Every once in a while a visual artist comes along who produces work that can’t be easily shoehorned into any single category. When critics first saw pieces from those like Piet Mondrian and Jackson Pollock, they weren’t entirely sure what they were looking at and as a result they failed to recognize the sheer genius that they were playing witness to. The same could be said of many of those who experience the output of Marko Stout for the first time, because it’s so difficult to constrain his art with a single label.

While you might know him best for helping to organize the Edible Apple Film Festival, he has made quite a name for himself in the city of New York with his own art projects. His exhibitions have begun to draw in people at least in part because his work stands out due to the fact that it’s just so different from nearly everything that you might find on the contemporary market.

How Urban Metal Prints Became Fine Art

There was a time when critics wouldn’t take notice of anything that didn’t fit into a narrow definition of fine art. In the midst of all this, Marko Stout started to release urban-inspired prints that were fashioned directly onto metal, which certainly lay well outside of this definition.

As a result, few people initially paid him attention. Those who did, however, could be called slightly influential. Everyone from Snooki to Debra Messing chimed in about how they were personally fans of his art. None other than Charlie Sheen called Marko Stout a genius and he’s also started to attract the attention of other artists who’ve previously struggled for acceptance before suddenly rocketing into stardom.

Billie Eilish, who is perhaps better known for her own collaborations with Japanese visual artist Takashi Murakami, has long been a fan of the visual arts and selected several different adjectives to describe Stout’s work. That being said, her own progress in the field of music had long been questioned in its own right.

Having dropped any number of tracks that are hard to put a label on, Eilish was at least initially ignored by the mainstream media before her own explosion so it makes sense that she’d naturally gravitate toward someone like Stout. Others like Tori Spelling have gone so far as to say that they follow Stout on Instagram.

Star-studded feedback from so many influential people can only go so far, however, and this shouldn’t be taken to suggest that Stout is at all a master of self-promotion. In fact, he’s long allowed his art to speak for him as well as the Big Apple itself.

Art that Speaks Loudly Outside of the City

So far, most coverage of Stout’s metal prints and other urban-inspired pieces have heavily emphasized the fact that he’s primarily a New York City-based artist who shows a great deal of influence from the city and local culture. However, Stout’s art has started to take root in a number of areas around the globe.

In 2016, an exhibition of his came to the city of Chicago and the Huffington Post provided coverage of his Chelsea Girls installation not too long afterward. Fans of his art have actually felt that the NYC theming of his pieces are attractive to them because it’s so different from what they’re used to. While locals might never think of the city as exotic, it certainly is to someone who may never have an opportunity to visit in person.

Raising capital in New York City is quite difficult, so Stout largely had to work on these projects by himself to get his message out. The response to that message has been worth every moment, however. People have come from all corners of the globe to get a chance to see some of his in-person exhibitions.

Perhaps it’s the unusual rock-and-roll styling that speaks to that rebellious streak in all of us when looking at his pieces or maybe it’s the chance to visit a location for just a few moments that we’d never get a chance to otherwise. Regardless of why people continue to flock to Marko Stout’s exhibitions, the important thing is that they will and his following doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.