All posts tagged: Bunny M

Graffiti and Street Art Lock Up “21st Precinct” in New York

August 14, 2014 Artists, Interview

This weekend the NYPD police precinct is hosting a graffiti and street art show, and the public is welcome to see every floor completely swimming in aerosol and plastered in wheat-paste.

Admit it, it is not often you receive an invite like that.

Pesu (center), Pixote (left) and Bill Claps Morse code writing the history of the building on the walls. (right) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“When this precinct was built it was a very bad, very poor neighborhood. When the cops came in there was a lot of brutality and there was a lot of corruption,” says curator Robert Aloia of this building architected for the NYPD in 1863 and closed down fifty years later. A quick search on the web shows a history of thuggery born of Dickens. Records at the time of closure indicated there were 9,500 arrests annually and this tiny slice of Manhattan alone had 37 brothels.

So why not have a graffiti show here before tearing it down, right?.

Savior, El Mundo, Ben Angotti, Depoe, Esteban Del Valle and Chris Soria. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: So you literally could hit every wall here and it wouldn’t matter because it is coming down at the end of the month?
Robert Aloia: Yeah the inside walls. The outside walls they don’t want us to touch.

In a twist of events pulled from a satire, one of the artists on display this weekend was arrested this month in Brooklyn and spent the night in jail before seeing a judge. The following day he came to this precinct and hit up some walls with impunity.

Savior, El Mundo, Ben Angotti, Depoe, Esteban Del Valle and Chris Soria. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“It’s just amazing that these artists can put their time, their money, and their talent into something that is just coming down,” says Aloia while touring us through rooms and stairways during one of the four visits we made for these exclusive first images, “ and it is only going to be seen for a certain amount of time.”

Hellbent has his own room. So does Rambo. Cash4 and Matt Siren are sharing one together, as are Sheryo and the Yok. Elle spent an entire night in hers watching her black wax sculpture melting away with the candles she planted in it. An unconfirmed story says it is a sculpture cast of the elusive Judith Supine.

“She painted it black, melted it and filmed it,” says Aloia.

Faust (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Have you thought of the irony behind the fact that this is a former police precinct and many of the artists would have been running away from this place instead of trying to get into it?
Robert Aloia: That is true, I didn’t think of that aspect of it really, but the gallery area was the actual holding cell.

Brooklyn Street Art: So how did you draw these people together?
Robert Aloia: Every show I’ve done I start with my friends, and then it’s friends of friends, and that’s it. It’s just about one degree of separation.

In the last three years the New York native has curated a number of shows heavily weighted with graffiti artists and Street Artists, primarily on Manhattan’s Lower East Side at bars, event spaces, and venues with downtown history like Fuse, White Box, and La Mama.

Vexta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A bartender and DJ who has mixed with a lot of New York nightlife and street life without becoming hardened, Aloia and co-curators like Erik Foss and Ricky Powell have been doing sometimes star-studded yet unassuming one-off shows the past few years with Street Art names like Bast, Supine, and Aiko and some of the newer kids like N’DA and Icy & Sot.

“I am from New York and I always knew a lot of graffiti artists, that’s how I ended up getting into it. I was just lucky enough to have access to some venues to do stuff.”

Brooklyn born, Aloia’s been on the LES since the 80s, which explains his devotion to the memory of “outlaw parties” where people would set up an illegal bar and a pumping sound system in improvised celebrations at unsanctioned locations. Outlaw parties and pop-up speakeasies still exist of course, but more often they are in Brooklyn now as Manhattan is shoving artists out by the truckload.

Vexta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For “21st Precinct” he’s called in nearly 50 artists from as far away as Japan, Australia, California, and nearby New Jersey. The mix of artists is eclectic and sometimes quite powerful like the tribute to SAMO (Basquiat) in the gallery by his co-conspirator Al Diaz, and the dark room built by Swedish photographer Jesper Haynes which features images from the downtown New York in the Reagan era.

“I definitely always have a mix with fine art, photography, installation, but you know I always have old-school graffiti artists and street artists,” he says as he looks over the four floors of thickly gritty splendor by renowned and unknown.

For those lucky enough to see the show in this venue this weekend or next, “21st Precinct” is a quintessential New York minute, a steamy grimy melting pot of authentic attitude that begs to differ and perhaps stick a finger in your chest just before the wrecking ball hits. Thank Aloia while you’re there. Not surprisingly, the new building that replaces this one will be for…..wait for it…. luxury residences.

Jesper Haynes (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KET (photo © Jaime Rojo)

N Carlos J (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li-Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rambo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

URNew Yrok (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rae (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shiro (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ASVP (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris RWK (center) URNew York (left) ASVP (right). (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NEPO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Toll (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Matt Siren . Cash4 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Al Diaz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Amanda Marie (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nick Tengri (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joseph Meloy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bishop203 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Yok and Sheryo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Iena Cruz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

X-O (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixote in action. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Justin Carty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Curb Your Ego (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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OUTLAW ARTS Presents: “The 21st Precinct”
Curated by Robert Aloia & VNA Mag

The show will be in the old 21st Precinct located on 327 East 22nd Street. More information HERE.

Contributing Artists:

Adam Dare, Al Diaz, Amanda Marie, ASVP, Bad Pedestrian, Ben Angotti , Bill Claps, Bishop203, Bunny M., Cash4, Chris RWK, Chris Soria, Coby Kennedy, Curtis Kulig, D. Gaja, Danielle Mastrion, Dasic, Dizmology, Duel, ELLE, Erasmo, Esteban del Valle, Faust, Ghost, GIZ, Hellbent, Hue, Icy & Sot, Iena Cruz, Jesper Haynes, Justin Carty, Ket, Lexi Bella, Li-Hall, Lorenzo Masnah, Matt Siren, Mr. Toll, N. Carlos Jay, Nepo, Nick Tengri, Pesu, Phil, Pixote, RAE, Rambo, Ricardo Cabret, SAE, Savior Elmundo, Shery-o & The Yok, Shiro, Tone Tank, URNY, Vexta, X-O.

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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BSA Images Of The Week: 07.13.14

July 13, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Apparently there is another spectacular sporting event that’s got everyone captivated today and for a couple hours it will be easy to get a cronut or a seat on the subway because people will be worshipping flat screens inside a dark sports bar on the Lord’s Day. We recommend you jog right over to the High Line because it’s free and will likely be a little more commodious than usual. You can lounge while listening to a sleek waterfall, stroll arm in arm with your beloved, gaze upon the urban-wild landscaping and even catch a new billboard high-jacking that might make you crack a smile.

The billboard space is great if reserved for Art On The High Line, but has been recently replaced by straight up garishly banal advertising, sort of marring the beauty of this big public works project whose spirit is better served when it steers clear of commercial messaging. This week sometime a few buckets of yellow paint were used to selectively buff the message to create a new one. A bit of genius goes a long way sometimes, doesn’t it? Although, for all we know, it’s a clever way to draw attention to the original ad, since you can still read it.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Alice Pasquini, bunny M, Bust Art, Cera, Damon, Gazoo, Gum Shoe, Kid Monkey, Knarf, Labrona, LMNOPI, Low Bros, Miriam Castillo, Mr. Prvrt, Pyramid Oracle, Sweet Toof, Trentino, UD, Urban Spree, Vexta, Wing, and Zaria.

Top Image >> Unknown artist billboard takeover. Please help us ID the artist. Is it Posterboy perhaps? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Summer fashions can get quite skimpy in July in New York. Gum Shoe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vexta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Knarf new mural in Poland. (photo © Knarf)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Low Bros mural for Urban Spree. Berlin, Germany. 2014 (photo © Phillipp Barth)

Kid Monkey for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cera. Hand painted portrait. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Labrona new piece in Montreal, Canada. (photo © Labrona)

UD (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zaria and Bust Art new piece in Amsterdam. (photo © Bust Art)

Gazoo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

When Lavinia jumped, unknowingly she left behind her feet. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An unknown artist’s sculpture of a face with tree branch below and existing and previously published WING glass hummingbird. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alice Pasquini new mural in Trentino, Italy. (photo © Jessica Stewart)

Sweet Toof (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. PRVRT (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pyramid Oracle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miriam Castillo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Lower Manhattan engulfed by fog. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images Of The Week: 03.30.14

March 30, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Adam Dare, Bunny M, COL Wallnuts, Don’t Fret, Icy & Sot, JMR, John Ahearn, Judith Supine, Michael McKeawn, Miss Me, Mr. Toll, Paper Skaters, Pyramid Oracle, and What is Adam.

Top Image >> Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Judith Supine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Col Wallnuts (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Dare (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jim McKenzie (photo © Jaime Rojo)

What Is Adam (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Paper Skaters (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JMR for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pyramid Oracle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John Ahearn. Florant 2013. Plaster portrait of Florant Morellet, the colorful restaurant owner and business pioneer in the Meat Packing District of Manhattan installed at the High Line Park for the BUSTED Series. The portrait was inspired by the 16th century painting of Bacchus by Caravaggio. John Ahearn of course is a crucial link between public art and street art in New York and has been for thirty years or so, aligning his work and practice with actual people who live in our neighborhoods – especially in the Bronx. Mr. Florant, a longtime fixture and heart of the Meat Packing District, abandoned Manhattan for Bushwick, Brooklyn last year. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Michael McKeawn “Winter Laundry”. Look closely and you’ll see that this is an installation of rather large clothing. photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miss Me produces a rather elaborate tribute to you know who. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miss Me (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dont Fret (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Catch the Love (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Toll (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. East River, NYC. January 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images Of The Week: 03.16.14

March 16, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Amanda Marie, bunny M, City Kitty, Dan Witz, Foxx Face, Invader, JerkFace, Mattia Lullini, Pixel Pancho, PJC, Retna, Sean 9 Lugo, and Twobit.

Top Image >> Pixel Pancho keeps it all in the robot family (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Amanda Marie did a series of new stencils recalling childrens books and tales from generations ago. Because she lays down a light foundation before stenciling, the images have ghostly glow, an energetic halo effect. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Amanda Marie. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FoxxFace (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JerkFace fragments his work and experiments with space for Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mattia Lullini for the Street Art Delhi Festival in India. (photo © Mattia Lullini)

Retna. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Silver Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Twobit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M interprets Anne Boleyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sean 9 Lugo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. March 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Images of The Week: 03.09.14

March 9, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Hi Everybody! Two things – We saw a big uptick in next generation Street Artists this week in the Armory Week shows and wrote about it yesterday; New High-Water Mark for Street Art at Fairs for Armory Week. So that is Thing One. Thing Two is yesterday was warm – like 60 degrees. That’s all.

Yes, there was Ash Wednesday this week with people walking through NYC streets with smudges on their foreheads and we may have entered a new cold war with Russia invading Ukraine and Rick Perry looks really really super smart just by adding heavy rectangular glasses – but for many in NYC, the pent up desire to run naked through the streets yesterday was superceded only by the fact that the last two months were spent eating large helpings of comfort food and peering out the ice-frosted window.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Acet, Bunny M, Damon, Hek Tad, Hyland Mather, Judith Supine, Kram, Kuma, Olek, and Red Grooms.

Top Image >> Judith Supine. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Judith Supine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OLEK uses some fencing to reference a fencing term: Touché ! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Acet on a box truck. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kuma reflecting on the toxic state of the Gowanus. Plase help ID the tags. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hyland Mather’s installation using found wood and objects from the streets of Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yeah, dude, we do too! Hek Tad (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Red Grooms. Clearly someone has some toe-stomping advantage in this scenario. “Be Aware of a Wolf in the Alley” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Red Grooms. “Be Aware of a Wolf in the Alley” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist who wishes to remain anonymous. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Talk about a social x-ray. bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kram2013 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Brooklyn, NY. March 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The Power Of Slow and the Ascent of the Storytellers

March 3, 2014 Artists

A big deal has been made about the so-called virtual experience of Street Art – made possible by ever more sophisticated phones and digital platforms and technology – producing a pulsating river of visually pleasing delicacies to view across every device at a rapid speed, and then forget.

Sit on the city bus or in a laundromat next to someone reviewing their Instagram/RSS/Facebook feed and you’ll witness a hurried and jerky scrolling with the index finger of images flying by with momentary pauses for absorbing, or perhaps “liking”. The greatest number of “likes” are always for the best eye candy, the most poppy, and the most commercially viable. It’s a sort of visual image consumption gluttony that can be as satisfying as a daily bag of orange colored cheese puffs.

This is probably not what art on the street is meant for. At least, not all of it.

Space Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As we have been observing here and in front of audiences for a few years now, the 2000s and 2010s have brought a New Guard and a new style and approach to work in the street that we refer to as the work of storytellers. These artists are doing it slowly, with great purpose, and without the same goals that once characterized graffiti and street art.

London Kaye’s tribute to Space Invader. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

While there has been the dual development of a certain digital life during the last decade, these street works are eschewing the shallowness that our electronic behaviors are embracing. Even though the digitization of society has pushed boundaries of speed and eliminated geography almost entirely, it is creating an artificial intelligence of a different kind. In other words there really is still no substitute for being there to see this work, to being present in the moment while cars drive by and chattering pedestrians march up the sidewalk.

Setting aside the recent abundance of large commissioned/permissioned murals and the duplication/repetition practice of spreading identical images on wheatpasted posters and stickers that demark the 1990s and early 2000s in the Street Art continuum, today we wanted to briefly spotlight some of the one of a kind, hand crafted, hand painted, illegally placed art on the streets.

Judith Supine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The materials, styles and placements are as varied as the artists themselves: Yarn characters attached to fences, tiles glued to walls, acrylic and oil hand painted wheat pastes on a myriad of surfaces, ink, lead and marker illustrations, carved linotype ink prints, clay sculptures, lego sculptures, intricate hand-cut paper, and hand rendered drawings have slowly appeared on bus shelters, walls, doorways, even tree branches.

They all have a few things in common: The artists didn’t ask for permission to place these labor-intensive pieces on the streets, they are usually one of a kind, and frequently they are linked to personal stories.

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We’ve been educating ourselves about these stories and will be sharing some of them with you at the Brooklyn Museum in April, so maybe that’s why we have been thinking about this so much. There is a quality to these works that reflect a sense of personal urgency and a revelation about their uniqueness at the same time.

If the placement of them is hurried the making of them it is not. The themes can be as varied as the materials but in many cases the artist informs the art by his or her autobiography or aspiration. And once again BSA is seeing a steady and genuine growth in storytelling and activism as two of the many themes that we see as we walk the streets of the city.

Jaye Moon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Toll (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Keely and Deeker collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Square and bunny M collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BD White (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pyramid Oracle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bagman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Outdoor Gallery” Surveys Current Street Art Scene in NYC

February 20, 2014 Artists

Outdoor Gallery – New York City by Yoav Litvin

The outdoor gallery is the one we visit most and NYC is always front and center in our heart even as we branched out to about 100 other cities and towns last year. Outdoor Gallery – New York City is also the name of the brand new book by photographer and writer Yoav Litvin, who has spent the last couple of years shooting New York streets and meeting many of the artists who make the painting and wheat pasting that characterizes the class of 2014.

Outdoor Gallery – New York City by Yoav Litvin. Art by Chris Stain.

Published by Ginko Press, the large 235 page hardcover features nearly 50 street artists / graffiti artists whose work you see here regularly (with the exception of two or three) along with comments and observations from the artists about their practice, their experiences, and the current Street Art scene primarily in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

When Yoav told us of his hope to publish a book last year we offered whatever advice we could – but primarily we advised him to stick to his vision and not to let anyone discourage him. A true fan of the scene, he has worked tirelessly to do just that and now he can share with you a personal survey and record of many of the artists who are getting up today in New York.

Outdoor Gallery. New York City by Yoav Litvin. Art by Joe Iurato.

“Outdoor Gallery – New York City grew organically to embody my process of exploration and discovery on the streets of New York City. It is a creation that was born out of love for New York City streets and their people, and focuses on artists as leaders with a unique and necessary role in a society that aspires for freedom and change,” says Litvin in his introduction, and throughout the book you can sense the respect he has for the art and the dedication he has put into this project.

Careful to let the artists speak for themselves, he presents their work without commentary and with ample space given for expression. Using primarily his own photos, it is carefully edited and presented as an uncluttered and measured overview of each artists work.

Outdoor Gallery – New York City by Yoav Litvin. Art by Jilly Ballistic.

For us it is a proud moment to see someone’s dream realized after so much effort and dogged determination – especially in a scene whose challenges we are well familiar with. No one knows how hard it is to make something happen unless they do it themselves. So congratulations to Yoav for sticking to his vision and having the fortitude to finish this and thanks to him on the behalf of the artists whom he is helping to receive recognition for their work as well.

To that end, you are invited to the big launch party this Saturday at 17 Frost in Williamsburg. We’ll be there and we hope you can make it out for a great New York Street Art family reunion. You can’t miss the entrance, it’s been newly smashed by El Sol 25, Bishop 203, Royce and some other people we can’t remember right now but who will remind us as soon as this goes up ; ) .

Outdoor Gallery – New York City by Yoav Litvin. Art by Gilf!

You can find out more about it on the Facebook Event Page, but we understand there will be a newly debuted video from Dega Films, a special tribute to Army of One, and a full show of new works from many of the artists in the book, including;

Adam Dare, Alice Mizrachi, Army of One / JC2, Astrodub, ASVP, Billy Mode, Bisho203, Bunny M, Cern, Chris RWK, Chris Stain, Cope2, Dain, Dirty Bandits, El Sol 25, Elle Deadsex, Enzo and Nio, Free5, Fumero, Gaia, Gilf!, Hellbent, Icy and Sot, Indie 184, Jilly Ballistic, Joe Iurato, Kram, Lillian Lorraine, LNY (Lunar New Year), Miyok, ND’A, OCMC, OverUnder, Phetus88, QRST, Russell King, Shin Shin, Shiro, Sofia Maldonaldo, The Yok, Toofly, and Veng RWK.

Outdoor Gallery – New York City by Yoav Litvin. Art by Icy & Sot.

Outdoor Gallery – New York City by Yoav Litvin. Art by Hellbent.

Outdoor Gallery – New York City by Yoav Litvin. Art by QRST.

Outdoor Gallery – New York City by Yoav Litvin. Front and back cover art by Bishop203, LNY, Alice Mizrachi, QRST, Gilf!, Cern and Icy & Sot.

Below is a look at behind-the-scenes of the making of the mural for the cover of the book.

Bishop 203. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Icy & Sot balancing a stencil. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Taking a step back to assess the progress. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

The final piece. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Outdoor Gallery – New York City will be launched in conjunction with an art exhibition this Saturday, February 22nd at 17 Frost Art Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Click HERE for more details.

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The 2013 BSA Year in Images (VIDEO)

December 18, 2013 Artists

Here it is! Our 2013 wrap up featuring favorite images of the year by Brooklyn Street Art’s Jaime Rojo.

Before our video roundup below here is the Street Art photographer’s favorite of the year, snapped one second before he was singled out of a New York crowd, handcuffed, and stuffed into a police car – sort of like the Banksy balloons he was capturing.

“Among all the thousands of photos I took this year there’s one that encapsulates the importance of Street Art in the art world and some of the hysteria that can build up around it,” he says of his final shot on the final day of the one month Better Out Than In artist ‘residency’ in NYC this October. It was a cool day to be a Street Art photographer – but sadly Rojo was camera-less in a case of mistaken identity, if only for a short time.

Released two hours later after the actual car-jumping trespasser was charged, Rojo was happy to hear the Chief Lieutenant tell his officer “you’ve got the wrong man”, to get his shoelaces back, and to discover this photo was still on his camera. He also gets to tell people at parties that he spent some time in the holding cell with the two guys whom New York watched tugging down the B-A-N-K-S-Y.

What’s everybody looking at? Jaime Rojo’s favorite image of the year at the very end of the Banksy brouhaha. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Now, for the Video

When it came to choosing the 112 images for the video that capture the spirit of the Street Art scene in ’13, we were as usual sort of overwhelmed to comb through about ten thousand images and to debate just how many ‘legal’ versus ‘illegal’ pieces made it into the mix. Should we include only images that went up under the cover of the night, unsanctioned, uncensored, uncompromised, unsolicited and uncommissioned? Isn’t that what Street Art is?

Right now there are a growing number of legal pieces going up in cities thanks to a growing fascination with Street Art and artists and it is causing us to reevaluate what the nature of the Street Art scene is, and what it may augur for the future. You can even say that from a content and speech perspective, a sizeable amount of the new stuff is playing it safe – which detracts from the badass rebel quality once associated with the practice.

These works are typically called by their more traditional description – murals. With all the Street Art / graffiti festivals now happening worldwide and the growing willingness of landlords to actually invite ‘vandals’ to paint their buildings to add cache to a neighborhood and not surprisingly benefit from the concomitant increase in real estate values, many fans and watchers have been feeling conflicted in 2013 about the mainstreaming that appears to be taking place before our eyes. But for the purposes of this roundup we decided to skip the debate and let everybody mix and mingle freely.

This is just a year-end rollicking Street Art round-up; A document of the moment that we hope you like.

Ultimately for BSA it has always been about what is fresh and what is celebrating the creative spirit – and what is coming next. “We felt that the pieces in this collection expressed the current vitality of the movement – at least on the streets of New York City,” says photographer and BSA co-founder Rojo. It’s a fusillade of the moment, complete with examples of large murals, small wheat pastes, intricate stencils, simple words made with recycled materials or sprayed on to walls, clay installations, three dimensional sculptures, hand painted canvases, crocheted installations, yarn installations etc… they somehow captured our imaginations, inspired us, made us smile, made us think, gave us impetus to continue doing what we are doing and above all made us love this city even more and the art and the artists who produce it.

Brooklyn Street Art 2013 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

A Dying Breed, Aakash Nihalini, Agostino Iacursi, Amanda Marie, Apolo Torres, Axel Void, Bagman, Bamn, Pixote, Banksy, B.D. White, Betsy, Bishop203, NDA, Blek le Rat, br1, Case Maclaim, Cash For Your Warhol, Cholo, Chris RWK, Chris Stain, Billy Mode, Christian Nagel, Cost, ENX, Invader, Crush, Dal East, Damien Mitchell, Dase, Dasic, Keely, Deeker, Don’t Fret, The Droid, ECB, el Seed, El Sol 25, Elbow Toe, Faile, Faith 47, Five Pointz, Free Humanity, Greg LaMarche, Hot Tea, How & Nosm, Icy & Sot, Inti, Jilly Ballistic, John Hall, JR, Jose Parla, Judith Supine, Kremen, Kuma, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Love Me, Martha Cooper, Matt Siren, Elle, Mika, Miss Me, Missy, MOMO, Mr. Toll, Nychos, Okuda, Alice Mizrachi, OLEK, Owen Dippie, Paolo Cirio, Paul Insect, Phetus, Phlegm, Revok, Pose, QRST, Rambo, Ramiro Davaro, Reka, Rene Gagnon, ROA, RONES, Rubin, bunny M, Square, Stikki Peaches, Stikman, Swoon, Tristan Eaton, The Lisa Project 2013, UFO 907, Willow, Swill, Zed1, and Zimer.

Read more about Banksy’s last day in New York here and our overview of his residency in the essay “Banksy’s Final Trick” on The Huffington Post.

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Images Of The Week: 12.15.13

December 15, 2013 Artists

Here is our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Ainac, Andreco, Axel Void, bunny M, Col Walnuts, FX Collective, Finbarr DAC, Killy Kilford, Kremen, LNY, Meer Sau, Mr. Toll, Rubin, Square, Starfightera, and Swoon.

Top image >>> OK this piece is signed and we should be able to decipher the tag. But we couldn’t. So help us out. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon’s Studio. A quick demo from Swoon showing her guests at her Holidays Party the 101 of lino prints. She invited her guests to get in on the action. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon’s Studio. Two test prints hanging out to dry. This is a brand new piece of a steel worker from Braddock, Pennsylvania. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images Of The Week: 11.24.13

November 24, 2013 Artists

Here is our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Ainac, Bunny M, F. Caba, Kitty Kitty, Mgr Mors, Mr. Styles, Mr. Prvrt, Mr. Toll, Never, Owen Dippie, Reka, Sarah Rutherford, SheWolf, Veng RWK, and Zimer.

Top Image >> Reka at The Bushwick Collective. If grasshoppers were invited to Burning Man we imagine this is how they would look:-) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images of The Week: 11.17.13

November 17, 2013 Artists

A beautiful week weather-wise in New York – a brisk and sunny week that was great for discovering your city without sweating like a hog. Before we all get clobbered by the holidays and start piling on pounds it has been stupendous just to wind through the streets and burn off the calories and see lots of good new pieces popping up.

Also, we see a lot of street related movies and videos pretty regularly and were fortunate to attend the NY premiere this week of a documentary by Cheryl Dunn that you’ll probably dig too. It’s called “Everybody Street” and it floods you with decades of NY street photography by so many great shooters in this every-changing weird and wooly city we all love. Photographers include Bruce Davidson, Elliott Erwitt, Jill Freedman, Bruce Gilden, Joel Meyerowitz, Rebecca Lepkoff, Mary Ellen Mark, Jeff Mermelstein, Clayton Patterson, Ricky Powell, Jamel Shabazz, Martha Cooper, and Boogie, and also featured are historians Max Kozloff and Luc Sante. Yes, this is a short list of all the great photographers who have been capturing the NY scene, but its a cool collection. Look it up while it is here and if you aren’t living here it’s also on paid Vimeo too.

So here is our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Axel Void, Bunny M, Danielle Mastrion, Don Rimx, Icy & Sot, Invader, Kitty Kitty, Labrona, LMNOP, Mr. Toll, Nepo, Pixel Pancho, Reka, and Robert Janz.

Top Image >> Icy & Sot create a stenciled image based on the Hollywood adage about the good cop and bad one. See Slate’s full examination of the technique and whether it is actually a real thing – plus they made a video compilation of scenes from many movies here. Also, here’s some clip art that looks familiar doesn’t it? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images Of The Week: 09.01.13

September 1, 2013 Artists

September is the perfect time of the year for Street Art in NYC – and shout out to the NYTimes who ran a double spread and video this week with images of Street Art and graffiti you can see here every week – including the great MOMO piece in Dumbo that was commissioned by Two Trees, and walls from the Bushwick Collective, 5 Pointz, Welling Court, Hunts Point, Coney Island and more. Seeing the collection made us think about how much BSA really covers throughout New York and the world every month and that made us happy as Bill DiBlasio, the apparent next mayor of NYC.

Also it was cool this week to step back and see everybody at the “Wild Style” 30th Anniversary free show in the park by the East River – to see so many people including Lee Quinones, both Ahearn brothers, Cold Crush brothers, Lady Pink, Fab Five Freddy, Futura, Mare 139, Jane Dickson, Lisa Lee, Patti Astor, Joe Conzo, Martha Cooper, among others – and Busy B, who reminded us that the early days of hip-hop were about “peace, love, unity, and having fun”. Yeah, we’re on board for more of that.

Stay tuned this month for exclusive BSA coverage of Nuart ’13 in Stavanger, Urban Forms in Lodz, Faile at the Dallas Contemporary, a number of new gallery shows with the new crop of artists on display, and even a chance for BSA to meet you in Bushwick at a special event on the 19th, wink wink.

So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week including Amanda Wong, Bunny M, Case Maclaim, Dede, Droid 907, Freddie 111 Street, Gilf!, Josh McCutchen, Judith Supine, Meer sau, Phetus, Phlegm, PRVRT, r1, Reme821, SARZTKG, and Vexta.

“The piece is made of reclaimed plastic bottles that were assembled in a large wire mesh,” says South African installation artist r1, who created this piece in a way that reminded us of the El Anatsui show this year at the Brooklyn Museum and on the Highline. “Community and street art seems to work well together,” r1 says when recalling the spontaneously posing kids who arrived to get in the picture.

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Meer Sau shares these smiles with BSA readers this week, where a crosswalk is emblazoned with some words of encouragement. He did the installation and then stood around waiting to see what expressions he could capture. “Everybody wants compliments,” Sau explains.

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