B.B. Roskeworth

This mybe the coolest new art approach to graffiti. While Mitchell Heinrich spent an artist residency in Vienna, he developed a new kind of “smell graffiti”. This actually makes sense to me. Smell has an influential grasp on us. It triggers memories, emotions, thoughts, cravings, and list may on and on. We can all imagine walking down the street and smelling something that made us remeber something from our childhood or our first love. None the pulling on our heart strings. Heinrich has then brought us on a juorney that he doesnt get to witness, only know that maybe someone somewhere has expense something because of his actions and art.

This “Scent Paints” are made using essential oils and contained in refillable atomizing spray cans, Heinrich introduces incongruous smells such as dirt and grass into urban spaces. I am excited to see how far he is able to take this while maintaining the art pieces purpose. With Heinrich’s aim of uplifting and embellishing repellent spaces, he believes scent can be a powerful artistic force (and a lot less permanent – it disappears in 20 minutes to an hour). I couldn’t agree more. I ask Heinrich that he brings me casually and unknowingly through my past experiences and through that process gives me new ones.

Heinrich explains:

Scent is interpreted by the limbic system which is very closely tied to emotion and memory. This leads me to believe that interacting with people using scent can potentially be a much more powerful medium than paint since people experiencing it can’t help but react to it. The goal of this project is to realize the potential of smell as art and to explore different ways of using it to interact with people.