Events

[ARTIST’S TALK] For the last several months, there have been signs—along the highways and byways, in the interstices. What these signs portend will be the subject of a conversation this Thursday, September 28 at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, between the creator of the signs, Stephen “ESPO” Powers and Zack Boehler, coordinator of the gallery’s public arts projects. The Powers project is called Emotional Wayfinding and comprises more than 100 signs—handprinted and screen-printed, some occupying billboards and some as small as street signs—scattered throughout Western New York, their subject matter gleaned from conversations with Western New Yorkers. Powers began his career as a graffiti artist, first in his native Philadelphia and then in New York City, where, after an arrest in 1999, he transitioned into becoming a full-time studio artist. Except, of course, that much of his work—certainly including this project commissioned by the Albright-Knox, which is anything but studio-based—is created in, is exhibited in, and becomes part of, at least for a time, the public thoroughfare. Learn more about this subtle and ubiquitous body of work, then keep your eyes open: The signs are everywhere.