Bisco Smith
Introduction
Bisco Smith is an American visual artist with roots in music, graffiti, gestural abstraction and street art currently residing in Queens, New York and operating studios in both Los Angeles and New York City. Bisco works in a variety of formats, including canvas and large outdoor murals, and is celebrated for his "visual freestyle." Made predominantly with a black and white color palette, Bisco's art visually captures the rhythms of music and exudes positive messages through its abstracted text. In 2014, Bisco was a featured artist at Art Basel in Miami Beach where he designed a limited edition of SOL Republic headphones and in 2015, his work was included in the Governors Ball Music Festival on Randall's Island. In 2017, Bisco Smith was a profiled artist in The Art of Writing Your Name: Urban Calligraphy and Beyond.
Early Life
Graffiti
Between 1993 and 2013, Bisco wrote graffiti under the tag, Bisc1, and is included in a New York Metro guide list of best graffiti spots in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Bisco's graffiti is included in a textbook on the subject entitled, The Rise of Legal Graffiti in New York and Beyond (2017) written by Ronald Kramer, where the artist's views on ethics within the practice are quoted.
Music
Bisco entered into the music and disc-jockey world as another creative outlet that aligned with his graffiti. The more he wrote graffiti, the more he was inspired to freestyle rap and the more he rapped the more motivated he was to write more graffiti. His music tackles universal and evocative subjects, such as the human condition, without venturing into melodrama. In addition to writing and performing his own music, Bisco produced art direction projects for Definitive Jux, Ninja Tune and Eastern Conference Records.
Visual Art
Inspired by the process of song writing and freestyle rapping, Bisco creates text-based art that modernizes the aesthetic of iconic action painters, such as Franz Klein and Jackson Pollock, with his own unique design. Although his work is often a collection of words, Bisco abstracts the words to such a degree that they become nearly impossible to read, encouraging viewers to appreciate the design and organically absorb the energy.
In 2016, a reviewer of Bisco's exhibition at C.A.V.E. Gallery in Venice, Los Angeles said of the artist's process: "Splattered with syncopated swirls, the grace of the letter, drizzles or jabs of paint, the mystery of learning how to trust the process is spelled out, moment by moment."
In addition to process, positive intention is integral to Bisco's art. His aim is to blend his experiences in life with the experience being in the moment to create work that captivates, offers subtle social commentary, questions and inspires.
Artist Collaborations
Bisco has collaborated with several other artists, including: Afrika 47, Leias, Bishop203, Meres and Karen Bystedt. The concept behind his mural with Afrika 47 was to bring awareness to the gun-related deaths that take place in the South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Brand Collaborations
Bisco has collaborated with several brands, making exclusive work for them or covering their products with his design. In 2014, he customized a limited edition of headphones for Sol Republic as well as a Mini Cooper car for the Miami International Auto Show. In 2015, Bisco teamed up with Soundwall, an innovative company that combines home speaker systems with fine art canvases. Since Bisco's art is already influenced by music, he was a natural fit for the collaboration. The works Bisco made using Soundwall technology were shown at an exhibition in TriBeCa entitled, The Connected Canvas, whose attendees including model Coco Rocha. In 2016, he worked with on-line hip-hop community Okayplayer where he exhibited in their pop-up gallery.