BNS

The high-octane street art of BNS takes the most iconic faces of our time out of their comfort zones and catapults them into a world where nothing is what they, or we, expect. His company of bespoke-suited Storm troopers or a tatted-out Audrey Hepburn overturn the familiar tropes of popular culture, merging characters and ideas in a way that is creative, charismatic and completely original. Within this frenzied burst of colour, ingenuity and dry humour, BNS invites us to re-examine our perspective on beauty and fame in a contemporary world where media and communication connects us all far more closely than we realise.

Growing up in Buenos Aires, BNS was a part of the skateboarding and graffiti scene, before he left for New York City where he spent a decade creating the murals and street art which made his name. Although he now works in his studios in Barcelona or Brooklyn, his overall aesthetic is still inextricably linked to his background as a street artist, and he uses the same tools including his own mops to create the bubble letters and tags which appear throughout his work.

Combining aerosol paint, acrylics, silkscreen, inks, collage and photography in his compositions, BNS builds each one with around 20 layers, at least 10 of which are made with different silkscreens, and in some cases finishes them with multiple coats of resin to make the colours pop even more. Every element of each piece is handcrafted - even the silkscreens are hand-pulled and the wooden panels and frames are hand-mitred and sanded - and he mixes his own colours to create a personal distinctive palette, giving every piece its own unique character and story.

BNS describes his work as energetic and intricate, and is influenced by everything from old school hip hop to the natural world. He loves the vitality and animation of the big city, finding beauty in the chaos of bricks, cables and water tanks; he is interested in architecture and how the built environment coexists with nature, often juxtaposing flowers and plants with graffiti and crumbling facades. Every piece is full of personal details which become apparent the more closely you look, referring to particular buildings that have meant something in his life, the flowers that grew around them or a meaningful tattoo.

Already a huge star internationally, BNS has exhibited all over the world and his list of celebrity collectors includes Paris Hilton, Nicky Jam, Macaulay Culkin, Residente (calle13), Rob Zombie, Lisa Hochstein, Birdman and Derek Jeter; Pharrell Williams and Nas both commissioned a series of works from him, including murals for their Miami nightclubs. He has been featured in magazines including Forbes and Haute-living among others, and his first UK collection offers a fabulous opportunity to collectors in this country.