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.
Chag Sameach to all who are celebrating Passover. The Hasidim in Brooklyn kicked off the public festivities by lighting fires on sidewalks in various neighborhoods—a surprising and bright flickering of orange, yellow, and white dancing flames are a sight against the cold gray downpour of April. As the smoke wafts through the streets, there’s a moment of panic—wondering if a building is on fire or if war has broken out.
Yes, there are wars of many kinds across this country and worldwide—and times of tumultuous change like these may augur even more conflict. We’re tempted to say “Dark Times,” as it appears we are amid a slow-motion demolition, but we want to reserve such pronouncements.
On the street, New York is—as ever—bratty and bright, bracing and beatific. Someone may cut you off to grab a subway seat, but another person might offer you theirs. We know things aren’t right, and the fog of propaganda seems designed to make us fearful of one another. However, New Yorkers largely settled the identity politics conversation a quarter century ago, and we’re generally not interested in rehashing it. We’re more likely to wonder why the subway still feels rickety, why prices on everything from rent to groceries to concert tickets and restaurant entrées keep jumping out of reach. At the same time, the official inflation rate still claims it’s 2–3%. Really? Where did you get that number?
The most remarkable image we caught this week comes courtesy of someone who may be a new “Splasher” in New York—bloody flash installations dripping down walls and onto sidewalks. The symbolism could apply to so much happening in the world, and the beauty of most street art is this: you create the narrative.
We continue with our interviews with the street, this week including CRKSHNK, Modomatic, Michael Alan, Alex Itin, Word on the Street, Mini Mantis, The Splasher (2?), AS+ORO, Baz Bon, Winnie Chiu, and Priz.
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.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. Congratulations to our Muslim neighbors in NYC on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, and we wish them peace, joy, and blessings as they mark the end of Ramadan.
The popping rumble of customized mufflers is back on the streets, a rite of spring as familiar as purple crocuses and snowdrops pushing through browned grass, old 40 bottles, crumpled chip bags, and cigarette butts. The warming weather softens the ground and lets loose the mingled scents of hydrangea and dog pee. And once again, Saturday night Romeos are rolling down their windows, cruising slow, and blasting tracks like Jack Harlow and Doja Cat’s new banger “Just Us”—hoping someone’s paying attention.
On the street art tip, you’ll see Faile has come back with some of their new and old icons remixed, Trump and Elon are widely critiqued in caricature, and vertical graffiti is the new horizontal.
We continue with our interviews with the street, this week including Faile, John Ahearn, CRKSHNK, Modomatic, Qzar, EXR, Ollin, Sto, REW X, Want Pear, Batola, Ooh Baby, Thug Life, and Jayo.
Back home in NYC, there’s a heavier police presence—more beat cops on the sidewalks, more boots on subway platforms, or at least it feels that way. Some say it’s about safety; others say it’s panic. And let’s be real: it often appears that this city still has no idea what to do with our mentally ill neighbors except push them outside and act shocked when they behave like they’re… mentally ill.
But hope blooms in strange places. Like the number 1 train, where Miguel “Mike Plants” Andrade—aka The Plant Man—has been selling succulents and orchids to passengers, leading us to; A. We’ve always liked the word ‘succulent’ and are happy to use it in a sentence, and B. Mr. Andrade proves that one human doing their thing with a heart can shift the whole mood, reframe your current situation.
And in street art and graffiti? The walls are still talking—shouting, whispering, reflecting us back at ourselves with a sometimes banal, sometimes beguiling presentation. If the overall message feels messy, it’s because the world is messy. But often there’s clarity in the chaos if you squint at it in the right manner.
We continue with our interviews with the street, this week including Faile, Judith Supine, City Kitty, Lexi Bella, Werds, Turtle Caps, Zoot, Corn Queen, Klonism, Zero Productivity, Muska, Nice, Badlucao, LYFR, and Barb Tropolis.
Purim has wrapped up in Brooklyn after three days and two nights of exuberant revelry in Hasidic neighborhoods—a celebration that, at first glance, might seem like a fusion of Halloween and New Year’s, complete with thousands of costumed kids and exuberant teens, many of whom are noticeably inebriated, blasting music into the night from roaming RVs. Of course, this being New York, the city takes it all in stride—because if there’s one place that can handle a rolling, Yiddish-speaking Mardi Gras in March, it’s Brooklyn.
In NYC news, a new exhibition celebrates the 20th anniversary of those orange fluttering “gates” one winter in Central Park. Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates and Unrealized Projects for New York City at The Shed is an immersive exhibition that includes an augmented reality component and rekindles memories for those who witnessed The Gates and unveils hidden stories for new audiences. Also, a shout out to the artist duo Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston and their new show Flash Point at Petzel. In visually arresting large-scale woodcut and silkscreen prints that echo the chaotic energy of city streets, they examinethe Anthropocene, forced migrations, and American civil unrest through layered compositions that slow down the rapid circulation of news imagery.
And we continue with our interview with the street, this week including Degrupo, Below Key, JerkFace, Roachi, BK Ackler, Denis Ouch, Manuel Alejandro NYC, ATOMS, Wild West, Helch, Sport, Zore64, Obek, and Soul.
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.
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.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! Feeling that Valentine’s chocolate buzz? Gearing up for President’s Day? Thank goodness for holidays—little pauses in the relentless, whiplash-inducing news cycle we’re all riding.
First, some street art news:
San Francisco street artist Rabi Torres taps into ad culture subversion with his new “We Buy Souls” campaign, echoing the tactics of Cash For Your Warhol artist Hargo—right down to the cryptic answering machine message and documentation website. This kind of remixing of commercial signage also has historical roots in Ed Ruscha’s experiments with text, Barbara Kruger’s billboard-style commands, Jenny Holzer’s wheat pasted provocations, Corita Kent’s screen prints, and the bold aesthetics of the Colby Poster Printing Co. Certainly Rabi is getting people’s attention in a San Francisco cityscape that some may describe as hammered with advertising. Call the number on the signs, and you might get pulled into an existential rabbit hole—if you’re up for the game. SF Gate breaks it down here.
It looks like the card company using Banksy-style artwork for its designs may soon put the anonymous street artist in the public eye, as its trademark case with Full Color Black continues to progress in court. Depending on the twists and turns of this legal case, you may see Banksy making a public appearance.
Meanwhile, here’s our interview with the streets this week, including Nick Walker, Clown Soldier, IMK, EXR, W3RC, Sluto, Short, Zaver, Katie Merz, Geraluz, Helch, HVC, TOD, Peter Daverington, Carve, and Kee:
Spanish artist Gonzalo Borondo, from Valladolid, arrives at LuzMadrid Festival with Redentora, a site-specific installation that continues his steady movement …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
