Here is our weekly conversation with the street, this week including Dan Witz, Okek, Ian Mutch, ATOMS, Lover, Senk, Greks Steffi, ZAPS, Solito, and Bley.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul wants to classify some graffiti as a hate crime. The arts and culture press has been writing alarming headlines about this new proposal by the Gov, but the burden lies on the lawyers who need to prove that the intention of the graffiti writer was to target a protected class of people with a hateful screed. Wonder if they will hand out tickets for poor handstyles, too.
New York neighbors and peers of the orange man tried years ago to warn the country against him – and yet he was elected. Now Trump has to pay fines for “ill-gotten” gains totaling $453 million. He really hit the jackpot when the judge barred him and his two sons Friday from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation. Leading the country, presumably, is still fine.
A day after the verdict, he was hawking golden Trump sneakers. Let’s see, $453 million divided by $399.00…
Here is our weekly conversation with the street, this week including Stikman, Homesick, BK Foxx, Calicho Art, Werds, Goog, LA2, TBanbox, ICU463, Propa, NAY183, Bukse, Joser, Vicer, Faire, Shicks, Angel Ortiz, Mr. Doodle, and Albie.
New Yorkers are having a grand celebration this weekend as the Year of the Dragon begins, and traditional lion and dragon dances wend their way through Chinatowns in Manhattan and Queens. You’ll be seeing lots of red, hopefully getting some money in red envelopes (hongbao), and eating dumplings (symbolizing wealth), fish (representing surplus and abundance), and sticky rice cakes. To all our neighbors celebrating, “恭喜发财” (Gōngxǐ fācái), which means “Wishing you wealth and prosperity.”
Later this week, we’ll all profess love for one another on Valentine’s Day. Looks like red is the color for New York this week.
Here is our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring Homesick, Toxicomano, ERRE, CP Won, Qzar, Hektad, Jappy Agoncillo, ToastOro, Senk, Stesi, CASH RFC Crew, OSK OSK, NAY, and Kosuke James.
Is it even possible to take a personal inventory when it looks like the world around you is going off kilter? It’s worth a try. It may be the thing you depend on most in the future.
Here is our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring Pork, Sara Lynne Leo, Homesick, Clint Mario, Pear, Girlty, Georgia Violett, and Max Grax.
“Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”
– Bertolt Brecht
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!
Our current reality appears quite bent, and maybe art has the power to straighten it out, but you won’t see a lot of political stuff on the streets right now ironically. Here and there, yes, but as the US stirs the embers of resentment into a third world war in the Middle East that will possibly metastasize with other warring regions, it appears that we collectively look again at our belly buttons.
Brooklyn is booming with some fresh work this week, with a winter snowstorm that left us with a white blanket to augment the freshest street art and graffiti. This week, Barcelona’s KRAM shows up in BK with their eclectic styles interplaying. Sice is nice, QUAZAR climbs up, and Toney crosses, and Parisian/Londoner/Brooklyn-based Oscar Nett is hyperrealistic and geometrically dramatic, giving us some Li-Hill vibes, no?
Here is our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring Obey, Cost, Jason Naylor, Degrupo, Optimo NYC, Kram, Hek Tad, Muebon, Slomo, Oscar Lett, Konozco, Toney, Mishka Bobisha, Rack, Klash, QUAZAR, Trip, Sice.
“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
– Cesar A. Cruz
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!
The fog of war obscures our vision, confuses our thoughts, and stirs fear and anger within us. Yet, we must not yield to despair as we navigate these unpredictable times. Within each of us lies a creative spirit eager to emerge. Around us are those who yearn for love and aid. Street artists, with their unusual practice of blending of persuasion and provocation, offer entertainment, encouragement, and discomfort. In such times, the artist’s voice becomes crucial, including your voice.
Here is our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring Jeremy Fish, Angurria, Mike King, Spaint, Tom Bob NYC, Jay Kaes, Whitney Holbourn, Dream Weavin, Art of Slim, Keru De Kolorz, Menas 24711, Memi Martinez, Face, and Brian Wooden.
The New Year has been good so far, except if your country is in a war and is being pulverized.
We captured some exceptional street art during our visits to Miami last month. It’s encouraging to see that, despite commercial pressures, the artists’ untamed creative spirit continues to shine through. To balance the collection, we have dirty old New York pieces that pull no punches, and tell no truths, I mean lies. Happy to share these new and dynamic pieces with you.
Here is our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring Tats Cru. Homesick, Werds, Deih XLF, Melski, West, Dase, Banksy Hates Me, Wizard Skull, Johann Art, Arlex Campos, Professorx, d1a5, Salute, Urban Ruben, HITC, Heat, and Kane.
Great to see everyone last night at the Museum of Graffiti for the book launch of Mana Public Arts. Somehow, the guest list ballooned, and suddenly, we needed half a football field to fit everyone in. Right next door, the Hip Hop 50 museum had a breaking (break-dancing) expo, and the museum was broadcasting a live podcast in their glass booth for passersby to watch, and @0h10mike was walking through the museum doing one-line portraits so the streets on the periphery were very crowded. The energy at Art Basel this year waxes and wanes; rather excited, subdued, and tense, perhaps because everyone is talking about the wars, the economy, plastic surgery, the soulless co-branding of the grassroots graffiti/street art movement, the persistence of the man bun, and the political polarization that grips the country and much of the world. Nonetheless, the wide variety of artists and artworks on the street in Miami is still exceptional, the party scene at night is still pumping, and Martha still loves her margaritas.
Here is our weekly interview with the street – a collection from New York, LA, and a little Miami- more Miami to follow: this week featuring Homesick, HOACS, Eternal Possessions, Such, Stanley Donwood, XSM, Tom Boy NYC, Trades only Bro, Slasher, Skeam, Kanos, Vokles, Tinta Rosa, Michael Relave, Las Chicas Que Pintan, and Indo 093.
The war rages again in Gaza, and the street art in New York reflects the cultural response with more pieces every week. New York’s Fifth Avenue will be closed on three Sundays this month to allow more foot traffic to enjoy the holidays and avert car deaths now that the tree and skating rink are open at Rockefeller Center. Our esteemed New York politicians keep doing us proud this week, with George Santos getting expelled from Congress, and Trump being forced to face criminal charges like everyone else. We say goodbye to the first female Supreme Court Judge Sandra O’Connor, and to a person whom most of the world’s press contend was one of the biggest international war criminals responsible for millions of deaths, Henry Kissinger. Remarkable for some that Jimmy Carter outlived him.
Here is our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring Optimo NYC, Kram, Gats, Eternal Possessions, Muebon, El Hase, Stay Busy, Words on the Street, Alex Itin, Madison Storm, Jocelyn Tsajh, Homer, Siomo, Clams, Celeb, and Under Control.
How are feeling? Did you have a good Thanksgiving day, and did you see the crowds and balloons and marching bands along the parade route and the still intact orange and yellow leaves on the trees on Central Park West? Did you see Dolly Parton dressed as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader singing at the halftime game, and did you see your girl Ava from up the block with her vintage vest and platform boots when grandma sent you out for a can of whipped cream for the pumpkin pies?
“Have you kept pace with the latest revelation in the art world? A remarkable BBC interview with Banksy, dating back two decades, has recently surfaced, sparking renewed excitement. These are indeed vibrant times for art enthusiasts and creators alike. Take, for instance, the Brooklyn Museum’s current showcase. It features an engaging Spike Lee exhibition alongside the innovative ‘Copy Machine Manifesto.’ This zine exhibition is a deep dive into five or six decades of subcultural and counter-cultural movements. It highlights a diverse range of self-published works, including gossip magazines, graffiti newspapers (a nod to David Schmidlapp and Phase 2), and expressions from queercore to hardcore. The exhibit is an eclectic mix of self-aware conceptual art, original fashion, explorations of sexual desire and confusion, comix, handmade collage, and expressions of nihilism, ennui, satire, humor, and lamentation. It’s a vivid reflection of art and expression – and inspirational to any artist who wants to have a voice.
We’re going back for a second helping.
Here is our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring Stikman, Cosbe, Below Key, No Sleep, Huetek, Optimo NYC, Jay Shells, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, OH!, Muebon, Humble, Jappy Agoncillo, Jeff Roseking, Hu, Manual Alejando, Deter, Jason Shelowitz, and KIR.
It’s a new collection of works found on the street here in New York as we head into Thanksgiving week. The boisterous and celebratory party at Skewville in Bushwick last night to celebrate the new Stikman sign show was well attended and full of fans of the artist. The old fans and new donned Stikman masks and wore name stickers saying, “Hello, I’m Stikman.” The long-time imaginative artist is a fixture on New York streets as new generations of artists come and go. Completely anonymous, he never seeks the limelight, preferring to let his copious ideas on lampposts, doorways, mailboxes, and street signs talk for him. In an age of personal influencers and attention seeking, it is refreshing to see his new works quietly capturing attention and imagination on the streets in his way. Bushwick on a Saturday night is teaming with so many crowds of people you may think you are in Wynwood, Miami, complete with food trucks and neon and thigh-high patent leather boots. But the crowds are far more diverse, and the occasional rat is scurrying across the sidewalk before you.
Here is our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring City Kitty, Adam Fujita, Below Key, Eternal Possessions, Hektag, Hops Art, Aidz, Ali Six, Tkid170, Tracy 168, Hydrane, Otam1, Abloker, Nos Ck One, Madison Storm, Melissa Schainker, Wally, J$T, FatJay, Sens-Sational, Aaron Wrinkle, and 5inck.
“ArchitectureSculpturePaintingMusicPoetryDancePerformingVandalism” At first glance, these forms diverge, yet the broader realm of the arts and culture cannot deny that street …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
