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Brian Bradley, a street artist who works under the name Frank Kwiatkowski, is a type 1 diabetic and his art focuses on his disease. He makes prints using traffic cones, a technique he came up with and has shared with other artists around town. He is this week’s cover story, and if you’d like to find out more about him — or just to meet the guy and bear witness to his spectacular facial hair — here’s how: Aside from posting around Denver — particularly in Capitol Hill — with wheat paste and a staple gun, he also does shows, including one opening today at Crash 45 . At the AWE Collective-curated show, he’ll be selling his pieces for $60 to $150 and will be there in person. Event starts at 7 p.m.
Most Sunday afternoons (approximately from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.), you can also find him working outside Denver Book Fair on South Broadway, selling prints and carving.
Photos: See more samples of Bradley’s work in our slide show.
From the cover story:
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Art is his way to “bark at the power.”A printmaker, Bradley cuts his templates out of traffic cones — a technique he invented and has shared with other artists in town. “The DIY nature, you don’t see a lot of people thinking outside the box,” says Zez Shores, an artist and tattooist at Newspeak Tattoo who has done most of Bradley’s ink.
From the wedge-shaped cuts in the cones, Bradley carves graphic images that look medieval in style. Syringes, skulls and insulin bottles are frequent motifs. He also often carves a version of himself, complete with a scraggly chin beard.
