Artwork Description
Relief Variant Black Silkscreen Print by Pose- Jordan Nickel Hand-Pulled 13-Color on Hand Deckled 160lb Cover Mohawk Superfine UltraWhite Limited Edition Pop Street Art Artwork.
2023 Signed & Numbered Variant Black Limited Edition of 20 Artwork Size 23x30 Silkscreen Print
"Relief Variant Black Silkscreen Print" by Pose, or Jordan Nickel, is a silkscreen print artwork that utilizes bold colors, patterns, and textures to create an engaging visual experience. Pose is a contemporary American artist known for his distinctive style, which combines influences from street art, pop art, and graffiti.
Pose (Jordan Nickel) – Relief Variant Black and the Evolution of Urban Abstraction
Pose, the artist alias of Jordan Nickel, has firmly established himself as a pivotal figure in the convergence of Street Pop Art & Graffiti Artwork. His 2023 limited edition Relief Variant Black Silkscreen Print is a powerful demonstration of his commitment to layered visual chaos and cultural commentary. Created as a 13-color hand-pulled silkscreen on hand-deckled 160lb Mohawk Superfine UltraWhite paper, the artwork bursts with saturated energy. This variant black edition is tightly limited to just 20 signed and numbered prints, cementing its rarity and importance within his expanding body of work. This piece encapsulates Nickel’s approach to urban abstraction, combining comic book language, graffiti letterforms, and commercial design with high-gloss precision. With clashing shapes, textures, and vibrant tones, Relief Variant Black exists in a constant state of visual tension—each element exploding with kinetic force yet held together by strict compositional control. The purple-haired figure at the center, seemingly overwhelmed or ecstatic, symbolizes both emotional release and sensory overload, themes Pose frequently explores through his intricate collages of visual culture.
Layered Emotion Through Graphic Dissonance
At the heart of Pose’s silkscreen print is the manipulation of emotion through exaggerated expression and digital-era fragmentation. The character’s facial features are partially obscured by intersecting blocks of color, sharp angles, and drips of paint. This interplay of abstraction and representation suggests the disconnection of personal identity in the hypermediated age. The screaming mouth, clutched hands, and glitch-style overlays all evoke a collision of excitement and distress, reflecting the overstimulated emotional states common in digital life. Rather than offering clear messages, Pose opts for symbolic and formal disruption. His characters become vessels of conflict, joy, and chaos all at once. The graphic layering technique, rooted in graffiti’s natural affinity for density and call-and-response mark-making, draws attention to the act of composition itself. It’s a visual cacophony reminiscent of street walls—where posters, tags, and illustrations merge into living archives of voice and rebellion.
Pose’s Role in the Graffiti to Gallery Continuum
Jordan Nickel began his career as a graffiti writer in Chicago, part of a generation of artists who blurred the line between fine art and vandalism. Influenced by hip-hop, comic books, signage, and advertising, he developed a signature aesthetic that celebrates both high-velocity mark-making and meticulous craftsmanship. His move to studio work didn’t dilute his raw energy—it refined it into gallery-ready explosions of color and cultural sampling. Pose has exhibited globally and contributed to major mural festivals and installations, often creating large-scale works that retain the handstyle essence of his roots. Whether on canvas, wall, or silkscreen paper, his work always references the urban landscape and consumer culture while pushing toward something more abstract and psychological.
Street Pop Reimagined with Graphic Precision
Relief Variant Black represents a refined moment in Street Pop Art & Graffiti Artwork—where street influence meets print studio mastery. The silkscreen process, with its meticulous layering, complements the spontaneous feel of Pose’s composition. Every burst of color and block of visual interference is intentional, bringing the energy of graffiti into a new medium while preserving its confrontational spirit. In Jordan Nickel’s hands, pop imagery becomes unstable, dripping with irony and layered meaning. The viewer is invited to engage not just with the character on the page, but with the entire infrastructure of media, culture, and identity that Pose samples and deconstructs. As both an heir to the graffiti movement and an innovator of pop abstraction, Pose continues to expand the boundaries of what street-born fine art can be.
