Brandi R Parker, an artist, native of El Dorado, presents her show “SideStreets” at the Haywood, as a part of the El Dorado Art Walk, October 18 - 27, 2023.

The show was inspired by the nearly 20 years the artist spent in New York City, where every street showcased artwork by hyperlocal artists— whether graffiti, large murals, wheat paste characters, yarn bombs, galleries— art is on every surface in the city.

The large paintings in this series are loosely based on the building blocks of graffiti, which is simply: words. Hidden in each of the pieces are letter structures, stretched, deconstructed, repurposed into what the artist enjoys most: abstraction.

The small drawings on canvas are all based on the artist’s existing character set of mischievous angels (which first appeared on a poster series in 2010). Also inspired by dynamic figures found in a lot of street art.

The entire series is paint— acrylics— the paint of choice of most street artists, though done with brush and marker instead of spray.

There are a few pieces also featured from the artist’s recent series, “Organism,” first shown at the SAAC in April 2023.