This week, St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue was suddenly flooded with pealing bells and congregants. In a historic moment for the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, born in Chicago, was chosen, following in the footsteps of his predecessor Francis and his namesake Leo XIII, who was widely admired for his steadfast advocacy for migrants and laborers at the turn of the 20th century. Many observers have noted that the selection of an American pope may reflect a conscious decision by the College of Cardinals to offer a moral counterbalance to the growing tide of authoritarianism and exclusionary politics seen in some of today’s global leadership. With roots in a city shaped by immigration, industry, and social struggle, Leo XIV arrives at a time when such grounding may prove especially relevant. Best wishes to all of us.
So here’s some of this week’s visual conversation from the street, including works from Homesick, Gabriel Specter, Clint Mario, Werds, IMK, EXR, Jorit, Wild West, JEMZ, Ribs, Diva, Ellena Lourens, APE, NOEVE, ENEKKO, Rene, Happy, Disoh, Peuf, and Off Key.
You can trace the national/international headlines like veins across the map—the courts, the economy, the ports, the rising trade in arms internationally, the hollowing shelves, the smiling wolf-like threats to Medicaid that serves seniors and the poor and disabled, the silent waves of layoffs, the escalating prices and shrinking dollar, the protests, the bristling anger expressed at podiums and on TV screens toward citizens and people just trying to make a living. To people on the street these can feel like signs of a careful dismantling of a century of progress and rumblings of worse to come. The writing is on the wall, and a quiet unease drifts through the days.
Also on the wall today, our top image: a mural in Little Italy, New York, of Pope Francis, whose funeral was yesterday in Rome. A champion of the forgotten, a diplomat of peace, a voice for those left in the margins. More than 400,000 mourners filled the streets — world leaders and ordinary souls alike. Honoring his commitment to marginalized communities, approximately 40 individuals—including transgender people, prisoners, migrants, the homeless, and victims of human trafficking—were invited to be the final group to pay their respects before his burial at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re called him “a pope among the people,” remembered not for the weight of his office, but for the lightness of his compassion.
With these news cycles to contemplate, many may be asking if we will rise to meet the moment. Certainly it looks like street artists continue to enter the fray of politics, human rights, technology, pop art, the environment… You never know what you will find in these confused days.
So here’s some of this week’s visual conversation from the street, including works from Banksy, Homesick, Jorit, Great Boxers, Ottograph, Skitl, Delphinoto, Oink Oink, and Cure.
BANKSY created Battle to Survive a Broken Heart during his New York City residency, Better Out Than In, in October 2013, unveiling a new piece each day for the entire month that had fans and collectors racing to new locations around the city to see his newest installation. He painted this stencil in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on the wall of a warehouse owned by Vassilios Georgiadis. After it was promptly vandalized, Banksy returned to restore it. The piece is now on display in the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place in Manhattan, ahead of its auction by Guernsey’s on May 21.
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.
Welcome to BSA’s Images of the week. Mockingbirds are bringing sprigs from the cold, grey, churning East River to build nests on the banks of abandoned lots of Williamsburg/Greenpoint before further ugly gentrification paves it over. Up and down the Brooklyn waterfront, it’s a procession of architectural mediocrity—glass boxes and bland slabs posing as progress. With few exceptions, these vertical office parks evoke visions of photocopier showrooms or surplus staplers stacked in a supply closet.
Magnolias and cherry blossoms are starting to bust out all over Brooklyn. Spring is here, and it’s coming in hot—and cold. April’s throwing weather tantrums like a toddler on espresso, bouncing us around like a pinball between heatwaves, cold snaps; all while dodging the political side-swipes we read and hear on social media and the press room. Add in soaring grocery bills (despite what the “official” numbers say), and it’s no wonder everyone’s feeling a little punch-drunk.
In a notable week for New York’s graffiti and street art scene, Dutch artist Tripl, also known as Furious, unveiled his decade-long project, Repainting Subway Art. This ambitious endeavor meticulously recreates the iconic 1984 book Subway Art by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, with Tripl reproducing each original piece on European trains and re-enacting the accompanying photographs. The project culminated in the publication of the 196-page book that was featured Friday night and feted Saturday night.
Friday to a packed auditorium the Museum of the City of New York hosted a panel discussion on featuring Tripl, Cooper, Chalfant, and artist John “Crash” Matos. Moderated by graffiti scholar Edward Birzin and introduced by MCNY’s Sean Corcoran, the conversation delved into the evolution and global impact of graffiti and street art culture and the powerful reverberation of the book’s influence on generations of writers and artists.
Last night, Crash’s gallery WallWorks New York in the Bronx inaugurated the Repainting Subway Art exhibition, offering an immersive experience juxtaposing pages from the original Subway Art with Tripl’s reinterpretations. As word gradually spreads about this project, the graffiti and related communities will undoubtedly debate its significance—as homage, reinterpretation, and artistic intervention—while celebrating the obsessive dedication it took to recreate one of graffiti’s foundational texts from a contemporary, transnational perspective.
We continue with our interviews with the street, this week including stuff from Homesick, Kobra, Humble, Sluto, Wild West, V. Ballentine, Bleach, Toast, CAMI XVX, Vew, Tover, Dreps, Leaf!, Aneka, Kam S. Art, and John Sear.
This week, we have new stuff from New York and Miami, in our visual interview with the streets, featuring Homesick, Smells, SRKSHNK, Crisp, Dr. Revolt, TBanbox, Urwont, OSK OSK, ASIK107, Man in the Box, Dam Crew, Stef Skills, COF Crew, Danny Doya, JAYDEE, Cinco, and WKS Crew.
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.
Here’s our weekly conversation with the street, this week featuring Homesick, Degrupo, BK Foxx, Werds, EXR, Manuel Alexandro, Great Boxers, Wild West, Fred Tomaselli, Mr. Mustart, Imok, and Sokem.
New York is gearing up for a deep freeze from the weather and Donald Trump’s inauguration this weekend. With 100 Executive Orders reportedly queued up for him to sign, the forecast for the next four years includes ACA repeals, immigration crackdowns, Medicaid cuts, trade wars, inflation spikes, elimination of laws that corporations find restrictive, and civil rights rollbacks. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the timing feels bitterly ironic. But hey, maybe it’ll be sunshine and puppies, and everyone who is worried is just overreacting. “Poorer Voters Flocked to Trump,” said the Financial Times, so perhaps those petrified of the next four years are misreading the situation.
Regardless of the outcome over the coming years, we’ll be tracking the creative spirit on the street, and we are thankful for your support, as always.
Meanwhile, the polar vortex is set to bring approximately six inches of snow to New York City, followed by dangerously low temperatures with wind chills making it feel like -15°F. Interestingly, some graffiti writers will tell you that is the best time to get up on walls, because nobody is watching, but then perhaps you might lose feelings in your toes and fingers because of the cold?
The West Chelsea Arts Building in Manhattan, a longtime hub for artists and galleries, is on the market for $170 million, raising concerns about potential rent hikes or evictions for its 200 tenants. Over the years, notable artists like Ross Bleckner, Louise Fishman, and Hiroshi Sugimoto have called it home. Affordable studio space is essential to New York’s creative identity, yet rising costs make it increasingly difficult for emerging artists to thrive here. Imagine if the City prioritized supporting artist spaces instead of leaving culture at the mercy of the real estate market.
Here’s our weekly conversation with the street, this week featuring Stikman, Homesick, ERRE, Cody James, Hops Art, BK Ackler, Denis Ouch, Jenna Morello, WGE, QUES, Real Wrek, Kyle, AKSone, and 974MC.
Only the richest, most aromatic coffee seems to linger in the breezes of Miami, where even winter days can carry a tropical heat that halts you in your tracks. Street art and graffiti flourish like a teenager’s restless energy, leaping unpredictably from block to block, wall to wall, driven by possibility and the city’s desire to reinvent itself. Just when you think Wynwood may have run its course, new work emerges, reminding us that the creative pulse is alive and insistent. When it comes to street art and graffiti it all starts with the artists – and the economic/social underpinnings of a city. Here are some recent highlights from this hub of creativity and inspiration.
Flags are at half-staff for former President Carter, with a national funeral service scheduled at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday. Meanwhile, former/future President Trump is set to attend his sentencing on Friday following a criminal conviction related to hush money payments. You may not find a more stark contrast between presidents. While speculation surrounds the sentencing outcome, it is widely thought that Trump will not serve any time behind bars, a fine message to young people everywhere.
In Brooklyn, the temperature is hovering around freezing, with biting winds signaling the arrival of harsher weather across this part of the country. Few expect much new street art or graffiti this week as forecasts predict bitter cold and snow along the coast.
Here’s our weekly conversation with the street, this week in New York and Miami, featuring Homesick, Degrupo, Pez, Denis Ouch, Great Boxers, Atomiko, Morcky, Elena Ohlander, Face, Masnah, SKE, Rich Ayers, Gleibys, Genius, JEST, Tesoe, Extra Polo, Lino Ozon, Maestro, Spray Paint Arts, and Emerge 710.
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family for your support in 2024. Picked by our followers, these photos are the heavily circulated and “liked” selections of the year – shot by our Editor of Photography, Jaime Rojo. We’re sharing a new one every day to celebrate all our good times together, our hope for the future, and our love for the street. Happy Holidays Everyone!
This floating plastic bag, like so many, appears mysteriously in the margins of a neighborhood, buffeted by warm, urine-soaked breezes and ice-cream truck melodies and small clouds of industrial pollution stirred by large trucks rumbling past. When artists transform everyday objects and elevate them, we reconsider them. In the case of plastic bags like these, they have been illegal for stores to use here for a few years, deemed bad for the environment. Perhaps the amorphous air-lifted ghost merits a twisted sense of nostalgia for the humble handle-bagged holder of three tins of cat food, a bright yellow bottle of dishwashing liquid, and a lottery card.
Roller-tagged above it are the Homesick boys, once residents of Williamsburg with their mom; now chased away by the surging powers of gentrification that herald luxury brands like Chanel to the neighborhood. Many who grew up in that Brooklyn neighborhood will never live in again because they can’t afford to, a displacement that makes one long for anything evocative of another era, homesick for a time that has past, often before your eyes.
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
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
