Hip-hop culture encompasses graffiti writing, breakdancing movement studies, and improvisational artistic expressions that emerged from urban communities emphasizing rhythm, gesture, and style innovation.
Hip-hop culture represents one of the most influential urban movements of the late 20th century, fundamentally shaping contemporary street art and graffiti through its interconnected elements of visual art, music, dance, and social expression. Artists like Mare139 demonstrate how hip-hop’s influence extends beyond traditional graffiti lettering into paintings and drawings that capture the kinetic energy and gestural vocabulary of breakdancing culture.
The movement’s emphasis on individual style, creative innovation, and community expression continues to influence contemporary urban art worldwide, providing a cultural foundation that connects street art to broader themes of social commentary, identity, and authentic artistic expression that remains relevant across generations of artists and urban communities.
Physical Graffiti by Mare139
New York-based artist Carlos Mare, aka Mare139, is going to open his first solo-show in Berlin tomorrow! Entitled Physical Graffiti, the show will not present his crazy 3D metal wildstyle graffiti, but his latest paintings and drawings focusing on the art of the B-boy dance…
*Mare began his creative career during the formative era of NYC subway painting between 1975-1985, appearing in the original cult classic documentary Style Wars in 1982. Growing up against the landscape of hip-hop in its evolution, he charted a new discourse about the role and aesthetic of the art form as sculpture in the public space, beginning with letter-based works and progressing to a more modernist interpretation of the graffiti form. Internationally exhibited and collected, his sculptural works are among the most innovative of the post NYC subway graffiti movement.
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Backpiece Exhibition Berlin
Urban Art Weekend Tip | Tomorrow evening, another interesting urban art event will take place in Berlin. Do you remember these graffiti kids back in the eighties who painted their names or those of their crews on their jeans jackets? To pay homage to these so called backpieces, the German creative crew Klub7 organized an interactive exhibition this weekend!
Supported by Molotow, Levi’s and other brands, urban artists from different background including Bronco, Gogoplata, Flying Förtress, Peachbeach, Poet, Tika, Tower, Superblast and others will wear their own customized jackets at the “Party Arty Vol. 34 – Klub7 Special” party. So you will have old-school and new-school writers, illustrators, street artists, painters and fashion freaks in one location!
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