New mural graces stairwell of UB Anderson Gallery

The UB Anderson Gallery has added a new work to its permanent collection: “Electric Avenue (In Blue),” a mural by the Buffalo-based collective Team Razor Wire.

The mural, commissioned by the Anderson Gallery and installed in the gallery’s stairwell, is an ongoing investigation into geometric abstraction, focusing on the dynamic balance of line and color.

Painted in a gradient of blues and lined with gold, the mural keeps with gallery founder David Anderson’s signature color that has graced the stairwell since 1991. Through the use of line and color, “Electric Avenue (In Blue)” aims to open up a portal into a world of possibilities, especially as it surrounds the vertical window in the stairwell. 

Yet with its bold colors, dynamic lines and rhythmic pattern, the mural acts as its own point of interest, integrating into the building and encouraging the critical thinking that is promoted throughout UB’s three campuses. It was designed by Nicholas Conrad Miller.

Team Razor Wire is a joining of forces between Miller and Christopher Kameck, who have the common goal of creating lasting and impactful public art. Established in 2015 while painting “The Worker” mural in the Old First Ward in Buffalo, the collective has contributed to the cultural landscape of Buffalo with several projects dotted across the city.

Miller’s style is based in hard-edged geometric abstraction, focusing on the dynamic balance of line and color that culls inspiration from streamlined minimalist graphics found throughout popular culture. Kameck’s practice is photographic and assemblage-based — focusing on scenes from the everyday with a specific post-industrial twist. Their work becomes artistic interventions that enhance the community’s experience. 

Other recent works include a site-specific artwork for the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s GOLDEN anniversary celebration, which is on view through the end of 2017. In 2016, they painted murals throughout Buffalo at the echo Art Fair, Black Iron Bystro, the Tri-Main Center and the Wash Project, and created a new wheat paste at Black Iron Bystro.

The artists also collaborate with the Buffalo community on projects and have partnered with the University District Community Development Association to create murals on Bailey Avenue as part of Bailey Fights Blight.