Daniel Kalinski, aka CHAZME 718, is the Swiss-born artist and architect who is changing the way society relates to the urban landscape. The towering, unflappable structures that make up our environment can be daunting, resulting in subliminal internalizations of alienation. How do we relate to an authority with overwhelming power, such as the very city we reside in?

Speaking the language of urbanity, Kalinski seamlessly integrates his murals into the cityscape while at the same time animating the otherwise austere architecture. Through geometric forms, shadow, and light, Kalinski provides a pathway for the passerby to enter into their environment. The relief and rediscovery this realizes in the viewer accents the urgent need to reevaluate our connection to the very place we call home. Kalinski’s paintings are rooted in brutalist architecture yet synchronize the exterior city with the true flurry of life that happens just beyond the surface.

Referencing the op art of Giorgio De Chirico and Maurits Cornelis Escher, Kalinkski’s works resides in an important canon of art that will continue to comment on, and reflect, the attitudes of our increasingly manmade modernity.

(Maia Jackson)

Daniel Kalinski was born in Laufen, Switzerland in 1980. In (year), he received his degree in Architecture from the Warsaw University of Technology. During this time, he formed part of the Warsaw graffiti scene, whose lasting influence is evident today in the work. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Escher and De Chirico, Kalinksi soon became a catalyst for formal abstraction, executing and exhibiting these works in shows such as the Five Year Anniversary of Graffuterism in San Francisco. His innovative juxtapositions of formal and urban styles are celebrated throughout Europe and the United States, winning the ARTAQ urban art award in 2011.