"Over the past decade, I've doodled hundreds of characters on scrap, loose paper sheets and sketchbook. I drew a lot of little guys protesting, rioting, bombing, etc. A few years ago I gathered a bunch of them and made it into this “Riot” artwork that almost feels like an animated strip with the goal to print it one day. When 1xRUN hit me up to do a collaboration, I felt it was the right time to release this art as the world is in poor social shape with escalating conflicts all around.
Riots are often the first raw and brutal way to express exasperation. Historically, people’s uprising and rioting has been the igniting force for major historical changes once the calm comes back after the storm. There is also an appealing aesthetic in the chaotic pictures of riots that have always fascinated me. To take rioters out of the chaos and to isolate them on a black backdrop give them a statuesque look like a classical sculpture." - Grotesk
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
How does a Swiss-born, Belgian-trained graphic designer end up doing t-shirts for Spike Lee, collaborating with New York graffiti vandals, and earning a Ph.D in vintage American sports uniforms?
Kimou Meyer, aka
Grotesk arrived in New York at precisely the moment when the new downtown art scene spilled over into stores, products and brands. Over fifteen years, Kimou worked with or for almost all the key players in that ever-changing game, drawing on his classical training and fresh eyes on the city to develop an iconic graphic language and style. Still living and working in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Kimou now divides his time between family, running his co-owned creative agency, Doubleday & Cartwright, and making art under the Grotesk pseudonym.
Find more by Grotesk here.
Follow Grotesk on Instagram @groteskito & Twitter @groteskito
