street artist mark samsonovich recreates his urban works as paintings
all images courtesy of mark samsonovich

 

 

 

for the past three years, mark samsonovich has almost exclusively made art for the streets and public spaces. in the winter of 2014, he embarked on quest to create paintings of the images that he has pasted and sprayed around new york city and beyond. each composition presents its own satirical sentiment about society through playful shapes, clean, handmade lines, and moments of typography that enhance the overall message. measuring 30 inches on their largest side, the works are small in comparison to their 8 feet tall relatives that live in unexpected moments of the urban fabric.

mark samsonovich street art paintings
‘sleeping through an illusion dreaming of reality ascending on a horizontal plane’, 30 in. x 12 in.

 

 

 

‘I used gouache for the first time, and fell in love with its flexibility – if you add water you can achieve watercolor like effects, and if you don’t, its very similar to acrylic. it also dries very fast and once a mark is made, you can’t take it back. the only option is a perfect stroke every time. unlike pasting images blocks or miles apart in an urban environment, I’m finally seeing all my imagery in one place. it’s nice seeing all my thoughts together as one.’ – mark samsonovich

street artist mark samsonovich recreates his urban works as paintings
detail of the stripes 

street artist mark samsonovich recreates his urban works as paintings
‘open your mind’, 30 in. x 22. in.

street artist mark samsonovich recreates his urban works as paintings
‘when I think of love I think of you’, 30 in. x 15.5 in.

street artist mark samsonovich recreates his urban works as paintings
‘water the flowers’, 30 in. x 21 in.

street artist mark samsonovich recreates his urban works as paintings
closeup of the flowers

street artist mark samsonovich recreates his urban works as paintings
‘having freedom is not the same as being free’, 30 in. x 22. in.

street artist mark samsonovich recreates his urban works as paintings
‘even the small can rise above giants’, 30 in. x 15.75 in.

street artist mark samsonovich recreates his urban works as paintings
‘pay me no mind’, 22.5 in. x 22.5 in.

street artist mark samsonovich recreates his urban works as paintings
closeup of ‘pulling masks’, 30 in. x 22 in.

street artist mark samsonovich recreates his urban works as paintings
‘everything is energy’, 29 in. x 8.25 in.

 

 

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.