$$ ALEC MONOPOLY $$

I first came across Alec Monopoly at the beginning of 2018 as me and my boyfriend were walking past the window of Eden Gallery on New Bond St, London. A huge golden statue of the monopoly man caught our attention and led us into the gallery where numerous other similar pieces of artwork were. I got the name of the artist and went home to research his work and have been a fan of Alec's ever since!

Alec Arden, professionally known as Alec Monopoly is a graffiti artist from New York. He was inspired to transition to street art following the economic recession in 2008, when he adopted the Monopoly man as his main subject. Initially a symbol to comment on the economy and capitalist greed, eventually 'Rich Uncle Pennybags' came to represent the artist himself. Like Banksy, Alec chose to be anonymous, hiding under his alias and covering his face while in public.

What initially drew me to Alec's work is that he managed to adopt an already incredibly established brand - as his own brand! Something that originally came as a wave of inspiration has managed to build a whole career on! But I love that he's not just copied the monopoly man and what he stands for but through his work has reinvented him into a whole new character and tells different stories through his work using him! I honestly think it's really cleverly done!

Another thing that I think makes Alec stand out compared to other artists is that he's took an iconic character as his subject and has not made it tacky in the slightest, and I think this takes a great person to do so successfully!

Alec works on a range of different materials - he uses spray paint, acrylic, resin and newspaper clippings from the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal for most of his smaller work. He also creates these huge Graffiti Murals all over the world from LA to London to Bangkok, he's left his print all over the world!

He also works along side huge names such as TAG Heur and Beverly Hills Hotel! Anything he can get his hands on he will spray paint from expensive Cars to Hermes Birkin's, theres no limit!

I follow Alec on his instagram where he shows himself spraying some of these pieces of work and I find it so mesmerising how he works! He is defiantly up there with one of my current favourite artists!