James Bullough and Addison Karl are JBAK ans is a creative collaboration between two artists originally from Baltimore and Seattle respectively and hitting the walls of Berlin.
I could not describe better than Jennifer Weitman what JBAK is and is all about so here are her words. We particularly like the “Paintin Meryt’ piece which you can watch below
More about JBAK
“Each artist brings his unique vision and style to their combined body of work. Bullough’s main focus is photo-realism, with attention to ambient and deep space, layers, and geometric forms. He combines contemporary street art techniques and materials with those of realist oil painters, creating pieces of vivid color and masterful detail. Conversely, Addison’s work is produced using a hatch drawing style, which utilizes fine lines and details to create fantastic illustrations of both diminutive and immense images and proportions.”
“JBAK have blended their contrasting styles into a mashup of antonyms: realism vs. illustrative, expressive vs. precise, hard vs. soft, black vs. a spectrum. The pair seeks desirable locations paying close attention to the space and the people that live and work within it. Their intent is not to disrupt but rather, to integrate their art into the existing environment, creating harmony, balance, and adding life to an otherwise colorless wall. Together, JBAK create large-scale murals, which highlight their differing design aesthetics while at the same time, reaching a common goal—to give people a reason to look up, around, and beyond themselves.”
This work is the result of an exploration into the area of masculinity and social stereotypes. As a documentary photographic essay the work opens the doors to a lesser-seen area of society in an attempt to challenge pre-existing British stereotypes surrounding male identity and firearms.
