In the 30 years since it broke through to the cultural and artistic mainstream, Street Art has become a phenomenon around the world and a central part of today's political and cultural conversation.  Some of the most important new Graffiti Art is emerging from North Africa, the Muslim world and Europe.  At the same time, pure graffiti art has begun to morph, as different artists incorporate different influences such as pop, calligraphy and typography.

Lawrence Fine Art will present two Street artists whose work has evolved in these new directions--Puerto Rican-born Sen2 (Sandro Figueroa) and German Reso1 (Patrick Jungfleisch).  The exhibition, titled "Sen2 and Reso: Hard Edge," opens at the gallery on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend with an opening reception from 5-7 pm.

"Thirty years ago, the New York graffiti artists used the subway trains to communicate their vision," says Gallery Director Howard Shapiro. "A graffiti tag thrown up on a subway car in the Bronx would circulate all over the city, but it took time to spread the word beyond New  York. Social media has changed all that. Today, many of the best street artists are followed by friends who photograph and video their work and post their images seconds after the art is completed. Graffiti on a street in Dusseldorf or Tunis can be instantly communicated around the world. It is fascinating to watch how a renegade art form has become a world-wide phenomenon."

Both artists began their careers spraypainting either subway trains or city walls. Sen's art has evolved from that point to a complex mix of pop references, graffiti style and calligraphy. Reso's work has evolved into near-geometric abstraction, an exploration of typograpy and letter forms.

"In both cases, their work has come to explore sign and language in art," explains Shapiro. "Incorporating pop images is an element of that as well. Pop uses well-known imagery to convey messages about beauty and sex, for example."

Both artists have exhibited extensively in Europe and Puerto Rico, including the Urban Art Biennale.

Lawrence Fine Art is located at 37 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, in the passageway.