Pop Art, Fashion, and Graffiti Merge in DAIN’s Street Art-Inspired Collages

Brooklyn-based street artist DAIN layers diverse aesthetic styles with the same dexterity he applies to his signature wheat paste collages. Combining imagery and techniques related to graffiti, vintage fashion photography, and expressive painting, DAIN’s collages—which are at home on city streets and gallery walls alike—resolve as vibrant Pop Art-laced palimpsests.

The recent attention DAIN has garnered should come as no surprise. His work is bright, kaleidoscopic, and chock full of cultural signifiers and gestures related to street and fine art alike. This multifaceted approach began at a young age, and has informed his work ever since: “I started doing graffiti at around eight or nine years old,” DAIN told Artsy. “I began working with silkscreen, collage, and painting and started putting work on the streets some years ago, which led me to working on canvas and wood.”

This summer, DAIN’s work is on view at Miami’s Avant Gallery and, at his recent solo show “Tribute to Rome” organized by Avant and held in Rome, he exhibited a suite of large-scale works using collaged elements from fashion magazines to build figures over bright, expressive grounds—big strokes of spray paint and swathes of acrylic applied with rollers. In Backlash at Me (all works 2014), the face and torso of a young woman swathed in fine clothing are pieced together using details cut from a range of sources. While her body faces straight ahead, her head twists up creating a disjointed perspective reminiscent of Cubism, emphasizing the subject’s facial features—the nucleus of DAIN’s compositions. “The process always begins with the eyes,” DAIN explained. “I then often collage a few faces and/or patterns to create a new image. My background in graffiti and fashion are intertwined in every piece, pairing every woman’s face with a man’s suit. This keeps the eyes as the focal point.”

The repetition of patterns and themes across his body of work reveals DAIN’s interest in the intersection of fashion, branding, and creative expression. The star-patterned kerchief of Backlash recurs in Twisted Star Spangle creating a through line alluding to mass-produced textiles and the propagation of trends. Likewise, DAIN comments on the split between the luxury industry and street culture by borrowing Burberry and Chanel motifs, then tearing or scrawling his name over them—a nod to the act of tagging. Similarly in Funtastico, DAIN includes bits of text from advertisements but renders them illegible by clipping and reordering them.

www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-pop-art-fashion-and-graffiti-merge-in-dain

Looks very nice!

i really like the size as my walls are filled with very large prints.
 is it possible to request an eye ring color?

really into this, loving the size too - hoping to bag one on the pre-sale.

Thanks for writing.

The APs are separate from the original edition, as DAIN created a few to test colors and technique.

They are all in perfect condition and signed by DAIN with the marking AP instead of a number.

Only a few were made and we wanted to release them for the AP / DAIN collectors out there.

If you sign up to our mailing list we will offer a very limited pre-sale opportunity on Friday and the rest of the main edition and all APs will be released at 12 p.m. EST

I hope that answers your questions.

Feel free to email at info@cluster-wall.com if you have anymore.

I'm so glad that the board has embraced this release and Cluster Wall as we appreciate all the support.

looks really great, congrats !

These look really impressive, always love the hand spray element

1 Artist Proof left
Only a few main edition prints left


Link: www.cluster-wall.com/collections/dain

The prints are now Sold Out!

Thank you all again for your support.

Don't hesitate to contact us for anything else

Best,

Cluster Wall Gallery
www.cluster-wall.com

un tubed this one last night, it's a stunner in person! smash job by Dain and CW

Great Piece! I'm interested just light in the pocket book.
GLWTS

tinmans Yes £850 at the moment.
Ideally looking for the UK buyer but US is possible too.

Mmmmm looks like some really nice work