DUAL steps out of the dark

DUAL, Tesla

Graff kid and wheatpaste factory DUAL has been one of the few street artists to adjust and flourish when attention shifted from 'traditional' spray paint tags and bombs that have defined the scene (since TAKI 183 in 1968) to the offshoot 'street art' that has grown immensely in popularity in the past decade. The 'street art' thing, as purported by sites like Wooster Collective and Streetsy, is a much more arty culture than taggers, with more loners who believe they are defining their career than crews trying to maintain territory.

MEAT VERB, Guernica

Still associated with the all-city MEAT-VERB work that blankets the inner loop, DUAL has expanded his approach to include silkscreen and handpainted wheatpastes as well as stickers. With his new venture DUALSTREETS.com the artist strikes out into sales- where Houstonians Give Up, YAR and FAILURE have excelled, but more traditional crews Aerosol Warfare and Graveyard have struggled. As the urban population is set to double (from 4,700,000 to 11,100,000) in Houston in the next two decades; expect the environment to change rapidly with it. Hell, kids may be able to bomb commuter trains if they ever build that friggin' rail down Richmond; and they'll look up to the examples set before them today.