Here in Brooklyn we move through a lush delirium—a rhapsody in blue and green, thick with summer and song, strident prose, a bit of jazz. In certain pockets of creativity the aerosol fumes from many a graff writer and mural painter are landing like a cloud on your sweaty skin and sliding off into the sewer below. The echos of Saturday night stereo is pounding in our memories with the adorable Atlanta hedonism of Bunna Summa and the swooning Puerto Rican charms of suavicito Bad Bunny. Vices and voices lilt through the neighborhood at night; a humidity induced dream that confirms we are all “New Yol” now.
Yes, the world feels upside down—truths twisted, systems slipping, war drums on many fronts—but for now it’s summer in Brooklyn, and we’re still in love. So let’s take our time… dance in the streets, drift across rooftops, wander the train tracks. Let the city hold us a little longer.
Here’s a glimpse of NYC graffiti, street art, and murals captured in this week’s survey, including Below Key, Ed Roth, EXR, Fumero, ICU463, Klepo One, Luch, Never Satisfied, Nick Walker, Sonni, TQRY, and Wizard Skull.
Fourth of July weekend stretched into at least three days this year for many New Yorkers—some staying in town to catch the spectacular fireworks displays over the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan, others escaping to Long Island, Upstate New York, or New Jersey. Chasing cooler air and a patch of green, they rent, borrow, and maybe even steal cars for the chance to go camping, canoeing, fire up a barbecue, and revisit Aunt Eloise’s legendary Ambrosia Salad—a chilled “salad” of mini marshmallows, canned mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple, coconut, and Cool Whip. Anyone want a hot dog?
Back in the city, stoop sales and block parties occupy the streets, murals are going up, and conversations drift between the Fourth of July Subway Series games with the Mets and Yankees, the newly approved rent-control rate hikes, and the eye-popping sums raised by the city’s elite to defeat the Socialist Democrat currently leading the mayoral race.
There’s also unease over the Big Beautiful Billsigned by the president on July 4th—an enormous, controversial budget that offers major tax breaks for the wealthy while cutting food and healthcare programs for the poor. It’s being called one of the most consequential—and divisive—pieces of legislation in decades. As you read over the text and see where the money is disappearing from and who it is going to, it may appear to you as a dark mirror version of a well-known children’s story, like a “Reverse Robinhood.” Yet, the debt will still increase…
Here’s a glimpse of the latest graffiti, street art, and murals captured in this week’s survey, including Aida Miro, Frankie Botz, Humble, Juliana Ruiz, Kong Savage, Lao Art, Lina Montoya, Minhafofa, MSK Crew, Musicoby, OSK, Paolo Tolention, Phetus88, Pixote, Qzar, Rambo, Sonni, Steve Sie, Tess, and Zoot.
NYC’s 55th annual Pride March down 5th Avenue kicks off today, themed “Rise Up: Pride in Protest,” taking on a decidedly defiant stance on equality for all. Suppose you are in the subway, dance club, or park in Bushwick, Chinatown, or midtown. Like every June, it’s a lavender parade all weekend, with all members of the LGBTQUA+ communities from around the country and the world laughing, dancing, fighting, posing, and canoodling.
Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani clinched the Democratic nomination here this week after defeating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, possibly igniting a polarized reaction across NYC politics. Hm, wonder if anyone will mention his religion in the next few months. What do you think? But, de facto, he’s going to be the next mayor – unless Bloomberg wants to blow more money before the November election.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Andre Trenier, Dirt Cobain, Drones, Dzel, Fear Art, Jappy Agoncillo, Jason Naylor, Jeff Rose, Kam S. Art, Manik, Modomatic, Par, Riot, Senisa, Tom Bob, Werds, and Zimer.
This week, we mark the passing of Brooklyn-born photographer Marcia Resnick, whose camera cut through the cultural chaos of late 1970s and early 1980s New York punk subculture with clarity, bite, and precision. She wasn’t just in the room—Resnick was part of the scene. Her black-and-whites told the truth, or at least a version of it that compelled you. She caught peacocks like Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger, and Stiv Bators when nightlife was a contact sport and celebrity was going through a re-evaluation. Gritty or mundane, she captured pockets of the city—Mudd Club, CBGB—where the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Bad Brains blew out the walls and made mockery of mainstream, and where cultural conduits like Fab Five Freddy slipped between scenes, wiring punk to hip hop and graffiti before most people knew there was even a circuit.
Resnick had a particular skill: people—posturing poets, punk detonation squads, intellectual misfits—trusted her even when they shouldn’t have. Lydia Lunch, Klaus Nomi, Quentin Crisp, Jean-Michel Basquiat, William Burroughs, Laurie Anderson, Allen Ginsberg, and John Belushi – each showy in their own way and more iconic than the last- were captured. She made them look less like icons and more like complicated mammals with dreams, drugs, and dirty laundry. Her whole visual archive sings like a live wire, and we thank her for it.
Here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Branded Art, Elena Ohlander, INEPT, Karat, RIPE143, Rita Flores, Tones One, Trek6, and Yalus.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! Eid Mubarak to all observing today. Happy Puerto Rican Parade to todos nuestras hermanos y hermanas. We’re grateful to live in a city that celebrates many traditions with such heart. That’s why it’s always perplexing to see Ken and Barbie-types on the national stage vociferating about DEI as if it were a mold on the back wall of your refrigerator. Equality has always been the point.
Banksy’s recent mural in Marseille, France, continues the Bristol artist’s tradition of indirect yet emotionally charged communication. Painted on Rue Félix Frégier, the black-and-white stencil depicts a lighthouse, accompanied by the phrase “I want to be what you saw in me.” Cleverly integrated into its environment, the mural uses the shadow of a nearby street bollard to serve as the lighthouse’s beam—an understated but remarkable visual device.
Interpretations vary, but we’ll venture one: it reads as an oblique critique of nations or institutions once seen as guiding lights—sources of moral or cultural leadership—that now appear directionless or diminished. The lighthouse, in this reading, becomes a symbol of lost purpose. Aware that no one looks to it for guidance anymore, it expresses a quiet resignation, perhaps even grief. Poor lighthouse. The Smithsonian magazine says its just a straightforward plea for attention from the artist. The view may seem surprising, but more astonishing is that the Smithsonian weighed in at all.
Now it’s your turn to be the armchair psychologist or social analyst.
This week in break-up news, the U.S. President and the Twitter tycoon who would be king took their grievances public, trading jabs on social media in a battle to tarnish each other’s image. Each was presumably trying to damage the other’s perception in the public eye, although that hardly seemed necessary. As George Clooney’s Edward R. Murrow put it last night, live on Broadway and live broadcasted on network television: ‘Good night, and good luck.’ As ever, it’s more about control and good money than anything else. It makes you wonder if either one of these guys could be sworn in as president in January ’29. Has a certain ring to it, no?
And here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 2DX, Adam Fu, Atomiko, Below Key, Chris Haven, EXR, HEFS, Jason Haaf, Quaker Pirate, Scoote LaForge, Tom Bob, and Werds.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! Love you to the moon, June!
In New York yesterday, gamers marked the launch of the city’s first annual Video Game Festival, where esports battles, indie demos, and retro arcades spilled into real life like the final boss stage. With its mashup of pixel nostalgia and future-forward tech, the festival echoed the spirit of underground subcultures — not unlike street art — where DIY worlds are built, rules are rewritten, and creativity levels up with every move.
You may prefer experiences in the actual physical world, so Bushwick Collective had a flood of in-person opportunities for visitors to their 14th block party this weekend. Thousands of people from around the city and many parts of the world were there to see hundreds of murals, live artists painting, and a showcase of rapping firebrands of the underground scene – ending with a performance by hip-hop architect Rakim, who was, of course, paid in full.
At BEYOND THE STREETS, curator and publisher Roger Gastman sat down with graffiti artist RIME for an intimate conversation and book signing highlighting RIME’s raw, unfiltered sketchbook—a personal and psychedelic blend of graffiti, visual journaling, and spiritual reflection created entirely in pen during his travels across the U.S.
And here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Below Key, Blanco, Bisser, Danilo Parrales, Detor, Gouch NKC, Gregos, Kosuke James, MSG Crew, Nite Owl, Nito, Skewville, Tom Bob, Turtle Caps, Zero Productivity, Zoot, and ZUI.
The George Floyd mural at Elgin and Ennis in Houston’s Third Ward has been quietly demolished — a move that caught many off guard, especially as the fifth anniversary of his death approached. More than a painting on a wall in the margins of the city, it was a community’s act of remembrance, a public reckoning, and a visual anchor for a moment when the country seemed to shift. To awaken.
And yet, here we are. Five years later, and it’s hard to say what lasting change took root. In some camps, being ‘woke’ is a pejorative, and going back to sleep is encouraged. The arc of justice bends, but it bends slowly. Or maybe it bends into circles.
Meanwhile in New York, a Banksy mural on a six-ton wall hit the auction block and… nothing. Not a single bid. Cue speculation: are we finally past the Banksy-buoyed street art boom that’s defined the last two decades? Or was the opening price just too steep? Maybe the rollout was sloppy. Maybe it was the economy. Whatever the reason, the silence in the salesroom is rare — and could signal a shift in the so-called urban contemporary art market.
And yet, the Banksy machine rolls on. At this point, there may be more Banksy museums than Starbucks — none sanctioned by the artist, of course, but still packing in the crowds. There’s The Banksy Museum in NYC, The World of Banksy in Paris, Museu Banksy in Barcelona and Madrid, and the touring Art of Banksy show, rolling through Jakarta, Melbourne, and Vancouver. It’s a brand now — maybe not quite as big as Mickey Mouse, but it’s definitely what cultural tourists reach for when they want a little edge with their museum day. What this says about the artist, the audience, or the architecture of commodified rebellion… you draw your own conclusions.
So here’s some of this week’s visual conversation from the street, including works from Shin, Crash One, GO, Ham, Hasp, Homesick, IMK, Jeff Henriquez, Mike King, Nela, Piggie the Pig, Queen Andrea, Stesi, Wetiko, Wild West, and Zimer.
Spring 2025: Growth creeps in — leaf by leaf, blade by blade, decree by decree. You barely notice the buildup, but gradually it gathers, until suddenly, you’re surrounded.
On New York walls right now, you’ll spot a mix of collage-style cut-and-paste work, aerosol rendered full fantasy – and a surge in vertical graffiti done while hanging from ropes. This high-risk approach echoes Brazil’s Pixação scene, where writers have been scaling buildings since the ’80s to get their monikers out there running north to south; a technique later amplified by crews like 1UP and Berlin Kidz in Europe. Now, numbers of New York graffiti writers are embracing this daring vertical style — a radical shift that some see clearly, while others barely register. Across styles and mediums, there often appears a recurring presence of scarlet, crimson, rose, magenta, purple, pink, and fuchsia. These grab attention an resonate at deeper undercurrents — power, sacrifice, passion, and perhaps even the stirrings of revolution.
Here are some images from this week’s visual conversation from the street, including works from Werds, Humble, EXR, Great Boxers, Dzel, Meres One, Go, Man in the Box, DK, Luch, 1440, Fridge, El Souls, Natural Eyes, Lisart, Ilato, YOSE, Miki Yamato, HypaArtCombo, Senator Toadius Maximus, HOH22, Hound, Mr. Must Art, Lucia Dutazaka, and Tess.
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.
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”
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.
Reprinted from the original review by BSA for the Martha Cooper Library. Graffiti writer, calligrapher, painter, typographer—Meulman’s professional identities have …Read More »
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BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
