STRAAT is proud to announce SHARED EXPERIENCE, a two- person exhibition at STRAAT Gallery, featuring artists Kayla Mahaffey and Carlos Ramirez, co-hosted by Los Angeles based Thinkspace Projects.

This exhibition celebrates one of the gallery’s ongoing and long term aims; to show the diversity and popularity of our worldwide street art and graffiti culture.

These two American artists, along with Thinkspace curator, Andrew Hosner, will be in attendance for the exhibition reception.

The opening reception for SHARED EXPERIENCE is Saturday August 20th, 2022 from 5-9 PM, and will feature refreshments and live DJ’s.

KAYLA MAHAFFEY
Kayla Mahaffey is a contemporary artist and muralist specializing in illustration and fine arts. Her style being a mixture of pop art and Afro-surrealism, makes for a bright and colorful experience that packs a punch and sends an important message with each piece.

Born on the Chicago South Side, she has a strong sense of resilience and community that is displayed in her art time and time again.

She studied at the American Academy of Art in downtown Chicago, taking some classes, before leaving in 2017 to pursue art full-time

CARLOS RAMIREZ
Carlos Ramirez’ painting and sculpture work often speaks of the inequalities within Mexican American communities and champions the common man as underdog.

Snakes, spiders, scorpions, and other bits of nature from his former life as a date farmer in the Coachella Valley in Indio, California, appear mixed in with Catholic symbolism, aliens, gang members, pop-culture references, and commercial imagery, giving brand logos and religious icons the same attention and placement.

Carlos’ work is tremendously resourceful, scavenging for creative materials within various abandoned desert locales.

As a former member of the seminal street art duo ‘The Date Farmers’, Carlos’ paintings continue to evolve, becoming denser and more meaningful while remaining alluring and magical.