Urban Artist Dain
Contemporary artist DAIN blends urban and graffiti styles with classic Hollywood glamour to create layered portrait collages that cant help but captivate the contemporary art scene.
Who is DAIN?
DAIN is an American Urban artist who is known for creating collaged portraits of subjects from popular culture.
Born in Brooklyn, NY, DAIN has become a recognizable figure in urban art due to his unique style of portraiture that resembles urban art styles. In creating works that mix black and white photography with the vibrancy of graffiti art, DAIN's paintings both pay homage to the classic Hollywood glamour of the 1940s and 1950s but also to the future of urban direction.
Perceiving his work as a confrontation between the gestures of graffiti and the inherent femininity embodied by his Hollywood subjects, DAIN relies on a range of different techniques, including silk-screen, acrylic, collage, wheat-pasting, and spray paint.
Through his art, DAIN captures the essence of feminine mystique. Beginning with a classic black and white portrait, the artist layers advertisements, logos, and additional images onto the canvas. Adding elements of acrylic and spray paint, the pieces evolve from collages to the artist's style of portraiture. A characteristic element of DAIN's work is "the circle drip" around the eye, often in bright neon pink.
DAIN's artwork has been showcased in the Museum of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin, Germany, making him the sole American artist featured in this collection. He has showcased his work in many solo exhibitions in cities such as Paris, Berlin, New York City, and Brooklyn. The artist has also collaborated with Canadian street artist Stikki Peaches. In 2018, the Coach fashion company commissioned DAIN to create a large mural in New York City for a product campaign.
