Dave Baranes has been immersed in Hip-Hop and Street Art culture since childhood. Passionate about drawing, he naturally turned to graffiti and decorative painting on urban walls. While remaining true to Street Art, he also paints on canvas using acrylics and spray paint, achieving striking concrete-like trompe-l’œil effects with impressive depth.
His realistic animals appear to emerge from highly urban settings, both colorful and concrete-heavy. Their soft curves set against sharp angles add an extra layer of depth to the composition, like a double trompe-l’œil contrasting life with the inert. Undoubtedly, bringing nature so masterfully into the city is less a paradox than a way of highlighting the excesses of our world. At times, the colorful urban background appears blurred, the animal’s outlines melting into the surroundings, until the viewer’s gaze locks onto the sharply defined face of a tiger or lion, staring straight back.
