Scrybe and Gear are two of the most visible artists in the midwest and for over a decade they've dominated the urban scenary of Kansas City with powerful imagery, lettering and charactures with underlying political and religous expression. Over the past couple of years they've gone their separate paths to fine tune and pursue thier artistic visions - each with it's own power an purpose. Their story will be published in a future version of the Branson EDGE so I'll spare you the detail's here.
Speaking with these two artists has the same affect on me as the countless hours I've spent in the city exploring their artwork. It's hard not to walk away without being inspired. It's like eating soul food.
The painting above is the work of Donald Ross aka Scrybe. Master's of one of the three elements of hip-hop means they get a lot of heat and pressure from the community to act within certain guidelines.
Recently, Donald has recieved a lot of attention from the religious community as the underlying messages of his work have become less "low key" and more overt. The last collaborative show I was able to attend was at the Jewish Community Center in Johnson County - Kansas City.
Yesterday, while speaking to Scrybe he mentioned that he's been getting requests from churches to do pieces for youth centers. He noted, "Some want me to make pieces that look like people broke in and did a bunch of Jesus graffiti". Scrybe spoke of the challenge and message this might be giving the youth. He speaks with authority having had many of his pieces featured on MTV. The truth we speak is cool - he notes. "We don't have to follow MTV - they will follow us - cause what we are - what we believe is cool".
If you don't have time to walk the streets of KC you can check out some of Scribe's pieces online.
Scribe and Gear's crew ATT will have a book of thier street art released in a few months.
Scribe / Gear - thank you for your work - and serving us with a perpetual source of faith - hope and inspiration.
