Gritty realism brought to the Streets of NYC

If you asked the NYC based artist Dan Witz to describe himself he will provide a quick and consise answer. "I am a painter, and live and work in NYC. In the 80s I was also a musician and involved in the downtown art-punk scene. I live in Brooklyn now and split my time between making gallery paintings and street art". Born and Raised in the sububs of Chicago and moved to NYC in 78 to pursue studies at Cooper Union art school. In 83, motivated by the surging graffiti scene, Witz painted 40 discreet hummingbirds in lower Manhattan.

"Birds of Manhattan"- West Side Highway near Chambers St. 1979

The Hoodys came from a dark period in the early nineties. Drugs, HIV, poverty/despair/danger were like a pall of doom over the lower east side. The grim reaper hoody posters were inspired by plague attitudes from the middle ages and deer x-ing signs--the way the hi way department puts up those yellow diamond with black deer silhouettes as warning signs.

"Hoody"- Clinton st. btw. Broome and Delancey. N.Y.C. 1994.

Here is an exerpt from an recent interview where Witz talks about the popularity of street art:

"most art's been locked down. Museums and galleries are gated communities. There's cool stuff going on there but, in the age of the easy-access internet, it's just too ghetto-ized, too difficult and intimidating for the larger public to find. I think another reason why street art is so popular these days, besides the obvious easy attention and alt.fame thing, is that since it's not for sale, it can't be owned, it's not tainted, it's an alternative to Art and Culture that's become just another commodity. That gives it authenticity, credibility to anyone who's had to grow up soul-starved in the consumer wasteland. So goodbye monolithic record companies and pretentious art magazines; put your band on Myspace and stick your art up on a lamp post."

Below is an exerpt from a documentary "In Plain View"

Go to his site and check out his most recent painting series, in which Witz's portrait figures are transfixed by the beams of their cellphones and suggestive of what possible intimacies are radiated at moment in the night.
Enjoy.

All Images courtesy of Dan Witz