Reception for Steve Powers: the Magic Word October 19, 2007

Powers, who was born and raised in Philadelphia's Overbrook section and has resided in New York since 1995, is an internationally known graffiti artist who has recently been embraced by the contemporary art world. Using the idiom of the billboard and the storefront, Powers, using his graffiti moniker ESPO, has created many illicit outdoor murals which riff off the capitalist marketing experience. Beginning in 2004 and ongoing, Powers participated in and co-curated Dreamland Artist Club an ambitious project on the Coney Island amusement boardwalk, in which he and several other artists worked with low-income business owners to improve commercial signage. Recently, Powers has been making narrative painting installations, still very much informed by signage, in which he recounts through a clever balance of verbiage and imagery, graffiti tall tales, autobiographical missives and various urban legends.