the street is our gallery

Major new collaboration by UK photographer Joseph Ford showcases the world street artists would create if there were no limits. Leading international street artists including Peeta, Levalet and Victoria Villasana are among the first collaborators on Impossible Street Art (www.impossiblestreetart.com), a new project by fine art photographer Joseph Ford.

Ford’s starting point was to imagine if street artists could work on any surface, not restricted by scale, accessibility, safety or rules. Locations included in the first release of Impossible Street Art include the heavily guarded Panthéon in Paris, England’s iconic Seven Sisters chalk cliffs and the centre strip of a Los Angeles freeway. Collaborating artists are given large, high-quality photographic prints of these locations as canvases, creating original, hand-made artworks with no digital manipulation. Ford then re-shoots each artwork in its original location, creating captivating windows into a parallel universe where street artists have been given free rein.

The first release numbers eight prints, with each work highlighting its artist’s unique style – from Ador’s imaginative characters to Peeta’s optical illusions and Victoria Villasana’s integration of textiles into her murals. All works have been created by hand, with artists challenged to work at a far smaller scale than they are used to.

Ford has overcome a number of challenges to shoot each artwork against its backdrop, from replicating the right lighting, weather and angle, to being chased away by security guards, attacked by hungry mosquitoes, and seeing the artworks blown over by strong winds.

Artist Joseph Ford said: “Street artists are well known for having this immense creativity that already pushes at the limits of what’s possible. I wanted to see what we could create together if those limits were removed altogether.

“What could we do with landmarks it would be impossible to get to? What if instead of a brick wall, the canvas were the side of a mountain or the surface of the sea?

“I’ve been blown away with the ideas they came up with, and it’s been a privilege to use my photography to situate those ideas back in the real world and highlight how limitless the imagination of the street artist is.”

Artists featured in the first print release include: Ador (France), Denis Meyers (Belgium), JanIsDeMan (Netherlands), Levalet (France), Morley (USA), Peeta (Italy), and Victoria Villasana (Mexico). Further artworks in the project are underway, with more locations and contributing artists to be revealed later this year.

Joseph Ford is an award-winning British artist, whose work has been described as ‘storytelling with a side order of off-beat creativity and a sprinkling of optical illusions’. His most recent project Invisible Jumpers – a collaboration with knitter Nina Dodd – went viral in 2019, attracting international attention and celebrity fans including superstar DJ Fatboy Slim.

All prints are available to view online at www.impossiblestreetart.com and can be purchased at https://shop.josephford.net.