Street Art Warrior Women Draw Comparisons to Caravaggio

Swiss artist Leza One can't remember a time when he wasn't making art. At barely 15, he started to create graffiti in the form of rudimentary tags, lettering, and random throw-ups, without apparent thought for design. But by 2008, his career got a boost when he began exhibiting his works on canvas. Since 2011, he's been a core member of an international collective called Army of Spiders, a.k.a., AOS, and now, he's one of five artists participating in Beck's Urban Canvas project.

Critics of Leza One's art have compared him to Caravaggio, and though that's for the viewer to decide, this contemporary artist's images do express a subdued chiaroscuro frailty, especially those from the Urban Muses project. The series is designed to portray historical female warriors, but the canvases are literally repurposed trash. The effect is a confounding message of strength in the midst of detritus and decomposition, raising questions about both the traditional and enduring male-centric representations of women in history.

When it comes to his own style, however, Leza One is less inclined to compare it to that of an Italian Baroque master artist. "I paint, that's it," he says, explaining simply that he uses pencil, watercolor, acrylic, spray paint, house paint, and charcoal (leaving out oil, incidentally—Caravaggio's medium of choice). Instead, Leza One's own materials are whatever he can use to create something that is appreciated by a wide audience. That's why he believes the unique thing about graffiti is that the "public can see the artwork as soon as it's done, for free." The artist still maintains, however: "It's as important as any art form in society."

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