Urban Calligraphy: Next Level Tagging

High-Level Tagging

Introduction

One of my favorite urban-inspired artists is José Parlá from New York. He is famous for his simulated dirty walls and a incomparable urban calligraphy style...

Do you know José Parlá? Maybe some of you know him as Ease, what is his alias. He is a Brooklyn-based artist who is famous for his great wall-imitations and grandiose calligraphy paintings, which bring tagging to the next level.

He always tries to capture the old, spray-painted spirit of the streets on canvas. Therefor, he developed different techniques to simulate often repainted or old and unclean walls by using mixed media, like concrete, oil and paper.

As well as he creates new backgrounds in an old-wall style, he extends his calligraphically knowledge by imitating handwritings by other writers and graffiti artists.

That combination of high-level tagging and chaotic wall re-creation makes him possible to create impressive artworks!

“José Parlá began painting under the name Ease in 1983 on city walls, and while painting in the tradition of New York subway art, he also was experimenting on canvas with the desire to translate the decaying environment of derelict places which later inspired his cityscapes aesthetic and continues to inform his work today.

Parlá’s paintings reveal a silent message of time and history spoken through the walls of the world’s cities; a landscape which speaks of deterioration, neglect, and abandonment. The results, whilst beautiful, with their multicolours and hidden memories, are significant in that they reflect some of the darker aspects of our civilization.” (elmslesters.com)

For me José Parlá is a certain inspiring example, because I also try to work out a dirty urban feeling in my artworks…