In this eighth post in our new series, PUSHING IT FORWARD — featuring ILLicit creatives claiming space on NYC streets — we return to the Bronx. Pictured above are Mustard and Taboo — as captured in Woodlawn, while riding the Metro North Harlem Line. Several more Bronx images by ILLicit creatives follow:
Ovie and Tye
Cous, Edo, Loose, Noe, Trac and more-
Ansotto
VSK
Post by the Pushing It Forward Collective
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Opening this evening, Friday, January 13 and running through February 5 at City Point in Downtown Brooklyn is POSITIVE VIBRATIONS. Curated by Collect with Lulu and Silvertuna Studios, it is an exhilarating exhibition featuring an eclectic scope of works by a range of contemporary artists from legendary graffiti writers to pro skaters.
The image featured above was fashioned by the wonderfully talented Bronx-based Zimad, who also painted a huge, brightly-hued mural at City Point’s Flatbush Atrium as a tribute to the approaching Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rabbit. A limited-edition of Year of the Rabbit coloring book calendar will be also available for purchase at the gallery.
A small selection of images of additional artworks on exhibit in POSITIVE VIBRATIONS follow:
Bronx-based Eric Orr
American Pro skater Christian Hosoi
NYC-based Australian artist Damien Mitchell
Bronx-based legends Cope 2 (top) and T-KID 170
Greek artist Andreas Rousounelis
Chicago-based Rubén Aguirre
The gallery is welcoming to children, as well. Among the exhibition’s highlights are classes scheduled for children by the legendary Al Diaz on “How to Create Your Own Graffiti Alphabet.”
Located at 445 Albee Square West, the gallery is open Monday – Wednesday by appointment and Thursday – Sunday 12-7pm. Gallery contacts are lulu@collectwithlulu.com and silvertunastudios@gmail.com
Photos of images: Lois Stavsky
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Rigorously researched and handsomely presented, City of Kings celebrates the rich graffiti culture that began on the mean streets of NYC in the late 60’s and has since evolved into a worldwide phenomenon. Curated by first generation graffiti artist and SAMO© partner Al Diaz, along with graffiti archivist and artist Eric ‘DEAL CIA’ Felisbret and graphic designer and arts educator Mariah Fox, City of Kings appeals not only to us graffiti aficionados, but to anyone curious about the history of an illicit art form that has not only become legitimized in the “art world,” but has impacted just about every aspect of our culture — from advertising to fashion design to education.
Spanning over six decades, a comprehensive illustrated timeline traces the history of NYC graffiti beginning in 1967 with JULIO 204, whose tag and street number captured the attention of his peers in Washington Heights/Inwood. Four years later, when fellow Washington Heights tagger TAKI 183 was profiled in The New York Times, graffiti went on to gain the attention of a wide, diverse audience.
By the mid-70’s, graffiti had evolved into a “firmly established cultural movement with clear principles.” Whole-car train pieces began to roll by and the publication of Norman Mailer’s The Faith of Graffiti lent validation to the art form. But by the early 80’s, Mayor Koch waged outright war against graffiti writers, accusing them of “destroying our lifestyle and and making it difficult to enjoy life.”
Yet despite the war against graffiti, key talented and passionate photographers, documentarians, filmmakers and curators increasingly began to celebrate the culture which continues to make its way not only onto public space but into galleries and museums worldwide.
In addition to the exhibition’s graffiti timeline, there is also a timeline of “Key Current Events,” such as the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968, the election of NYC Mayor David Dinkins in 1989 and the outbreak of COVID-19. – all lending socio-political context to the graffiti movement. And homage is given to the many “Fallen but not Forgotten Players in the Game.” Included among those many writers are such noted ones as: A-One, Don 1, Dondi, Iz the Wiz, Sane 182, and Stay High 140. On view too are black books, graffiti paraphernalia and varied tools of the trade, along with videos, documentaries, recordings and first-person accounts.
Accompanying Part I of the exhibition is an invaluable catalog — published by Howl Arts — that includes: both the graffiti and the current events timelines; key essays by Al Diaz, Eric Felisbret, Mariah Fox and Chris Pape; a glossary of graffiti terms by Eric Felisbret, and learning tools and resources for educators by Mariah Fox. The catalog can be purchased at the gallery or by emailing books@al-diaz.com.
On view in Part II of the exhibition at the nearby Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive are original artworks of largely of graffiti tags by such pioneers as Coco 144, Lava 1 & 2, Noc 167, Snake 1 and Futura, along with photographs by several noted documentarians of the culture including Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant, Charlie Ahearn, David Gonzalez and Flint Gennari.
Among those on exhibit by the legendary photojournalist Martha Cooper is her 1982 Bronx capture, DUSTER/LIZZIE: 2 top to bottom whole cars in straight letters and wild style.
While Part I — located at 6 East 1st Street — closes this coming Sunday, the 15th, Part II of the exhibition continues through January 29 at 250 Bowery. Both spaces are open Wednesday-Sunday, 11am-6pm.
Photo credits: 1 & 2 Lois Stavsky; 3 & 4 Rachel Fawn Alban, 5 © Howl Arts Inc & 6 © Martha Cooper
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In this seventh post in our new series, PUSHING IT FORWARD — featuring ILLicit creatives claiming space on NYC streets — we return to Brooklyn. Featured above is Jarp — beneath the subway platform alongside the tracks
Snuze
Fame, Dest, RS, Ajes and Pure
Des and Nilo, All City Crew
Dip
Keazy
Stack, ZigZag and varied tags
Unidentified fragment spotted in Bed-Stuy
Post by the Pushing It Forward Collective
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Despite the many changes in Philly’s West Kensington neighborhood, the walls along North 5th & Cecil B Moore continue to host a huge range of striking, first-rate graffiti murals. The image pictured above is the work of the gifted Philly-based Colombian artist Busta. Three more adjacent murals — all on the theme of the greek myth “Jason and the Argonauts” — follow:
Veteran graffiti writer Sew
Philly-based Spanish artist Saoka
Philly-based Spanish artist Imse
And a newly-fashioned nearby wall by Philly graffiti stylist Esteme
Photos: Lois Stavsky
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After a hiatus of several weeks, we are back with our documentation of ILLicit creatives claiming space on the streets of NYC. Pictured above is MFK, the Metal Fingers Krew; what follows are several more graffiti bombs and throwies captured as we revisited Queens.
Angr
Boni and Sykoe
Unidentified
Mono
Someone
Sie and Mer
Post by the Pushing It Forward Collective
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Two long walls along a parking lot on Těšnov Street in Prague’s New Town – the largest of Prague’s four historic districts — have long served as a legal open-air graffiti gallery. The crisply executed piece pictured above was painted by the prolific Every Tag Counts for the Montana Grafficon jam held earlier this fall. Several more images that I captured along the wall — while visiting Prague last week — follow:
To be identified
Spord UFO — painted for the Montana Grafficon jam
To be identified
To be identified
To be identified
Photos: Lois Stavsky
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I recently had the opportunity to speak to BedStuy Walls Mural Festival founder and chief curator Miki Mu about the hugely successful community arts festival held earlier this month on Lexington Avenue and Do the Right Thing Way in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
This is all so wonderful. What was your initial inspiration for this project?
This is my neighborhood. I’ve lived in Bed-Stuy for over ten years. I was interested in celebrating and beautifying my neighborhood. And I know the huge power of art to uplift a community! I also wanted to create a space where people and businesses in my neighborhood could interact. My vision for this particular project began about a year ago.
How did you secure these walls? They are in such a prime spot, and these murals have totally transformed the entire block.
My neighbor introduced me to the owner of one of the the businesses on the block. But there were many challenges to actually securing these walls. It was not an easy task!
What were some of these challenges that you encountered in seeing this project through?
After I did secure the walls, I had to get a permit to close the block for the day of the festival. The walls and sidewalk had to be primed in advance. I had to purchase supplies. The entire project was quite expensive. I set up a Go Fund Me, but I did have to cover most of the expenses myself.
You have here such a wonderful range of artists here — from legendary graffiti writers to noted contemporary urban artists to newer emerging ones. How did you get the word out to the artists?
We started an Instagram account, and the word quickly spread. So many artists expressed interest in participating — far more than I could have imagined. I still get requests!
How did the community respond to the event?
The response was tremendous! The community loved it! Families came out, and there were so many kids…jumping rope, dancing to the hip-hop music, making art and simply having fun! It was wonderful — actually better than I had anticipated! But I never could have done this alone; there were many folks whose generosity made this possible. Among them are: Chateau Brooklyn for serving as our mothership, headquarters and base; Badman Bus aka Cookie Monster Bus for providing music and a sound system; all of the DJ’s for volunteering their talents; Cheryl Foy, a retired teacher and resident of the block, for helping us secure the block permit and Joe Cirano from Rogers & Sons, the owner of the walls; the Blue Bus Project for providing activities for the kids; Radial Park for lending us ladders; Project Barkada, also, for lending us a ladder and scaffolding; Solidarity Movers for helping us move all the equipment from one location to another and for providing, as well, a fun activity for kids; Black Men Build, Black Chef Movement and Josiane Lysius for providing free food; Loop Colors for adding extra cans to our order; Frankie Velez, my co-curator, for assisting and supporting my efforts in every aspect of this project, and, of course, all of the artists for generously sharing their skills and visions with us.
What’s ahead?
I would like to make the BedStuy Walls Mural Festival an annual event and eventually attain non-profit status.
That would be wonderful! Congratulations!
Images
2. Jason Naylor
3. Chelsea Garcia to the left of Manuel Alejandro
4. Will Power
5. Belowkey
6. Andre Trenier to the left of Megan Olson and Olga Correa
7. Nac 143 (left), OG Millie (center), Bom5 with character by Miki Mu (right)
Photo credits: Lois Stavsky
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Tracing the emergence of graffiti from an underground subculture into a legitimate profession, Duality: A Graffiti Story — directed by Ryan Dowling — focuses on the struggles and successes of five noted graffiti artists. In the Buffalo 8 documentary feature film, legendary writers Meres One, Dual, Sloke, Jaber and Never1959 share their challenges and ventures as they reflect on their personal journeys in this ever-evolving culture.
Many graffiti writers — who were initially deemed as vandals for their tagging and illegal interventions — now earn wide recognition and respect for their stirring murals that grace cities across the globe. Their aesthetics have made their way inside and outside a range of upscale properties from luxury hotels to major corporations — who court them to enhance the “coolness” of their brands.
Once working mainly clandestinely, these artists now foster community, as they share their talents openly with others — who are eager to learn from their skills or simply observe and photograph them as they paint. And as their artwork begins to blur the lines between graffiti, urban art and fine art, it also increasingly finds a home in galleries.
Among the film’s recurrent themes is the artists’ addiction to getting up and their deep love for graffiti. “I’ll probably never ever not want to write my name on something. It’s an addiction for sure,” states Dual. “It’s amazing that there’s that opportunity to bridge the gap from doing illegal graffiti to doing commercial work with big companies.”
Among the many highlights of Duality: A Graffiti Story is the account of the vast achievements and horrific demise of Long Island City’s 5Pointz— as related by its curator and founder Meres One and advocate Marie Cecile Flageul.
Several screenshots from the riveting documentary follow:
NYC-based Meres One, founder and curator of the iconic graffiti mecca 5Pointz — whose talents continue to make their way onto walls, huge canvases, lightbulbs and varied corporate settings.
On the site of citizenM New York Bowery hotel where Meres painted this stained glass-inspired piece
Houston, Texas-based Dual, best known for his wheat pastes — whose body of artwork includes everything from meticulously-made tape collages to sign painting to huge commissioned murals that beautify cities
Dual, The Rice Box River Oaks Mural
Austin, Texas native Sloke — who, in addition to painting, curating and mentoring youth — has produced murals for a range of companies including Apple, Facebook, Nike, Google, Red Bull and Time Warner
Sloke mentoring young man on the art of graffiti
West Coast-based Jaber (ala El Ninja Blanco) — who has been making his mark on the streets since the early 9o’s and now does — among other things — design for major fashion companies and film sets
Jaber, Along the tracks
Los Angeles-based Never1959 — who is best-known for his large scale murals on buildings around Los Angeles
Never‘s 50-foot high mural that parodies the 1958 Orson Welles film noir “Touch of Evil”
The premiere of this splendid homage to graffiti will take place tomorrow, October 19th, in Austin, Texas. And beginning Oct. 21, it will be available on Amazon Prime, AppleTV/iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, and YouTube movies.
And you can check out the trailer below:
All images courtesy Buffalo 8
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From September 15 – 18, an all-female team of urban artists — local, national and global — brought their skills and visions to 49 Wyckoff Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
The stunning image featured above was fashioned collaboratively by project curator Herakut (pictured) and Miami-based Didi Contreras. Several select images — all captured by by travel and street photographer Karin du Maire aka Street Art Nomad — follow:
Brooklyn-based Lexi Bella, who assisted the project’s curation (top), and local, mixed-media artist Isabelle Ewing
New York-based interdisciplinary artist and educator Alice Mizrachi
The legendary Ecuadorian-American graffiti artist and muralist Lady Pink
London-based Spanish artist Lours
NYC-based graphic designer and muralist Queen Andrea
Brooklyn-based muralist and painter Danielle Mastrion
Bristol, UK-based artist HazardOne
Special thanks to Karin du Maire aka Street Art Nomad for documenting this project and sharing it with us
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