Northeast’s galleries, studios and artist lofts aren’t the only spaces to experience art in Northeast. Take a step outside and you’ll find unsanctioned artwork on surrounding buildings, streets, and other publicly viewed surfaces, often referred to as street art.
Street art comes in many forms; spray paint graffiti, stencil graffiti, wheat paste poster art, sticker art, sculpture, video production, yarn bombing, street installations, and more.
“I make sculptures and install them in disused public places. I create them to surprise and delight people who happen across them in their day-to-day activities,” said a street artist who goes by the name of Mows, pronounced “Mouse.”
Street art is known for working outside of the law; artists often don’t have permission to install their work on public or business property. However, utilizing public space allows street artists to reach a broader audience; people of all ages, beliefs and interests, people on their way to work, to the coffee shop, to the brewery, and even those who have never stepped foot inside of an art gallery.
Street art re-creates and repurposes using artistic mediums. “My sculptures take the form of small doors with windows and welcome mats,” said Mows. “Many of my doors include some degree of realism, while others are canvases for communicating ideas, celebrating events, mourning loss, and collaborating with other artists.”
According to Mows, his doors have been embraced by local businesses. “I often receive nice thank you notes. I also receive many requests. Even the doors I installed early on without permission have been posted on their social media feeds,” said Mows. “I have some more elaborate collaborations going on with a couple local businesses. It has been a lot of fun working with all of them.”
Mows was inspired by the works of numerous street artists primarily in London and Paris who created objects and installed them high on walls. “I chose to bring my work down to street level where people can engage and interact with them rather than as works of art to be seen, but not touched,” said Mows.
Mows became interested in street art in the early 1990s and began photographing what he found on trips around the world. He was especially interested in 3D objects he’d see attached to walls. “I wanted to do something simple that I could decorate in a variety of ways. I wanted it to be 3D. In the end I chose to do Mows doors, because they would be easy to install, low to the ground and each could be a different canvas,” Mows said.
Mows installed his first door in November of 2015; he was 54 years old at the time and hadn’t created art since childhood. His doors are made out of silicone molds and resin castings. He paints the doors with acrylic paint and uses industrial grade concrete adhesive to affix them to walls and telephone polls. “My art gives me the opportunity to add a bit of whimsy to public spaces while joining a global conversation with other street artists,” said Mows.
He’s installed about 150 doors in the San Francisco area and another 100 in Minneapolis, his new home. Mows also has another 200 to 300 doors that he’s sent to other artists around the world to collaborate with. Those are installed in Poland, Germany, Belgium, England, Scotland, France, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Canada, Japan, Australia, and other countries, as well as throughout the United States.
“I love collaborating with other artists, especially ones I’ve followed for years. I get very excited seeing what other artists can do with my blank doors and their art. I have subsequently become friends with many of the artists I’ve collaborated with, including Above.Love (@above_love_art) my earliest inspiration,” said Mows.
Mows has installed his doors all over Minneapolis but keeps coming back to Northeast. “I like that there are so many small commercial neighborhood areas, like the area around Hazel’s and The Coffee Shop NE, those make for a much more livable neighborhood. I want Mows to be a part of making those places fun to live in,” he said.
Mows enjoys seeing people interact with his doors. “My hope is that people will encounter my doors while going about their daily routine and be surprised and delighted,” he said. To go on a Mows scavenger hunt of your own across the Twin Cities, visit his Instagram page, @mows510.
However, Mows isn’t the only one installing 3D art around Minneapolis. While in search of tiny Mows doors across Northeast, I also discovered small brightly colored butterflies. “Butterflies coming to the Twin Cities,” said this anonymous street artist on their instagram, @bflyartz.
So next time you’re walking or biking throughout Northeast, keep your eyes open and look around. You never know what you might find; a yarn bomb, a mural, butterflies, or if you look to where the buildings meet the ground, you may see a little door with a welcome mat, a small home the perfect size for a mouse.
Below: Mows’s doors pop up on all sorts of iconic Northeast locales. A tiny denzien left a plate of cookies out for visitors at the Hollywood Theater. Another small neighbor set up shop just outside of Bauhaus Brew Labs, and at Northrup King Building. (Photos by Liz Jensen)
