Although some view graffiti as a nuisance or even mindless vandalism, there’s a difference between graffiti that takes the form of impressive artwork and tagging, which normally consists of slogans and logos that are placed onto building facades or in the case of Josh Keyes’ work, space shuttles and even marine life.
For more than 10 years Keyes’ has been creating artwork with graffiti often making an appearance however for this series he decided to bring graffiti to the foreground, turning space shuttles, satellites, icebergs and even a whale into a graffiti plastered surface, forcing us the viewer to question our relationship with the environment around us.
Looking closely at the artworks perhaps one of the most poignant pieces of graffiti is placed on an iceberg and reads “I’ll melt with you,” a message from the tagger as well as a warning about the consequences of mistreating the world around us and the mark that we leave. This series will soon be on show at the Thinkspace Gallery in LA. To see more of Keyes’ works on his Instagram and website.
