The street art aesthetic that lit up the subways and brick walls of cities like New York, Paris and London in the 1980s and 1990s reframed graffiti as fine art. As artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Blek le Rat and Richard Hambleton claimed the streets as their canvas, the world stopped to watch. Now, in an urban landscape forever changed by COVID-19, it is set to take over once more.

Leading the pack is Dan Lane, whose graffiti-inspired collection, In The Empty Spaces, translates elements of this controversial subculture for a provocative release of two hand-signed limited edition prints. The London-based artist, who once created art under his own moniker of Mechanica, has defaced his signature skull with motifs from street art genres, including the interlocking letters and symbols of Wildstyle and the harmony of Abstract.

Chosen to represent vibrancy and life, the colours are bold and unapologetic, as striking on the canvas as they would be if sprayed from a can onto a desolate city wall. Dan has manipulated the boundaries of 2D and 3D, using light and shadows to lift the graphic out of the darkness and into the external space.