Although I’ve hardly written about Enzo and Nio on Vandalog before, I’ve been a big fan of their work for a while now. They work together to put up some great street art, mostly around NYC and other East Coast cities and in the form of wheatpastes and stickers. Their work is clever and fun, but also a bit controversial at times, which might explain why I haven’t known them to do any outdoor work with permission. There aren’t many street artists left in New York City with their talents who haven’t transitioned into doing primarily legal work, so I have to hand it to Enzo and Nio for keeping their work to street art’s roots of illegal free expression and surprise. Also, while so many street artists quickly fall into a pattern with one or two trademark styles that they unwaveringly stick to, Enzo and Nio put out a visually diverse range of street art. They have some images or phrases that repeat and some works that are part of a series, but it’s not just one series and one series often doesn’t look anything like the next. They’ve even ventured into gif art (and yes, the model in that piece is my girlfriend and Vandalog contributor Caroline Caldwell).
I’ve somehow neglected to post enough about Enzo and Nio, but I hope I can change that starting today. Enzo and Nio are a real pair of street artists, not just artists using the the street.
Photos by Hrag Vartanian, Rhiannon Platt, Erika Sequeira, Jason Eppink, SMKjr and Amolho4