All posts tagged: Yusuf Hawkins

BSA Speaks About Art On “All of It” WNYC Program With Alison Stewart

February 18, 2025 Artists, Interview, Interview, Interviews

By request: The Images from the Interview

In honor of the radio station WNYC’s 100th birthday, Alison Stewart’s “All Of It” program is celebrating 100 pieces of art in New York City. Each month, Alison speaks with an expert in the art world about their 10 favorites. This month, Alison talked to Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington, co-founders of Brooklyn Street Art, about 10 pieces of art in the streets that they think all New Yorkers would like to know about.

Since it was a radio show, it was impossible to show, only to tell. BSA fans have written to ask us for pictures of the pieces discussed, so here they are!

The list is unscientific and offers a wide selection of art styles and disciplines in New York’s public sphere. Please don’t take it as an indicator of importance or value; rather, take it as a casual survey of things you may see around town.

In the order that they were discussed:

INVADER

ROA

ROA. Bird Mural. Albert’s Garden. East Village, NYC. 13 E 2nd Street. 2011. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SKEWVILLE

BANKSY

Floyd Sapp and SPECTER

Specter. *Yusef Hawkins*. First painted in 1989 by artist Floyd Sapp, in 2011, the street artist Specter refurbished the faded piece and added his stylistic signature. Fulton St. and Verona Pl. Bedford-Stuyvesant. Restored twice since in 2016 and 2024. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter. *Yusef Hawkins*. Restored in 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter. *Yusef Hawkins*. Restored in 2024. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FAILE

OWEN DIPPIE

OS GEMEOS

FRED TOMASELLI

DAN WITZ & OLEK

LISTEN TO STEVE AND JAIME INTERVIEW WITH ALISON STEWART ON “ALL OF IT” BELOW:

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ALL OF IT with Alison Stewart. (photo courtesy of All Of It / WNYC)

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.02.24

June 2, 2024 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!

How’s your summer been so far? Many people say that Memorial Day unofficially begins Summer, so this week was the first one. Indeed! Baseball, soccer, and kickball are in the park, and movies or cocktails are on the roof. Lifeguards are on the beach, and kids are throwing up on the Cyclone at Coney Island or throwing frisbees on Central Park grass. The air in some neighborhoods smells like lilac bushes, urine, french fries, marijuana, or aerosol paint. Or all of it at once. When it all swirls around you, it is a heady mix. Cute girls in short shorts and cute boys on skateboards may not fall in love given these circumstances, but they might!

This week, 45 was found guilty on 34 counts in court. We New Yorkers, who have known him for years, are unsurprised.

Here is our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Specter, Alice Pasquini, Degrupo, Optimo NYC, Enzo, Nite Owl, Miki Mu, NYC Kush Co., Klonism, Max Grax, Friz, KMG, Agent Decay, Jare, SYE5, Benny Cruz.

Specter. Yusuf Hawkins 1973-1989. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The first time artist Specter painted this memorial for Yusuf Hawkins in Brooklyn was in 2011. He’s restored it and added more to the environment of the mural, two times since then. This is the second restoration that he did in the past few weeks.

Unidentified artist with Jare and SYE5 tags. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KMG. Hit The North Festival. 2018 Edition. Belfast, Northern Ireland. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alice Pasquini. Hit The North Festival. 2018 Edition. Belfast, Northern Ireland. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FRIZ. Hit The North Festival. 2023 Edition. Belfast, Northern Ireland. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Tulip. Spring 2024. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 10.23.16

October 23, 2016 Artists

We have an unusually high number of “Unidentified Artist” pics this week along with some new names – which to us means the streets are alive and changing again, responding to new voices. Of course it is good to see some of the more familiar players as well.

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Astro Naut, BelowKey, BenFGraphic, BustArt, Cern, Faile, Free the Hearts, GB Pigeon, Megavote, Panmela Castro, SheWolf, Specter, Tatiana Fazlalizadeh, Who is Dirk.

Our top image: Panmela Castro borrows a phrase from Hillary Clinton to make her point. Or did Hillary borrow it from Panmela? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I just finished a huge wall for the Kettenreaktion,” Bustart says. “This is an art project in a abandoned factory in Switzerland. The last two months lots of artist were working in and on the factory and made installations, paintings, performances and much more. After the transformation the area will be open for cultural events. For more information please click HERE.

brooklyn-street-art-bustart-switzerland-10-23-16-web-1

Unidentified Artist. A miniature piece can be just as impressive as the largest of murals. Is this vandal tossing an aerosol can? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter Memorializes Yusuf Hawkins in Brooklyn

September 10, 2011 Artists

There are 8 million stories in the naked city – that’s what we’ve heard. Street Artist Specter has recently brought back to memory one that many would like to forget, frankly, because it speaks to the undercurrent of racism that persists in our country, the burning embers of ignorance whose flames can be easily stoked given the right circumstances.

22 years after the racially motivated mob murder of a teenager in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, a decaying memorial to Yusuf Hawkins still remains in another Brooklyn neighborhood called Bedford-Stuyvesant. The crime that caused the city to reel in pain was compounded by the fact that the cancer was appearing in such young fresh faced people; Yusef was 16, his assailants only slightly older. As the circumstances of his death revealed the level of polarization in the city, it sparked more unrest, violence, and marches in the streets.

A generation later, the memorial has withstood time, the natural elements, neglect and vandalism. Meanwhile our progress toward an equitable society is still very much in question.

To honor Yusuf, Specter installed a 14 by 14 foot hand-painted portrait adorned with flowers. The placement maintains former additions by other artists and much of the original wall painted by Brooklyn master-muralist, Floyd Sapp. As happens with many memorial walls, Yusuf’s mural was blanketed with scrawled messages to him and other fallen community members. In this latest piece by Specter, the Street Artist continues that tradition by adding to the historic wall now revitalized by the memory of a young man whose life was cut short.

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