WK often admits his fascination with human fear and describes extracting the positive out of a violent act like saluting the beautiful form of a javelineer just as the spear leaves his hand. Violence is after all engrained in human nature and his subjects are all flesh. He more than dabbles in an admirable investigation of the mechanical evolution of the human being since the industrial revolution and through the years of prog¬ress since. WK acknowledges the effects this relatively recent era has had on the social and sexual behavior of human kind. The mug shots of methodic criminals feature often in the show pieces, mostly escapees and wanted men. This criminal flight is exactly another form symbolic of perpetual motion and fear of being caught and contained. This becomes a conceptual representation the criminals' journey off the surface of the work or to incarceration. Ironically, WK is now referred to by numerous publi-cations as a politically charged artist, two words he had shirked association with over the years. The Soldier-story became a turning point at least for him accepting a more blatant approach to political issues. This deliberate representation, he deemed necessary to reach a seemingly dormant public in order to draw awareness to a human crisis. He refers to it as a campaign, not art, not work but a campaign fueled by his conscience as a fellow man.
About the Author: WK Interact (born in 1969) was raised in France before moving to New York in the early 90's, where he started producing artistic interventions in Soho. His interest in representing the human body in movement influenced his approach, pushing him to develop the technique of turning a drawing or photo on a photocopier while it runs. As the suffix "Interact" indicates, according to the artist, each urban intervention is produced only after careful scouting of the location. Each of his images is planned out, created specifically for the wall in question. 2.5 New York Street Life is the third book from the artist, after Act 1 (Tokyo: Little More Books, 2001) and Exterior-Interior Act 2 (Berlin: Gestalten, 2005). In 2013, the Jonathan Levine Gallery released his fourth book, WK 360, to mark an exhibition celebrating his 25 years long career. 2.5 New York Street Life observes the three-color principle imposed by publishing house Drago in its 36 Chambers collection. Images and photos printed in black, white, and yellow form a faithful portrait of the artist's path and his key role in the history of New York's street art.