,
Lee & Dorothy
Featuring
The enigmatic artist reveals his origin, motivation, and challenges behind some of his biggest work, and blows our mind with scale.
The many years I spent devoted to this kind of street work keened my senses to the city as a unique setting full of untapped potential for art making.
A work of 25 meters high can be interpreted as something small between large buildings in a city.
He also talked about our responsibility as artists:
We are living in an era of digital hyperconnectivity, where we are drowning in the abundance of standardized images, I think that art has the responsibility to create new concepts and more demanding experiences on the interpretative level.
A collection of SpY's work around the world.
Urban Intervention Curated
If you enjoy our featured artist, here are other projects you might like:
Timely
News, tools, and launches you should know about.
New Opportunities
Interesting positions we've discovered this week.
Senior Creative Director (Art) - Experiential & B2B at Jack Morton Worldwide, NYC, USA
Associate Creative Director- Experiential at Aquent, NYC, USA
Vice President, Creative Director at Publicis Digital Experience, NYC, USA
Divergent Inspiration
We believe some of the most powerful inspiration comes when we least expect it. Each week we'll share something that has us excited, outside of our normal source of material.
Pushing Limits
Exhaustion become my constant companion over the last three days, trailing behind me like a shadow. Was this insomnia, no, just a insanely tight timeframe. The fog of sleep deprivation clouded my thoughts. Each day melded into the next in an unyielding cycle of wakefulness and weariness. Yet, despite the overwhelming fatigue, I persisted, refusing to succumb to the urge to collapse. It's remarkable what our bodies can accomplish when the need arises. Last night, I managed to sleep so deeply that there was no room for dreams. Despite feeling weary today, I'm immensely proud of what my team and I accomplished. A good cup of coffee and I’m back!
-Dorothy
Oaxaca
Long on my bucket list, I finally made my way to Oaxaca this past weekend. A vibrant city that's busting at the seams with creativity, it's most widely known for its mole, mezcal, and art. It's also small enough that you can run into the same people again and again, which always helps a place feel more communal.
We happened to be there during an anti-femicide protest which was both thrilling and humbling. I left there with a renewed sense of direction, inspired by the sheer amount of energy being expended by passionate creatives there.
-Lee
This newsletter is brought to you by
Lee Billington & Dorothy Di Stefano.