Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. We begin with a series of shots from an outdoor exhibition on Governors Island right now. Timely, political, educational, and powerful; “Eyes on Iran” is an excellent opportunity to contemplate the values we say that we honor and are willing to fight for. It is also an opportunity for Iranians in New York to speak up regarding the ongoing protests in their home country to clarify what the issues are.
On a cold but sunny December day, it is also gratifying to see such visual eloquence in the public space. From the description: “Amplifying the critical movement of Woman, Life, Freedom, the exhibition ‘Eyes on Iran’ seeks to hold the world’s gaze on the unfolding revolution and human rights abuses in Iran, while continuing to demand effective action. With the installation facing the United Nations, the location of the installation calls for direct accountability required from the U.N and their respective global leaders.”
Artists include Sheida Soleimani, Aphrodite Désirée Navab, Z, Icy and Sot, Shirin Neshat, Mahvash Mostala, Sepideh Mehraban, Shirin Towfiq, JR, and conceptual artist and co-founder of For Freedoms Hank Willis Thomas. We share a few of them here with you.
And following those images we give you a few others from our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Faile, Glare, Short, Bumer, Randy, and Sidk.
Shirin Neshat. A stark black and white photograph of the artist’s eye inscribed with farsi calligraphy with an excerpt from the Iranian female poet Forugh Farrokhzad’s poem “I Pity the Garden”.
Icy and Sot created “Bricks of Revolution” to “represent the strength of the activists who are currently risking their lives, inside and outside prisons, to fight oppression. This installation is an homage to political prisoners and all those paving the way to revolution in Iran.”
Aphrodite Desiree Navab’s installation is appropriately timed with the Winter Solstice. On this night, Shab-e-Yalda, meaning “Night of Birth” in Farsi, Iranian girls tie colorful ribbons to trees, making wishes. As an Iranian-born, NYC-based artist and activist protesting in solidarity with Iranian women, my one wish is for women to live life in freedom. The bandanas are the colors of the Iranian flag -green, white, and red. However, they do not have symbols of either theocracy or monarchy at their center, but instead have one word in Farsi: meaning woman.
A splendid selection this week of very entertaining pieces across the city. As we enter December, you can see that graffiti and street artists are going full-steam ahead into the new year – with personal, political, philosophical, and even romantic sentiments.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Faile, SRKSHNK, Modomatic, Sara Lynne-Leo, Molly Crabaple, Cope, Riisa Boogie, Ollin, Short, Rezones, Asker Uno, Danielle BKNYC, McManiphes, Kojo Hilton, Rad Bio, Duster, My Name is Annie, and The Jolly.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Winston Tseng, Mike Makatron, Maker, MFK, Ollin, Slue, KEZ5, Big Ash, D30, 2Much, and Sekt.
Leading up to Thanksgiving this Thursday, we can say that we are thankful to you for your support and encouragement. Thanks to the artists for the inspiring ideas and the loosely woven ecosystem that keeps them going – gallerists, festival organizers, brands, museums, curators, and fans. We’re happy to bring you more fresh stuff this week too.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Stikki Peaches, Homesick, Drecks, Rime MSK, Bust Art, Le Crue, Sinclair, Duel1, La Nueva Era, Hugus, and Aine.
One of the hardest weeks of our lives. But we’re still here to give you another posting of new shots of street art and graffiti on the streets. Thank you for your support, and thank God for the creative spirit that keeps us inspired, our cities alive, informed, and in-touch with the common person.
The so-called ‘Red Wave’ (red tsunami, red hurricane, etc.) didn’t materialize in the mid-term elections Tuesday despite the drumbeat on corporate media. On the other hand, the Democratic party can’t be too proud of their “squeaker” win – or their incremental moves to the corporate right for four decades. Nothing to sing and dance about.
In other NYC news, do you ever feel like a slowly boiling frog? NYPD is talking about partnering with Amazon’s Ring network; the New York Times explains that all those 5G network towers going up on the streets around the city are really just upgraded cell phone equipment, the police will begin a “Drone Unit” to fight crime– “said to be equipped with night vision technology,” this article says, they “won’t be weaponized,” and the NYPD digi-dog program from Boston Dynamics has been discontinued for right now and drones patrolling streets soon, right? Also on Friday the New York Federal Reserve announced plans for a new Fed digital dollar – a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) and the new UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is all in favor of completely digitized money. Meanwhile, it looks like NYC schools are going to be a lot safer with new initiatives to put biometric screening in them including maybe facial recognition. Nothing to worry about, right?
The city pays tributes to its heroes in different ways, and NYC street art loves Biggie Smalls more than anyone, along with folks like Spike Lee and Jean Michel Basquiat. This week we spotted a few new ones among the bevy of new street art beauties we discovered below.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Jason Naylor, Homesick, Savior El Mundo, King Baby, Mutz, Glare, Banksy Hates Me, Ashley Hodder, Raisa Nosova, Qzar, Spin, INU, Cheatz, Ultraboyz, Humble, Carlos RMK, and Yuzly Mathurin.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! Happy Halloween
Enjoy this Halloween parade of art on the streets of NYC. Stay safe!
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Adam Fujita, Lunge Box, Entes, Clint Mario, CMYK Dots, Font 147, Laurier Artiste, Nathan Nails, Lin Feitel, Spit, Eyeball Crew, Minvske, Gigstar, and Lou Hugus.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Chris RWK, De Grupo, Eternal Possessions, J131, ToastOro, Dapo Da Vinci, Mai Gai, SRF, ANSO, NANA, Deepo, BEOR, A Very Nice, Master Moody Mutz, Vers 718, and Love Notes.
As the graffiti and street art high season draws to a close, we remark on the stunning array of new faces on the New York scene this year, as well as a large crop of maturing talents from the last decade or so. The length of the cycle for artists working on the street varies some, but we’ve been around enough to see many of the early 2000s stars fade away or move on to other things. The voice of this new generation is as challenging as ever and perhaps more savvy in many ways. Still, it’s good to see the re-appearance this month of folks like Hera in New York – a talent whose global and studio escapades have made her a revered street artist over about two decades.
Our thanks to all the artists of all persuasions and longevity for giving voice and character to our public spaces.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Queen Andrea, Praxis,CRKSHNK, Lexi Bella, Danielle Mastrion, Homesick, Hera, Panic, Seo, Insane 51, Habibi, Didi, Keops, OSK, AAA, EXR, RJG Rock, L.O.U.R.S., Nohemi, Hazard One, and Emesa.
Well, it was all going well until you came along, Ian. No offense dude but it’s like you walk around with a cloud over your head. The negativity from this hurricane has left us feeling blue (or grey) all weekend – just murky, moody skies so dark that you have to turn a lamp on to see in your apartment in the middle of the day. And few graffiti stalwarts will go out in this weather to perform aesthetic acts of mark-making, though there are exceptions.
Meanwhile in sunny northern Mexico in the heart of the desert city called Chihuahua, our editor of photography, Jaime Rojo, found a bounty of new stuff in an abandoned factory. He also met a lot of new friends (see this weeks final image.) Que Estilo!
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: TCK Crew, Gang, CEN, Grer, Lords, Ickes, Skiee, Esza, Loupe, Rosko, Kosmo, Dementes, KAY, EPC, TCK MEA, and Suly.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! It’s Fall Y’all !
If you know us, it’s a Mexico-Brooklyn fusion. Just one of the endless combinations you discover when you truly explore New York, where we speak 700 languages and dialects.
It is no surprise that graffiti, its style and aesthetic, spanned many of the world’s cities and cultures over five decades – as does street art today. You’ll see similarities this week between pieces we just caught in Chihuahua, in the north of Mexico, and NYC, in the North of the USA. The styles recognize history, but there is definitely a youthful vibe out there and here.
Shout out to the Brooklyn (now LIC) street art duo Faile for opening Deluxx Fluxx in the underground of Manhattan’s Webster Hall this week. Thursday night’s opening was full of fans, admirers, friends, and collectors – with Patrick Miller walking the line outside on the sidewalk to greet patient guests who were waiting to get in. Wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling Faile, the new club is eye-popping with fluorescent image making and graphic design in the Faile vocabulary – and yes, there are new video games that are digital eye candy with a sense of irony and humor. Miller told us that the new version of their classic kiosks would hopefully also provide a platform to other artists – an open inclusive attitude that only comes from street artists who actually believe in community. With a stage for performances, a DJ HQ, smoke, and lasers – it is going to be an instant New York classic house to escape into.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Donut, Muck, Maze, Diez, Imok, Ollin, Griz, Tee, Derk, Bonk, Retos, Merck, and TCK.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
