All posts tagged: I Heart Graffiti

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.28.21

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.28.21

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week as we head into Passover and Easter. If street art reflects society, and we know that it does, Governor Cuomo is in hot water and may not keep his job. But then, we thought the same about the war criminal George Bush and the grifter Trump, so never mind.

Thank you to reporter Jim O’Grady for interviewing us for a story on WNYC radio this week – along with our colleague Sean Corcoran who is the Curator of Prints and Photographs and a graffiti historian from the Museum of the City of New York.

“As Covid Ravaged New York, Street Artists Fought Back” is the name of Jim’s eight-minute exposition – and his storytelling adds so much to our appreciation of the city and the environment that gives life to our street art and graffiti scene here. Thanks for including us Jim.

So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring: Chris RWK, CRKSHNK, Dwei, Hope Hummingbird, I Heart Graffiti, Little Ricky, Peachee Blue, Raddington Falls, Rambo, SacSix, Sara Lynne-Leo, Sticker Maul, and Technodrome.

Chris. RWK / (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Technodrome (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Peachee Blue / NYCThrive for East Village Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Peachee Blue / NYCThrive for East Village Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
We’d like to think that this collab between Little Ricky and Sara Lynne-Leo happened organically, whereupon, first either one of the artists found the one piece on the wall and the other had the best placement opportunity of the day. Both pieces are illegally placed. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
And here again we find our friend Little Ricky cavorting with other friends. Raddington Falls, I Love Graffiti. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sitkman (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Stikman’s installation on a traffic sign draws attention to climate change. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist addressing climate change as well. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
#nomalarkey (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Dwei (photo © Jaime Rojo)
RAMBO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We’ve seen an uptick of messages on the streets aimed at Governor Cuomo

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
CRKSHNK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sticker Maul (photo © Jaime Rojo)
SacSix (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hope Hummingbird pays tribute to the great Margaret Kilgallen. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Zoomy out for a walk on the first Spring day in NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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COVID-19 365 Days Later; Art in the Streets That Narrated a Pandemic

COVID-19 365 Days Later; Art in the Streets That Narrated a Pandemic

What the hell just happened? Has it been a year? Or has it been 10 years? Or just one long nightmare/daymare? Or has it been 10 years? Did we already ask that?

In March 2020 we awoke to a world that was transforming before all of our eyes, yet we felt so cut-off from it and each other. The first days seem so long ago as we mark the first anniversary of the pandemic. Still, the initial shock of those days resonates in our chests so strongly that we confidently talk about a collective global trauma that has indelibly marked a generation.

Pobel. Stavanger, Norway. March 14, 2020. (photo © Tore Stale Moen)

From Stockholm to Mexico City to Barcelona to Bethlehem to New York to LA, BSA brought you street art that was responding with fear, derision, critique, hope, and humor to the never-static, always evolving barrage of Covid news. Stuck inside and afraid to expose ourselves to each other, we New Yorkers became accustomed to experiencing the outdoors only through our windows, connecting with neighbors we’ve never met who were also banging pots and pans or clapping and waving and yelling.

We listened to ambulances screaming past our windows every half hour or so during those first weeks, imagining the torn families, the terrified fellow New Yorkers now being rushed to the hospital and separated from their loved ones without a goodbye, gasping for air. We wondered if we would be next.

Jilly Ballistic and Sack Six. Manhattan, NYC. March 23, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

When we did go to the streets, they were empty – or nearly. In New York this was unheard of. In this bustling, noisy metropolis, we experienced a daily disconcerting quiet. That is, until the killing of George Floyd by cops finally pushed the anger/anxiety into the streets all summer.

The deadly hotspot of New York quelled, but the fires of Covid spread west, grabbing communities who thought they would avoid impact. At the same time, local, state, and national leaders fumbled and argued or famously callously ignored the desperation of citizens, occasionally admirably filling the shoes they were elected to occupy, often misstepping through no fault of their own.

Pure Genius. Manhattan, NYC. March 23, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We have no particular wisdom to offer you today beyond the obvious; this pandemic laid bare inequity, social and racial and class fault-lines, the shredded social net, the effect of institutional negligence, the ravages of 40 years of corporate privatization, and the power of community rising to the occasion to be in service to one another in ways that made us all more than proud.

Here are some of our favorite Covid-themed street art pieces from over the last year, a mere sampling of the artistic responses. Interspersed we paste screenshots of the daily events (via Wikipedia) in 2020 that shaped our lives, and our society.

We mourn the losses of family and friends and the broken hearts and minds in all of our communities. And we still believe in the power of art to heal and the power of love to balance our asymmetries.

Trusto Corp. Los Angeles, CA. March 26, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Lapiz. Hamburg, Germany. March 30th, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Tag Street Art. Tel-Aviv, Israel. March 31, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Phlegm. April 6, 2020. London, UK. (photo courtesy of the artist) Phlegm created a visual diary of his experience with the Pandemic. We published his diary HERE
Don Langrend for USA Today Network. On April 13, 2020, we published a compilation of political cartoons with views on the Pandemic. Click HERE to see the whole collection.
Alessio-B. Padua, Italy. April 15, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Banksy. London, UK. April 19, 2020. (photo Instagram)
Shepard Fairey. Los Angeles, CA. April 20, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Banksy “The Girl with a Pierced Eardrum” Bristol, UK. April 23, 2020. (photo © Reuters/Rebecca Naden)
Cake Stencils. Bethlehem, Israel. May 10, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Almost Over Keep Smiling. Manhattan, NY. May 15, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Captain Eyeliner. Manhattan, NY. May 15, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
SacSix. Manhattan, NY. May 15, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Oliver Rios. May 15, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Teo Vazquez. Barcelona, Spain. May 25, 2020. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Adam Fujita. Brooklyn, NYC. May 25, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. Queens, NYC. June 2nd. 2020. (photo © Just A Spectator)
Russian Doll NY. Manhattan, NYC. June 6, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gianni Lee. Manhattan, NYC. June 13, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Various & Gould. Berlin, Germany. June 19, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artists)
Sara Lynne-Leo. Manhatttan, NYC. June 27, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Stikman. Manhatttan, NYC. June 27, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentifed artist. Brooklyn, NYC. July 18, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
De Grupo. Manhattan, NYC. August 1, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sticker Maul. Manhatttan, NYC. August 6, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Fintan Magee. Queensland, Australia. August 16, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Persak. San Miguel De Allende, Mexico. August 23, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Novy. Manhatttan, NYC. August 29, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Asbestos. Cork, Ireland. September 8, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
1111 Army. Brooklyn, NYC. September 12, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist. Brooklyn, NYC. September 12, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Raddington Falls. Manhattan, NYC. September 26, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faust. Manhattan, NYC. September 26, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pure Genius. Manhattan, NYC. October 31, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
I Heart Graffiti. Manhattan, NYC. November 14, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
UFO 907 in collab with MUK 123. Manhattan, NYC. December 15, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The Creator. Manhattan, NYC. December 28, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
City Kitty. Manhattan, NYC. December 28, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Karma. Barcelona, Spain. January 4, 2020. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Pobel. Stavanger, Norway. February 11, 2021. (photo © Tore Stale Moen)
Aya Brown. Brooklyn, NYC. February 27, 2021. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Manhattan, NYC. March 06, 2021 (photo @ Jaime Rojo)
Paolo Tolentino. Manhattan, NYC. March 07, 2021 (photo @ Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist. Manhattan, NYC. March 07, 2021 (photo @ Jaime Rojo)

As NYC went on complete lock-down and New Yorkers were ordered to remain in their homes in complete isolation the city’s residents organically joined together in a collective 7:00 pm ritual in support to the first responders. To the nurses, doctors, paramedics, trash collectors, public transportation, police, fire fighters, supermarkets workers etc…with their services and sacrifices we, the residents of this megalopolis were able to keep out hopes for brighter days to come.

Video of four former presidents urging people to “roll up your sleeve and do your part” and get the vaccine.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 11.29.20

BSA Images Of The Week: 11.29.20

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week.

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving, although it is hard to imagine anyone feeling like it was great, considering that we now have long food lines around the city on a daily basis as more and more people are going hungry.

In our own Brooklyn neighborhood during a Thanksgiving stroll we witnessed people cueing up to get into a local overpriced restaurant while one block later we saw 4 people – two middle aged women and two teenagers – opening garbage bags on the sidewalk and looking for 5 cent returnable bottles.

Remind us please: Is this a Republican failure, or a Democratic failure? The wealth gap has continued to grow no matter who was in office for the last few decades. We are better than this.

Looks like Trump has finally accepted that he lost and is now turning his attention to who he will pardon. Regarding his hometown New York City, Trump will probably come back like a rash, fielding lawsuits and bragging about one thing or another. Other recent articles are turning attention to his various brood and surmising things like “Ivanka Probably Isn’t Welcome Back in New York City.”

Here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring A Toy Shop, Allei Kelley, CRKSHNK, De Grupo, Downtown DaVinci, Eye Sticker, I Heart Graffiti, Tenderloin Television, and The Postman Art.

Downtown DaVacini – 7 Line Arts Studio (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Downtown DaVacini – 7 Line Arts Studio (photo © Jaime Rojo)
I Heart Graffiti (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
De Grupo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Eye Sticker, De Grupo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tenderloin Television (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A Toy Shop (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Allei Kelley Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The Postman Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Eye Sticker (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Old Post Office Building. Manhattan, NYC. 11.2020 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 11.15.20

BSA Images Of The Week: 11.15.20

Happy Diwali to all our Hindu neighbors here in Brooklyn and around the world. We hope you find some ways to celebrate safely over the next few days in this year of COVID-19. Diwali is a festival of lights that symbolizes the spiritual “victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance”. We need that for sure.

A week after the US election was called, the current president is trying to foment discord and raise funds for himself, but with war-loving folks like John Bolton and Carl Rove jumping ship, can it be much longer until a stampede of similar careerists and military industrialists follow suit?

And while certain yellow newsreaders on corporate TV were desperate for open warfare in the streets in the days around the election, most people are just waiting until the inevitable capitulation. This has hardly been a bloody revolution, but keep trying Rachel and whatsisname?

Street art is reflecting the current mood in broad strokes and pointed ones. New Yorkers can never keep their big yaps shut, so the level of discourse may sometimes be crude and brash – but it can also be insightful, enlightening, and even an invitation for thoughtful exchange. It’s times like these you can be proud of the voices on the streets, which very likely will persevere.

Here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Baston714, Cake$, City Kitty, Dan Bennett, De Grupo, Faile, I Heart Graffiti, Lunge Box, Pure Genius, Reisha Perlmutter, Rubin 415, and Sac Six.

De Grupo positions Biden as Freddy Mercury singing “Weeeee are the champiiiiooons, my friend…”. Of course, there is no comparison. But you get the point. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
De Grupo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sac Six interprets Kamala Harris, the Vice President-Elect. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Democratic National Committee darling and Georgia Representative Stacy Abrams gets a tiara from I Heart Graffiti (photo © Jaime Rojo)
I Heart Grffiti pictures the reluctantly departing Trump on a bed of green leafy Covid-19. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A bit more of a direct take-down from Pure Genius (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bela Lugosi or Rudy Guliani? Same difference. De Grupo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cake$ in The West Bank sprays a very unlikely silhouetted scene in Palestine. No child could possibly lift that wheelbarrow. (photo © courtesy of the artist)
Math, from Dan Bennett (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Scenes from a street debate – Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Scenes from a street debate – Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Reisha Perlmutter (photo © Jaime Rojo)
City Kitty, Lunge Box (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faile says 2020 hit a pothole. Wonder what happens in ’21? (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Rubin 415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Rubin 415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Baston 714 goes over himself. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 08.30.20

BSA Images Of The Week: 08.30.20

The winds of change are gathering force and weaving together – social, political, financial, environmental… and it is all being reflected in street art today. Ironically, because media in the US is addicted to money and misdirection and is completely disinterested in the poor and working class as a whole, thoughtful analysis that pops off city walls seems unadulterated, capable of giving you more truthful assessments of what is missing, what is out of whack, and who’s gotta take action. Your face here.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Adam Fu, AJ LaVilla, Antennae, Black Ligma, City Kitty, CRKSHNK, De Groupo, Hearts NY, Novy, Pork, Surface of Beauty, The Greator, Winston Tseng, X Rebellion NYC, and Zuli Miau.

Winston Tseng (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Black Ligma (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The Creator (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Antennae (photo © Jaime Rojo)
AJ LaVilla (photo © Jaime Rojo)
X Rebellion NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Adam Fu collab with Surface of Beauty for East Village Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Zuli Miau (photo © Jaime Rojo)
CRKSHNK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Take Out Racism (photo © Jaime Rojo)
TGLNYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pork (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Novy (photo © Jaime Rojo)
I Heart Graffiti . Hearts NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Individual Activist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
De Grupo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 10.27.19

BSA Images Of The Week: 10.27.19

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. The streets are alive!

New York doesn’t stop, even if your heart does when you are looking at the White House and the ongoing attack on institutions you believed in. No wonder The Joker is breaking records. Its a sign of the times. The brazenness in the highest offices probably explain why Harvey Weinstein went to a comedy club this weekend (and got yelled at from the stage and in the audience), and why this guy simply shoved a woman into a train. But its not all bad news, New York is a city made from immigrants, and we’re working to protect them thanks to some recent anti-xenophobic laws.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring Ali Six, Anthony Lister, Chris Stain, Cogitaro, Gixy Gal, Hans Haacke, I Heart Graffiti, Jimmy C, JR, Laszlo, Lizzo, Pay to Pray, Rano, and X Vandals.

Top banner JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Why are men great till they gotta be great?” I Heart Graffiti has an interesting candidate to take over from the circus that is this White House. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
And The Unapologetically Brown Series points out why AOC is the voice of the people in an institution almost exclusively directed by lobbyists and the 1%. And someone thinks she’s a useful idiot – a bit of Red-Baiting that is all the rage from corporate Democrats. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Meanwhile at The White House…
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pay To Pray (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Anthony Lister (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jimmy C for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hans Haacke retrospective “We (ALL) Are The People” at The New Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A digital precision homeboy from Almost Over Keep Smiling (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cogitaro (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Glxy Gal (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Chris Stain’s old piece at The Bushwick Collective just got a ‘face lift” with the help of X Vandals. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Rano (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Laszlo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ali Six (photo © Jaime Rojo)
JR brings a portion of “The Chronicles Of New York City” to Kings Theater in Flatbush, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
JR brings a portion of “The Chronicles Of New York City” to Kings Theater in Flatbush, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. An artist sets up both his gallery AND studio at the entrance of the NYC Subway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 08.18.19

BSA Images Of The Week: 08.18.19

Icy cold coquitos, sidewalk barbecues, walking for hours in Central Park, music booming from party boats on the East River, a birthday party with 30 on the roof. Who can resist New York in the summer? Yes everyone is warning about an economic crash that is coming and you’re still in debt even though you have three roommates and Trump is just making us all feel like we live in a big chaotic racist world.

But for this sunny summer afternoon, let’s just prove him wrong and get some beers and sit on the stoop saying hi to all our neighbors who walk by – asian, black, latino, Middle Eastern, Jewish, white, sihk, Polish, Nigerian, Mexican, muslim, Italian, Swedish. It don’t matter, bro. We’re all New Yorkers and we like it like that.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring Broken Heartist, Budha Delight, City Kitty, Early Riser, Emma Gonzalez, Joe Iurato, Logan Hicks, Lunge Box, Mowcka, Ouch, Sara Lynne Leo, Skewville, and The Postman Art.

Sara Lynne Leo addresses pain and mental health. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sara Lynne Leo…and climate change… (photo © Jaime Rojo)
“Chinga La Migra”, loosely translated as Fuck the Immigration System. Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The Postman Art in collaboration with Broken Heartist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Emma Gonzales is an American activist and advocate for gun control. As a high school senior she survived the February 2018 Stoneman Douglas Hich School shooting in Parkland, Florida, and in response co-founded the gun control advocacy group “Never Again”.
The Cure take a turn with The Postman Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
I Heart Graffiti (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hewey, Duey, and Lewy are transfixed by Lady Liberty. Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Shun Sudo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Crash is coming, start stacking. Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A reductivist approach to stencil painting. OUCH (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Stikman & Dr. Seuss (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Lunge Box (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks revisit their old spot with their sons at The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Budha Delight (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Early Riser (photo © Jaime Rojo)
City Kitty . Mowcka (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Manhattan, August 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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