Moscow street art exhibition explores changing urban landscape

A new street art exhibition exploring the changing urban environment has opened in Moscow featuring the work of 27 well-known Russian street artists. Format One: Changes includes especially commissioned artwork from the likes of Ilya Slack, Mesr, Grisha Shto and Roman Litvinov, an electronic musician who also goes by his stage name Mujuice.

Housed in a former pressure-gauge factory in east Moscow, the exhibition is one of the first in the capital to take street-style aesthetics to a contemporary art space. Each of the artworks, painted on a canvas and framed, reflects the artist’s personal view on Russia’s changing urban landscape.

Commenting on the exhibition, veteran street artist Tvesor, whose signature style is based on defunct letters from the pre-revolutionary Russian alphabet, said that he saw “change as the absence of stability”, an indirect reference to President Vladimir Putin, who is often seen as a force for stability by his supporters.