Spring is in full swing, and so are the artists. We’re expecting a few international names to pass through New York this week, including Saype, who’s creating something extraordinary at the UN.
It’s also New York Art Week — a citywide celebration of contemporary art that brings together fairs, gallery openings, and museum shows across all five boroughs. Among the marquee events are Frieze New York at The Shed, Independent at Spring Studios, and NADA at the Starrett-Lehigh Building.
In fact, this week New York hosts Frieze New York, Independent Art Fair, The Other Art Fair Brooklyn, NADA New York, TEFAF New York, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Future Fair, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, The American Art Fair, and Clio Art Fair.
With so much happening against the backdrop of a turbulent political and economic climate, we’ll be keeping our eyes open for artists and artworks that speak with clarity, urgency, and heart.
So here’s some of this week’s visual conversation from the street, including works from City Kitty, Degrupo, Qzar, Ollin, Stu, Smile, Erotica, Son, H Kubed, VEW X, The Splasher, Never Satisfied, Salem, 1992 Crew, Brady Scott, Chris Bohlin, Frozen Feathers, and Monk.
“People have the Power” from musician and poet Patti Smith.
“Where there were deserts I saw fountains like cream the waters rise and we strolled there together with none to laugh or criticize and the leopard and the lamb lay together truly bound I was hoping in my hoping to recall what I had found I was dreaming in my dreaming God knows a purer view as I surrender to my sleeping I commit my dream to you
The people have the power The people have the power The people have the power The people have the power”
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. Happy Easter, bunny.
Great stuff is out on the streets today, whether you are wandering aimlessly through the city or touring with a sense of purpose. Street art continues to evolve, even as it repeats. Can anyone doubt that there is a more relevant artform that can be instantly responsive to current events and take the longer view?
The city’s buzzing with art this spring—start with these must-sees, in addition to hitting the Botanical Gardens in Brooklyn and the Bronx and the local park and your neighbor’s tulip bed: At White Columns, Gordon Matta-Clark: NYC Graffiti Archive 1972/3 offers a rare look at early graffiti culture through the artist’s archival photographs (whitecolumns.org). Over in Industry City, Brooklyn native Michael “Kaves” McLeer presents Brooklyn Pop – A Brooklyn Dream, an immersive homage to the borough’s style and swagger, complete with full-scale subway replicas and vintage ephemera (brooklynbuzz.com). At the Whitney, Amy Sherald’s American Sublime brings together nearly 50 of her portraits in a commanding solo show that focuses on Black life with quiet power and elegance (whitney.org). Meanwhile, the Guggenheim hosts Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers, filling the iconic rotunda with more than 90 works exploring Black identity, masculinity, and emotional depth (guggenheim.org). And at the Brooklyn Museum, Breaking the Mold: Brooklyn Museum at 200 celebrates the institution’s bicentennial with a wide-ranging exhibition that reflects its rich, complex legacy and commitment to representation (brooklynmuseum.org).
We continue with our interviews with the street, this week including Citty Kitty, Homesick, JerkFace, Eternal Possessions, Chupa, Android Oi, Staino, Masnah, Jaek El Diablo, Jay Diggz, Washington Walls, BC NBA, Busy, and Pytho.
Back home in NYC, there’s a heavier police presence—more beat cops on the sidewalks, more boots on subway platforms, or at least it feels that way. Some say it’s about safety; others say it’s panic. And let’s be real: it often appears that this city still has no idea what to do with our mentally ill neighbors except push them outside and act shocked when they behave like they’re… mentally ill.
But hope blooms in strange places. Like the number 1 train, where Miguel “Mike Plants” Andrade—aka The Plant Man—has been selling succulents and orchids to passengers, leading us to; A. We’ve always liked the word ‘succulent’ and are happy to use it in a sentence, and B. Mr. Andrade proves that one human doing their thing with a heart can shift the whole mood, reframe your current situation.
And in street art and graffiti? The walls are still talking—shouting, whispering, reflecting us back at ourselves with a sometimes banal, sometimes beguiling presentation. If the overall message feels messy, it’s because the world is messy. But often there’s clarity in the chaos if you squint at it in the right manner.
We continue with our interviews with the street, this week including Faile, Judith Supine, City Kitty, Lexi Bella, Werds, Turtle Caps, Zoot, Corn Queen, Klonism, Zero Productivity, Muska, Nice, Badlucao, LYFR, and Barb Tropolis.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week and to the madness of March. Also, we extend warm wishes to our Muslim brothers and sisters for a peaceful and blessed Ramadan.
Meanwhile, here’s our interview with the streets this week, including City Kitty, Homesick, Eye Sticker, Miki Mu, JEMZ, Steve the Bum, NYC Kush Co, Quaker Pirate, DARA, ROS, and Man in the Box.
A pioneer of French graffiti from Guadaloupe, Shuck One, is presenting Regeneration at the Pompidou Center’s Black Paris exhibition (March 19–June 30), honoring Black figures who shaped France’s history through large-scale paintings and collages depicting key moments like the Tirailleurs Sénégalais, the 1967 Guadeloupe riots, and the BUMIDOM migration program, alongside portraits of pioneers such as Aimé Césaire, Angela Davis, and Joséphine Baker.
Meanwhile, here’s our interview with the streets this week, including City Kitty, Homesick, Modomatic, Muebon, Hearts NY, V. Ballentine, Nice Beats, Rams, Batola, PEAKS, Adze, Daniel Daz Carello, Andre Trainer, and Maniphes.
Bitter is right! The city’s temperature has been below freezing every day this week, and the sentiments coming out of the new White House appear to be bitterly subzero. We will be looking for artists to respond to the raft of new declarations, announcements, and aspirations spread across the political landscape. You can’t simply ban and deport everyone who you despise – it doesn’t work. When you see powerful people punching down with such hostility… – even a half-asleep school counselor with a coffee-stained clipboard would ask if everything is okay at home. The behavior on display this week might bring to mind something Grandma Arlene used to say when you were a mouthy teenager: ‘Maybe it’s time to take a good look in the mirror, mister!”
When it comes to graffiti and street art, we’ll keep an eye on the streets; In times of crisis and uncertainty, the artist’s voice emerges strongest, as adversity is the canvas on which creativity thrives.
Here’s our weekly conversation with the street, this week featuring City Kitty, Below Key, Huetek, Muebon, Rheo, Roachi, Such, Humble, Le Crue, Denis Ouch, Notic, Stu, Toney, Jay Diggz, EST, The Slasher, Soren, HELCH, Louie167, and Wanted.
Well, the world ended this week—again. Yet here we are, still standing, and so are you. It turns out Donald Trump has successfully rallied the resentment of those feeling abandoned by the system, and they now firmly believe he’s their champion. Meanwhile, disbelieving technocrats and exasperated suburbanites are left shaking their heads at the audacity of those who elected this populist strongman. Twice. With another election loss under their belts, will anyone soften their stance enough to find common ground? Probably not. In fact, if everything goes according to plan, they won’t. For some, the longer we keep fighting one another, the better.
Look, the pigeons in New York do not care about all of that noise. As long as those pizza crusts keep coming, bro.
Here’s our weekly conversation with the street, this week featuring: Nick Walker, City Kitty, IMK, JEMZ, STOMP, Yevgeniya Shevchuk, Mendoza, PAR, SNIPE, DZEL, OPTIMO NYC, Lorenzo Masnah, ZOOT, and Iván Argote.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! Set your clocks back one hour today.
A chilly but warm NYC welcome to the 50,000+ marathon runners from around the globe as they journey through the dirty, potholed streets of all five boroughs in this rudely friendly, alluring, and romantically gritty city. We’ve already forgotten that we lost the World Series this week and are concentrating instead on welcoming our haplessly plodding runners on the street—with raucous cheers in Queens, impromptu bands in Brooklyn, and dancing in the Bronx, the city becomes a big block party today.
Make sure to check out our graffiti and street art on the way!
Also, early voting is in effect in NYC. The new president of the US will be selected, possibly by you.
Here’s our weekly conversation with the street, this week featuring: City Kitty, Homesick, CRKSHNK, Degrupo, Modomatic, Sticker Maul, Leon Keer, Dot Dot Dot, Raddington Falls, D7606, SacSix, Muebon, Werds, RX Skulls, C3, EXR, OSK, She Posse, Outersource, Semz, Silkmoth, Glenn Ligon, Isa De Prez, and All Over Grey.
“Although different views and opinions are important for a healthy society, we can experience a greater increase in polarization in recent decades, which severely limits bridging or interactions.
In this work I would like to express that we are all connected despite differences in opinion. I see communication with positive sentiment and respect as a good carrier for social connection.” -Leon Keer
“The idea for the original Statue of Liberty was conceived in 1865, when the French historian and abolitionist Édouard de Laboulaye proposed a monument to commemorate the upcoming centennial of U.S. independence (1876), the perseverance of American democracy and the liberation of the nation’s slaves
Liberty holds a torch above her head with her right hand, and in her left-hand carries a tabula ansata inscribed JULY IV MDCCLXXVI (July 4, 1776, in Roman numerals), the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. With her left foot, she steps on a broken chain and shackle commemorating the national abolition of slavery following the American Civil War. After its dedication, the statue became an icon of freedom being subsequently seen as a symbol of welcome to immigrants arriving by sea.
In Dotdotdot’s version, just a few days before the upcoming election, much of whose campaign has been marred by racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric, the torch is replaced by a distress flare. A warning to us all.” ~ Nuart Festival, Stavanger, Norway
Here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring City Kitty, Degrupo, Eternal Possessions, Dirt Cobain, RX Skulls, Le Crue, IMK, Outer Source, Sluto, ICU463, Manuel Alejando, Sule Cant Cook, Cheer Up, Jacob Thomas, Urban Ninja, 613 Hawk, and LeCrue Eyebrows.
The city of New York is hot, clammy, steamy, and caked with grime. It smells like fish, marijuana, musty A/C exhaust, curry, piss, fresh-cut grass, melting pavement, aerosol spray, watermelon, cucumbers, mint, fried zeppole, Axe body spray, laundromat detergent, and pizza. With this oppressive heat, the ‘crazy’ dial seemed turned up – some people on the street appeared to be delusional with baked brains and insufficient hydration. In its chaotic way, the street never stops moving. People are herded onto our crowded, damp, and sticky subway system with its pumping kinetic energy and no coherent schedule, our new airy modern electric tandem buses with chilly automatic voices, our electric bikes and scooters of every design with big puffy tires or small bagel sized ones, our statement cars and bloated SUVs with dark windows, our swerving and sleek skateboards, and our white box trucks slaughtered with wild aerosol sprayed styles and family business-named signage like Dragon Good Luck Delight and Bayridge Appliance Repair.
Graffiti and street art keep popping up and accompany New Yorkers to their next stoop sale, pickle ball game, house party, dinner party, or dog’s birthday party. If this visual feast disappeared, we would all be confused, a piece of our cultural DNA excised. For us, this is the proper visual language of New York, certainly better than most of the new architecture popping up like middle fingers, a rash of uninspiring rectangles formed by mediocrity, their design potential sapped by greed and spreadsheets.
Here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring City Kitty, Chris RWK, Homesick, Degrupo, Kooky Spook, Muebon, Epic Uno, RX Skulls, MCA, EXR, CKONE, RZB, BILX, JEMZ, Joshua Montes, and Soupy.
Remember the heyday of street art lists? People are still compiling them. From top 10 cities in the US for Street Art, to tourist-tilted lists of Street Art Destinations, to the Best street art experiences for 2024. The muscle behind most of the big events these days is a value-driven investment by city councils, branding opportunities for corporations or thinly-veiled vehicles for private gallerists to champion artists on their roster.
The more organic works, the less decorative murals can be found in community-organized campaigns. The free-form, unbridled, un-bossed, and un-bought spirit of organic street art survives, and it often takes chances politically or stylistically. Presented without handlers, communicating directly to you, it may be vexing, thrilling, educational, inspirational, or miss the mark. It’s all there and probably in your city – if you keep your eyes and ears open.
Here is our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring City Kitty, Homesick, Sara Lynne-Leo, Muebon, Miki Mu, Cody James, Humble, Underhill Walls, Manuel Alejandro, Mihfofa, Brittney Sprice, Cuadrosa, Felipe Umbral, and Hello the Mushroom.
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.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
