Who is Smash 137?

Smash 137 is one of the most prolific graffiti artists in Europe and although some say, he is slightly exaggerating his (I would call it) abstract letter-layer-style, he still is one of my personal heroes when it comes to taking graffiti into galleries!

For his upcoming show Beautiful Struggle at Speerstra Gallery in Switzerland, a short Who is Smash 137? video preview was published, presenting not just first views on the new Smash 137 canvas series, but showing also the master himself in action…

Beautiful Struggle - An unusual title for an exhibition and for the new paintings of Smash137. Monochrome areas nestle up against each other, to break up unexpectedly. Multicolored lines bind together to lose and find each other again. Beams like handholds create a structure rich in contrast. A blaze of color, exploding right before us in time. And yet the paintings look well-balanced. Some of them have a center, others a counterbalance. For the viewer the works look like a continual coming and going.

The paintings and writings of Smash137 are powerful and dynamic operations. Colors are forces and to paint means to be constantly in a high energetic situation and wrestle with these forces. We will understand the correlation of energies better if we know the process of their development.