Deuce 7 (also known as Deuce Seven, Twenty Seven, 27) is the pseudonym of an American artist based in
Dunsmuir, California
Dunsmuir is a city in Siskiyou County, northern California. It is on the upper Sacramento River in the Trinity Mountains. Its population is 1,707 as of the 2020 census, up from 1,650 from the 2010 census.
Dunsmuir is currently a hub for tourism ...
.
Background
Deuce 7 has been a
railfan
A railfan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff or trainspotter (Australian/British English), or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally interested in trains and rail transport systems.
Rail ...
(
trainspotter
A railfan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff or trainspotter (Australian/British English), or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally interested in trains and rail transport systems.
Rail ...
) since his early days, and eventually began
freighthopping
Freighthopping or trainhopping is the act of surreptitiously boarding and riding a freight railroad car, which is usually illegal.
Origins and history
In the United States, freighthopping became a common means of transportation following the A ...
as a means of transport as well as to spread his work beyond the Minneapolis area. His love of trains and freighthopping strongly influences his art. Locomotives, freight cars, and railyard denizens are recurrent
motifs in his work. He calls the west coast home, but his
monikers can be seen on train cars throughout the United States.
He got his pseudonym from the markings on an old
diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...
, BNSF 6127, signing his work with a "27". Eventually it was suggested that he spell the name out "Deuce 7". He currently lives in Mt Shasta, California.
Work
Deuce 7 started working as a
street art
Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art.
Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant graff ...
ist in the 1990s in Minneapolis.
Since 2006 has been exhibiting work in a gallery in Minneapolis and later in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, and other major cities.
Style
Deuce 7 uses aerosol paint, one-shot, and oilbars to create intensely colorful, spidery images of a variety of subjects which he refers to as "stories",
which include characters he has met on his travels, romantic interests, trains, cityscapes, as well as purely expressive, surrealist images.
His fine art pieces carry the design hallmarks of his street style, and are also typically rendered with one-shot, ink, watercolor, and/or enamel spray paint. Some pieces utilize mixed media including masks, found objects, and baroque moldings. His pen and ink drawings frequently evoke stark, decaying cityscapes of crumbling tenement buildings patrolled by strange vehicles and airborne creatures.
References
External links
;Media
''The Deuce is Loose! Street artist Deuce 7 brings his chaotic masterpieces to the Soo'', Tony Libera, mndaily.com, April 2009''Street artist Deuce Seven returns to his stomping grounds'', Susannah Schouweiler, MinnPost.com March 2009''Deuce 7'', Seattle Weekly, 2008''Our Old Pal Deuce Seven Bombs a Club Toilet'', Camille Dodero, Village Voice, November 2008 ''The Alien Invader'', Camille Dodero, Village Voice, 2007, March 2007''New King in Town: Deuce 7'', Jake Dobkin, The Gothamist, Feb. 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deuce 7
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American graffiti artists
Artists from Minneapolis
Pseudonymous artists
Public art