The Urban Allyance is an urban influenced art and design studio in Boulder, Colorado, and was formed in 2007 by Ralf Schuetz and Ayinde Dae Chong to create street influenced artwork, throw shows and establish a network of like-minded talents.

Ralf Schuetz received his education in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he graduated from graphic design school with a major in typography and a minor in textile design. After working in type houses, ad agencies and design firms in Germany, Miami and Colorado, getting into the arts just seemed to be a natural progression, allowing him to use his visual communication skills to stimulate emotions and to encourage criticism of the path our society is walking down.

Ayinde Dae Chong, born in Brooklyn, NY, went to England after finishing high school and got his associates degree at Camberwell College of Arts in London. From there he moved on to Manchester Metropolitan University where he graduated with a bachelors in Interactive Arts and New Media Design. During his years in the U.K. Dae had the opportunity to paint some walls together with a few heavy hitters in the European graffiti scene.

One of UA’s goals is to connect street inspired art forms like graffiti and underground hip hop to reach a broader audience for our messages of positivity, sustainable living and spiritual growth and present them in an entertaining way. The proven concept behind our artshows incorporates a usually colorful array of live projection, body painting, dance, fashion shows, etc, which not only generates more awareness about the tremendous talents in the urban scene, but due to the nature of our themes also eliminates common misconceptions which stereotype graffiti as senseless gang-tagging, and put all hip hop on the same shallow level as commercialized gangsta rap.

Urban Allyance’s design portfolio shows a wide range of styles going from classy-traditional to grungy and wild for clients in the music industry.