Library Street Collective is pleased to announce In Between, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based artists How & Nosm. Often referencing themes of dichotomy and duality, twin brothers Raoul (How) and Davide (Nosm) Perre will examine the struggle for balance in this exhibition of intricate works on canvas and paper, taking their exploration of opposites to places of mediation.

Born in Spain and raised in Germany, the twins first encountered graffiti as teenagers and developed their early style by tagging buildings and trains throughout Europe. Eventually, the craft and transient lifestyle brought them to New York, where they became members of the legendary TATS CRU, a group of professional muralists and an authority in graffiti culture. How & Nosm have since become masters with an aerosol can, and are known for the seamless way in which they collaborate, finishing one another’s sentences and line work as if operating as a single entity. “Feelings of conflict and struggle are common when it comes to the concept for our paintings. If they evoke that in the viewer, then we have reached the conversation that we were hoping for,” says Davide. Their trademark palette of red, black, and white belies the seriousness of this concept from a distance, but up close, complex characters wind together in an unending spiral of contention. Many pieces present worlds within worlds, stacked and winding together, which the brothers say is illustrative of the weight of forces that impact us individually and within a society.

Their process seems to build from dominant forms to increasingly small details, with broad arcs of skillful line work dictating the design of more intricate parts. Despite this formal hierarchy, all elements remain significant; whether character, symbol, or geometric construct, all pieces “coexist to create balance.” It is this convergence of disparate elements that creates tension and inspires curiosity. In addition to 12 paintings on canvas, In Between will include for the first time more than 30 pencil drawings, which the artists created as process for their many murals and paintings. This collection of works on paper is divided into two categories, ‘Born’ and ‘Unborn’, referencing whether the drawing was used to fulfill the larger projects (‘Born’) or remained unrealized (‘Unborn’).

Coinciding with the exhibition, Library Street Collective has partnered with Bedrock Detroit and Meridian Health to present a mural by How & Nosm at One Campus Martius, their tallest mural to date, which will inhabit the space next to the world-renowned work by Shepard Fairey completed in May 2015. The 184’ by 60’ mural, titled Balancing Act, references a traditional family tree and considers it on a societal scale, taking the form of a totem pole. Balanced on one foot and dangerously close to collapse, the precariousness of the totem signifies the delicate nature of family and community, reminding us to strive for harmony as individuals and parts of the whole.