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| Icy and Sot Coke can Tabriz, Iran |
With funny artist names referring to icy and drunk and a challenging piece called Beer Is Not a Crime, Iranese siblings Icy(1985) & Sot(1991) are on their way of becoming as good as their role models Blek Le Rat, Banksy, Dolk, Blu and King Stencil.
The young men, who were very fortunate to have progressive parents, grew up in the city of Tabriz. In 2005, the passionate skaters started stenciling skate logos, skulls and computer game images on their boards. Their first amateur stencils were merely made of cardboard and X-Acto knives. They tackled skate parks and the streets, where their stencil and sticker work would be covered up in a jiffy. The brothers also created a giant Coke can sculpture out of a corroded tank situated near Tabriz.
They soon got in trouble because they were using green paint, which the police linked to green protest groups. The young men were caught several times in their homeland, having been interrogated for days at a time. After fulfilling their military service, they were allowed to leave the country.
Their critical Thief piece, depicting Iranese president Ahmadinejad and Syrian Assad made it impossible to return to their country where street art is highly dangerous and illegal, could even lead to a Satanism charge.
Their universal works about war, peace, hope, love, hate, despair and human rights have been stenciled in the streets of Iran, Turkey, Paris, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco and New York. Dutch street art collectors Klerlx and van Gelderen discovered the stenciling brothers. The boys' creations are represented by their Art Agency. From 2009 on, the duo had gallery shows all over the world, from Teheran, Rome, Paris, Los Angeles, Adelaide to New York.
In 2012, their pieces were shown at Pori Art Museum's Street Art – The New Generation exhibition in Finland. The same year, their Made in Iran show at the Open House Gallery in Manhattan was an incredible success.
In March 2013, the brothers went on a Four City East Middle West tour, with shows and musical performances by the Yellow Dogs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago.
After winning the Red Bull Curates: The Canvas Cooler Project, they exhibited work at the Art Basel Miami Beach SCOPE fair(2013).
They applied their signature stencil of the walking boy, which they have used all around the world. The boy represents all of those innocent Iranian children, who live in crazy surroundings while trying to keep that childlike sense of exploration and innocence.
Children are often depicted in their creations because their happiness seeking, playful and explorative attitude is easy to relate to.
Now living in Brooklyn, where spray paint is a lot easier to find,
Icy & Sot continue their unique social crusade, making plans to go on a European tour.
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| Icy and Sot Beer is not a crime |
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