The CEZ’s first-ever BANG IT! Mural Meet will kick off a summer of murals 
from May 20–23, 2021 @ Bang Brewing Company, 2320 Capp Road, Saint Paul. 

The BANG IT! Mural Meet is a four-day, live painting event designed to give early-career artists, whose primary discipline is rooted in Graffiti & Street Art, the opportunity to develop as a recognized public art muralist. 

Five artists have been selected by curator Peyton Scott Russell of House of Daskarone and SPRAYFINGER, an internationally recognized Minnesota artist and educator whose own work reflects over three decades of weaving graffiti with fine arts. 

Special thanks to our host Bang Brewing for their generosity and support. 

The BANG IT! Mural Meet is funded by the Metropolitian Regional Arts Council (MRAC).

Meet the 2021 BANG IT! Artists

FOCUS SMITH 
@Focicurrent
@ThriveUnltd

“Yá’át’ééh. From my father’s family I am Dine’ (Navajo). From my mother’s – Hunkpapa (Standing Rock) Lakota. Growing up in graffiti culture in metropolitan areas, a passion was ignited in my soul to create in the public arena. Coming to South Dakota I found my roots and strength in Lakota Culture. Since the early 2000s I have been involved in the culturing of Rapid City’s Art Alley, being one its originating members. I have also been actively combining graffiti and Lakota culture to create classes, murals locally and internationally, programs that center on identity through culture, instilling confidence through knowledge of self, growth through personal discovery, as well as developing community building skills. Gifting back with each moment in the tools that were gifted to me during my own personal phases of restructuring in my recovery, through surviving traumas as well as working with and through the long-standing effects of these traumas, and working on building a community around the strengths we all have inherently in our souls. Emphasizing that each hand we offer back helps us move forward, as individuals in our network of communities.

TOM JAY
@teejay.art 

I am an early-career artist in pursuit of being a full-time artist and muralist. My main medium is spray paint, but I also explore with acrylic paints, epoxy and a little bit of furniture design. 

DAREN HILL
@probablypicasso
darenscotthill

Artist Daren Hill explores complexity in form, creative decision-making and celebrates the creative process. Through multiple art forms, including painting, murals, sculpture, photography, and digital art. His work echoes the myriad interactions that make up our reality and seeks to balance the relationship between artist, subject and art object. The Minneapolis-born artist moved to Brooklyn in 2006, where he started writing about art, music and entertainment as a contributing writer for the Source Magazine.  His work has been featured on album covers, in the City Pages, and KFAI's Politics and Culture show, Catalyst as well as numerous art exhibitions in the Midwest and East Coast. In addition to his solo art projects, Daren promotes community development through the creation of large murals. By building relationships with members of the community he can share their unique expression, interests, stories, and identity within public spaces.

KNEW-ONE86
@threecatmurals
@brandknewism 

Without any formal art education, South Minneapolis artist KNEW-ONE86 (KNEW) grew up surrounded by Hip Hop culture. His fascination with letters and typography began once he started noticing graffiti around the community and became familiar with the scene. Although Hip Hop culture influences the aesthetic of KNEW's graffiti art, KNEW says "Hip Hop isn't a prerequisite for graffiti writing." KNEW adds, "Graffiti sounds like the writer that’s writing it—Punk Rock, Hip Hop, Funk, Jazz—it's whatever." KNEW credits local Twin Cities graffiti writers as well as greater Midwest and East Coast graffiti styles as his main influences. The artwork is all about the letters for KNEW. As a formerly active graffiti writer, his artwork continues to bear the indelible mark of the graffiti aesthetic. "To express myself artistically, the first thing that comes naturally is lettering. Bending them letters, breaking them, stretching bars—all that," says KNEW. "Transitioning from writing graffiti to rocking murals is sort of a natural progression. It's gotta have consistency, a theme, maybe some characters, letters and style. Rocking murals you have to consider the audience a bit more, which is to be expected, but it's good. You want people to dig the work so use the platform and use it well." 

JORDAN M. HAMILTON
Jordan Hamilton Art 
@jordanmalcolm1, @ancestralaspects

Jordan M. Hamilton (b. 1989). Ushered into this realm by two artists, Jordan’s interest in art began early as a child. He started writing (graffiti) in 2004. Graffiti art propelled him into an artistic practice, mural-making and eventually branching into practices as a studio artist exploring painting, sculpture, collage, installation, digital arts, puppetry, performance, adornment and mixed media.  Since 2005, Jordan has contributed to over 20 community murals, working as a lead artist on many. His work has been featured in a number of exhibitions, streets and stages throughout the Twin Cities. Jordan’s work is deeply woven with community, informed through ancestry and influenced by spirit, with an affinity for the abstract. Infinite aspects.

• BANG IT! Mural Meet, Thursday – Sunday, May 20 – 23, during daylight hours
• Chroma Zone “Open Street” Celebration, Saturday, May 22, 1:00 –5:00 p.m.
• BANG IT! Mural Meet Artists Talk, Sunday, May 23 at 3:00 p.m.

For the health, safety and concentration of our artists we ask all visitors to mask up, keep your distance (a minimum of 10 feet), and allow all of our artists work without interruption.

Also Featuring SPRAYFINGER Advanced Students 

Six advanced SPRAYFINGER students will participate in BANG IT! Mural Meet on Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23. Jane Rodine-Tuner (17),  Arkinzie Richards (17), Maceo Young (17), Daesk Shea-Russell (14), Lucas Roberto (13), and Maxwell Huff (11) will be painting on JamWalls™ (portable practice mural walls) at Bang Brewing.

These students have been active with the SPRAYFINGER Graffiti Education and the Art of Creative Lettering program for three or more years. BANG IT! is the ideal platform to challenge these young artists to think, feel and develop as professional artists.

Stop by and check out these young, emerging creatives!

Meet the Curator

I have coined the name BANG IT! Mural Meet to imply going hard and being focused on your craft, having a positive, aggressive impact on community, making a statement, being heard, meeting new artists and building a professional portfolio. It’s the main reason I’m seeking Graffiti Writers/Artists & Street Artists to open new avenues of community relations and to help provide opportunity to my community and culture. It also relates to the initial location of this event, the Bang Brewing Company.

As curator, it is important to me to seek out (but not be limited to) artists interested in graffiti and street art as their main source of creativity. The graffiti and street art movement is the current dominant contemporary art practice, and yet, it is still often rejected by the fine art world and mainstream institutions as a valid art form because of its counterpart, vandalism.

— Peyton Scott Russell

To read Peyton’s full curatorial statement, click here. 

To learn more about Peyton and his work, go to HouseofDaskarone.com and SPRAYFINGER.com