In 1997, the Int. Wall Street Meeting was organized in Weisbaden, Germany to bring together international aerosol artists and their fans as an event where all could witness and enjoy the process of creation. The artist’s took over an abandoned area, covered it in graffiti art and started what would become an international movement with this monumental event. Five years later, in 2002, the organizers renamed their event as Int. Meeting of Styles and have since put together more than 250 events hosted in multiple cities all around the globe.
This year in September 2017 (super late blog post, I know, my bad lol), the Int. Meeting of Styles had their meet in Chicago, IL from the 8th – 10th. The artists came together in 2 locations on the city’s Southside to paint and share their art of graffiti. One spot was at W. 36th Pl. and S. Albany Ave. at the Crawford Steel Company where they paint around the perimeter of the building plus some of the surrounding area. The second location was at the viaducts on W. 59th St. between S. Oakley Ave. and S. Hoyne Ave.
While I didn’t get actual numbers on how many artists and crews participated in the event, it was easy to see there were 100+ artists and a couple dozen (or more) crews on hand. Among the local Chicago crews and artists there were also a number of out of towners including a handful from Europe and abroad.
All in all, some amazing pieces were created ranging from wild style burners to abstract murals and everything in between. As a fan and photographer who has attended many similar events like these in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and Milwaukee I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of work created and look forward to the events return next year in September.
Below is a gallery of what I captured over the two days I was able to attend. For various reasons I wasn’t able to photograph every piece that was painted so if you were one of the artists there and I didn’t get your piece, my bad. Hope you enjoy!
You might also like
