G. spotted it first, and after a bit of toggling around and confirmation with two local street art buffs, turns out this intricately layered collage of found objects and, well, garbage is a new installation titled “Chewing Gum” by RAE BK, the elusive and prodigious street artist who works in paint, stickers and sculpture. It’s the latest in an unsanctioned street art series for downtown that he is calling Community Spread, and you can track the pieces on an app he created here. (We are so lucky.)

“I’ve had my eye on that spot for a couple of years,” RAE BK told me in a DM on Instagram. He’s been working in the streets of the city since about 2010. “I look for spots that I can fill in the blanks to.”

I happened to have in the media archives a previous yet untitled installation in that particular hole in the wall (see photo below).

“Yeah, I knew those liquor bottles were going to be tough to beat. Doesn’t mean I can’t still reach for the stars.”

 

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“CHEWING GUM” Part of “Community Spread” Download the app in my bio to find it.

A post shared by RAE BK (@rae_bk) on Sep 18, 2020 at 3:25pm PDT