Ultimately people respond to graffiti and street art because of the humanity that vibrates from it. You may care deeply, or care not. If it is effective, art on the street will help you to make the connection. New York is blessed this summer to have a particularly deep and wide selection of unsanctioned and sanctioned artworks across the city that is evidence of a mature, vibrant scene full of many voices, perspectives and styles. Even our art on the streets illustrates that New York is a true melting pot.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Dark Clouds, Blek le Rat, Damien Mitchell, Dragon76, TKid170, Banksy Hates Me, Habibi, Laurier Artiste, Blame Blanco, SanekOne, Carnin Paulino, Ruma, and The Postman.
“Ramadan Kareem” to everyone celebrating it this month. Also in April the Jews will be celebrating Passover and the Christians will be celebrating Easter and the Hindus are celebrating Chaitra Navratri. New York has the most diverse assembly of amazing and beautiful neighbors and we are all richer as a result.
In Hollywood and elsewhere people are celebrating/mourning the events surrounding Will Smith. In street art style, his infamous act shows up on a wall this week already (below).
It’s been cold in NYC this week! Fingers are cold, noses are cold, and migrating geese are humming the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go”. The Cyclone at Luna Park in Coney Island, opened yesterday and assures New Yorkers that Spring is already here even if you don’t feel it yet.
We’re excited to see the new exhibition Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure opens here this week. Congratulations to his family for bringing this enormous undertaking to fruition, especially Jean-Michel’s sisters Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux and his stepmother Nora Fitzpatrick.
Also, don’t sleep on the Whitney Biennial, opening Wednesday! Curators David Breslin and Adrienne Edwards say they have had a guiding principle; “It’s got to be buck wild.” That’s enough for us. Hopefully, some people will be buck naked at the show. A special shout-out to Biennial artist Jane Dixon. Her paintings and photographs of New York in the 80s captured its electricity and unpolished promise – during the time when she lived with filmmaker Charlie Ahearn in an apartment overlooking the tawdry excitement of Times Square. She say the city was, “burning, broke, and dangerous.”
Gentle people, start your stopwatch! Let’s see how long it takes for news items and pundits to begin likening our new Staten Island Amazon warehouse union workers to terrorists.
We’ve allowed companies to become richer than nations, so you can imagine what resources they can summon; the most comprehensive campaign to malign, discredit, impugn the character of workers, and thugs to intimidate them. This is the biggest victory for organized labor in a generation, born in a time of unprecedented income disparity across the city and country. Most citizens would be pleased if corporate behemoths simply paid their fair share of taxes.
The street is still one of the best exhibition spaces, never to be recreated fully.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: AJ LaVilla, Clown Soldier, Little Ricky, Sticker Maul, Michael Alan, Dragon76, Diva Dogla, CP Won, Savior El Mundo, Acro, Jennifer Pod is Dead, and Masnah.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. HEREDITAS – Gonzalo Borondo 2. HOTTEA “Aaron.” Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. 3. DRAGON76 “COEXIST” Video by Tost Films
BSA Special Feature: HEREDITAS – Gonzalo Borondo
A companion video to his exhibition project Hereditas at The Esteban Vicente Museum of Contemporary Art artist Gonzalo Borondo reveals the complexity of his intervention here.
“Its aim is to question the past on the basis of present presuppositions, in particular, to recognize the museum as a place to preserve our cultural heritage for future generations and to show art’s amazing capacity to bring back to life objects that have lost their original purpose. In addition, it pays tribute to nature as the foundation of culture and inspiration of art and religious symbols.”
HOTTEA “Aaron”. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ.
Back with his second installation in this historic and tourist town of Asbury, HOTTEA dances with the breezes of the sea.
DRAGON76 “COEXIST” Video by Tost Films
A fresh piece in Jersey City by Dragon76, the folks at Tost Films offer an up close view of the work in progress.
Japan-born Queens-based muralist Dragon 76 admires New York, where he has lived for the last five years, because of its diversity and inclusiveness, among other things. As a result, his artworks often gravitate toward a similar theme as he has worked his way from being a graffiti artist from Shiga to being a musician and a commercial graphic artist and muralist. For the Jersey City Mural Festival, Dragon 76 focused on persons of various identities and genders playing music, a piece he calls “Coexist.”
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. Homily to Country by Artist JR 2. Jersey City Artists at Work Painting for the first Mural Festival Here
BSA Special Feature: Homily to Country by Artist JR
“We must throw off the chains of corporatization to save us all,” is the last statement in this narrative about historical, cultural and natural resources being stolen. His statement could have started with that.
Maybe JR will make a project about fairly taxing the rich next.
Jersey City Artists at Work Painting for the first Mural Festival Here
Two homemade videos below of a handful of the participating artists at work in their murals this week for the inaugural edition of the Jersey City Mural Festival.
See the action with Dragon76, José Mertz, L’Amour Supreme, Boy Kong, and Kirza Lopez in action at Mana Contemporary Complex.
Elle, Queen Andrea and Beau Stanton at the Ice Factory Complex
After a lot of planning and with great fanfare Jersey City is launching its inaugural mural festival and BSA is proud to bring it to you as media partner – and we are excited to see familiar and new local talent take over walls in grand style.
After hosting an open call for local artists of all disciplines and aesthetic approach, organizers MANA Public Arts and Jonathan Levine worked with the Jersey City Mural Arts Program to put together a deep field of talents that will impress in its quality and diversity – that’s our prediction anyway.
Since this weekend is the official unveiling to the public, we found a number of artists laboring on walls this week in preparation – and here are process shots as some of the pieces are already taking form.
From old skool graff writers turned fine artists like John Crash Matos, to early street art takeover artist and pop wiseguy Ron English, to the cherished and polished vernacular of Queen Andrea, to the pop-surrealist Dasic Fernandez who’s been crushing it for the last decade all over New York, this marquee is immediately full of heavy hitters you’ll recognize.
We’re also happy to see serious current talents on the roster; you’ll see they’ve invited many of the newest names and hybrid specialists you have been getting familiar with on the street. Considering the work from just the first two days we can say that straight out of the gate, this show rocks already.
The Jersey City Mural Festival is presented by Mana Public Arts and the Jersey City Mural Arts Program (JCMAP) in partnership with Mayor Steven M. Fulop, the Jersey City Municipal Council, and the Office of Cultural Affairs.
In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and in strict adherence with the reopening guidelines set by the State of New Jersey, all aspects of the 2021 Jersey City Mural Festival will be executed with strict COVID-19 protocols and social distancing. In addition the many of the events and works will be made available online to allow for virtual participation.
Dates and Hours of Operation
Saturday, June 5 from 12-8 PM Sunday, June 6 from 12-7 PM
On a day where we are all reeling from a public display of violence this week toward a 65-year-old Asian New Yorker on her way to church, we reiterate what the street artists are telling us – “Stop Asian Hate.” More upsetting than the violence was the seeming apathy of some toward it – and they should feel ashamed for not helping.
We know that our individual actions speak louder than words. Don’t stand by and feel helpless when you see someone being abused! You can help! It’s everyone’s responsibility to do whatever we can to stop the hate.
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring 1UP Crew, Amanda Browder, Antennae, City Kitty, Dirt Worship, Dragon76, Jason Naylor, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Makatron, Sheyro, The Yok, and Trap.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
