Media Contact:
Rena Lee
Director of Museum Experience
National Hellenic Museum
333 South Halsted Street
Chicago, IL 60661
Office: 312.655.1234 ext. 27
Cell: 224.565.2982
Email: [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2015
Athens to Chicago: Street art’s power to provoke and inform
The National Hellenic Museum hosts Chicago street artists
CHICAGO, IL - Whether it’s a rebellious statement against a government’s economic policy
or a decorative mural designed to brighten a dilapidated block, street art challenges
authorized uses of space; who owns it and who has a right to produce it, according to
sociologist Stephanie Farmer.
The National Hellenic Museum’s “The Street is My Gallery” exhibition, which runs through
October, features the work of nearly a dozen Athens street artists. Created at the height of
Greece’s economic difficulties, the images offer pointed political and economic commentary
and take on social issues such as racism, immigration, individual responsibility, and
empowerment.
In a panel discussion hosted by the museum on May 14, Chicago street artists Stef Skills,
Luis Raul Munoz, Chema Skandal, and ABC Kills talked about the growth and evolving
status of street art, both locally and around the globe. The artists also provided a
demonstration of their technique with displays on the museum rooftop and on street in
front of the museum.
“I purposely set out to put murals on avenues to contrast the setting … stimulating people’s
thoughts at they’re passing by,” Munoz said in an interview.
“The more people get stepped on, the more people get put down the more you’re going to
see some (reaction) to that,” he said. “Street art is basically a platform … to express
everything that people are going through.
Skills says street art is so important because it offers a voice to artists “who might not be
able to go to graduate school and get the ‘secret handshake’ into the gallery world or the
academic art world.”
“It’s a way of taking art into you own hand and making something out of nothing,” said
Skills.
In some instances, street art may not be rebellious, but rather a means to claim the
neighborhood for gentrification, according to Farmer, who moderated the program. For
example, in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, the street art has evolved as the neighborhood
has changed.
“Today the street art is a blend of Mexican and hipster aesthetic, much like the people that
populate the neighborhood,” said Farmer, assistant professor of sociology at Roosevelt
University. “In some sense street art becomes a proxy war, dueling over who gets to
represent the neighborhood. Or can both co-exist?”
“Furthermore, street art has now found a home in the ivory towers of the art world – the
museum. But just because the wider world has caught onto the aesthetics of street art,
does it mean that the mode itself is no longer challenging?”
That’s a real concern for the artists, particularly in regard to the use of street art as a
corporate and individual marketing tool. “While this acceptance may offer opportunities,
the artists at times struggle with themselves when faced with choices they might not have
had before,” said Connie Mourtoupalas, the museum’s president of cultural affairs.
Photo 1:
Panel discussion and audience questions by Stephanie Farmer, CHema Skandal!, Stef Skills,
Luis R. Munoz, and ABC Kills.
Photo 2:
ABC Kills adds to the live street art demonstration on the sidewalk outside the museum.
Photo 3:
The audience watches as artist Luis R. Munoz adds an artistic touch to the live
demonstration outside the museum.
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Located in Chicago’s Greektown, the sleek 40,000-square-foot National Hellenic Museum at
333. S. Halsted St. is both contemporary and timeless, connecting all generations—past,
present and future—to the rich heritage of Greek history, culture, art and the Greek American
experience. The National Hellenic Museum, previously known as the Hellenic Museum and
Cultural Center, has been fulfilling this mission since 1983.
For more information, visit http://www.nationalhellenicmuseum.org or call 312-655-1234.
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