The clear, crisp September days, like that one 25 years ago this week, have returned to us. Street art and graffiti have morphed over the intervening years, but the feelings from that day are still raw. There are a few narratives about what happened, and who did it, and why. But one thing is for sure: many families lost their loved ones, and ceremonies on Friday brought it all back in Lower Manhattan.
Here’s our selection of new pieces from the street, this week featuring AIC Mosaic, Below Key, Benny Bean Bag, D7606, DARA, Delude, Dissatisfied, Duality Industries, Flyless, Homesick, IMSE704, JerkFace, Mike King, MUK, Never, OH!, Praxis, RX Skulls, SAKOKA704, Slasher, Smells, and Wild West.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! New York has endured a week of choking smoke from Canadian wildfires, 98-degree (37°C) heat, and pounding summer thunderstorms. Today, the FIFA World Cup Final arrives, briefly transforming the city once again. Bars in Argentine and Spanish neighborhoods are overflowing with fans, an estimated 50,000 people will gather before giant screens in Central Park, and across the Hudson, 83,000 will pack MetLife Stadium. The match has also turned the region into a temporary diplomatic capital, drawing President Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Spain’s King Felipe VI, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Yet New York has a way of absorbing even the grandest spectacles. While the sporting euphoria fills many spaces, someone in Jackson Heights is comparing the price of canned beans and reaching for the store brand, another is watering tomatoes at M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden on the Lower East Side, someone else is doing the week’s laundry at Ludlow Laundromat, while another is stretched out beside a rooftop pool in Williamsburg. As they say on Broadway, come hell or high water, the show must go on.
Here is our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring CRKSHNK, Debt, Hops Art, IMK, JerkFace, Little Ricky, Makatron, Sara Lynne Leo, SOOBEK, and Worst Timer.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! Longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere today, so presumably we can see more with all this daylight. And yet, the view is somehow clouded from here. The machinations of the city, the state, our institutions, the financial industrial complex, the welfare state – all whir mysteriously before us and behind us. The new Fed Chair made his first public/opaque utterance, and there is some kind of new peace agreement between the US and Iran, yet new bombs explode in Lebanon. In other interesting and unrelated news items, investors gawped as SpaceX dropped 20 percent from its peak during its first week, New Yorkers are worried about videos of unknown people entering and exiting the sewers through manhole covers, and leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepMind participated alongside elected world leaders at the G7 in closed-door meetings.
On the streets, the art, graffiti, and individual commentary tell a multitude of stories as well, including love, hope, fear, celebration, humor, frustration, mourning, and defiance. Here’s our weekly survey, including Arioh, Buttsup, CRKSHNK, Derek Fordjour, Funk, Homesick, JerkFace, Jocelyn Tsaih, Modomatic, Onur, Optimo NYC, Prez NCE, Stop Men, Werds, and ZimerNYC.
Welcome the BSA Images of the Week! Recent exhibitions, festivals, mural programs, and artist movements demonstrate that street art’s vitality continues to evolve—shifting from unsanctioned and underground to mainstream and institutional, and then back to the public streets. Far from fading, the street art and graffiti movement continues to adapt and engage more people, sparking dialogue about art, culture, creativity, property, politics, and its role in urban life. Our inbox at ABC runs like the city itself: fast, loud, nonstop—thankfully, this deli coffee is strong.
Global Graffiti Festival: The Meeting of Styles international graffiti festival just took over Rruga B Street in Kosovo’s capital, marking its 9th edition in Pristina. The city’s embrace of this festival – and the participation of artists from as far afield as Europe, the Americas, and Asia – underscores how the street art movement continues to span the globe, including places that rarely feature in mainstream art news.
As we speed through block parties, outdoor concerts, graffiti jams, and the end of New York’s summer art scene, we note next month’s arrival of the Gaza Biennale, a roving exhibition spotlighting artists from the embattled Gaza Strip. Previously exhibited in London, Berlin, and Athens, the show is a powerful cultural statement, taking place at 19 venues across 12 cities worldwide. The biennale’s New York iteration will span five days (September 10-14) at the non-profit art space Recess in Brooklyn.
Theatergoers have been flocking to Central Park’s Delacorte Theater for Twelfth Night, starring Peter Dinklage and Sandra Oh – in this New York tradition that’s open to everyone. Fans are lining up hours—even overnight—for free tickets, turning the event into a communal spectacle of Shakespeare for our treacherous time, of this moment.
“If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.” (Twelfth Night, Act III, Scene IV)
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring works from Acet, AIC Mosaic, Below Key, Benny CRuz, Hektad, Homesick, JerkFace, Marly McFly, Obey, Paul Richard, Qzar, Sasha Gordon, Shepard Fairey, Tom Bob NYC, and Werds.
Welcome to Part I of II of our photo collection from the 14th Annual Bushwick Collective Block Party. This year’s edition, held on May 31, 2025, brought together a powerful fusion of beats, paint, and community spirit—just the kind of vibrant energy we at BSA love to celebrate.
The day’s star performer, hip-hop legend Rakim, set the stage alight with an electrifying set that fused old-school authenticity with Bushwick’s forward-thinking street culture – an intelligent merging of underground and old-school. Sharing the spotlight were dynamic artists Statik Selektah, Gorilla Nems, Termanology, and Evil Dee, among others.
On the mural front, the Block Party again transformed Troutman Street into a living gallery. This year’s visiting muralists included Sef1, Contrabandre, Huetek, Gigstar & Minus One, Tymon de Laat, Ashley Hodder, and Enzo a psychotropic summer stew that again sampled from acrss the graffiti and street art spectrum.
It was a weekend where paint met poetry, beats met brushstrokes, and each corner of Bushwick told a fresh story. We hope these images capture the creative dialogue that unfolded. Stay tuned for Part II, where we continue to explore more of this year’s murals and moments.
The streets of Bushwick, Brooklyn right now are one sprawling open-air studio—artists from around the world balanced on cherry pickers, ladders, and step stools, bending brushes, tilting rollers, and waving aerosol cans like conductors directing an urban symphony of color. Thick lines, fine mists, reflections, textures, letterforms in every handstyle—they’re building volume and vibe, layering stories and style one gesture at a time.
Since transforming this once Dutch “town in the woods” into a global destination for graffiti and street art over a decade ago, Joe Ficalora has brought hundreds—more likely thousands—of pieces to these Brooklyn walls. A working-class, heavily industrial neighborhood with a strong immigrant presence for the last century, the new neighbors may not always understand the street culture that this movement grew from – often arriving with a whiff of suburban sensibility, but let’s be honest—they wouldn’t be here if the Bushwick Collective hadn’t turned the place into a magnet.
Graffiti writers know how to thrive in hostile environments. It’s built into the DNA. Street artists, too, have evolved with ingenuity and hustle since this worldwide boom began hitting walls in the ’90s. Ficalora’s no different—he’s stayed the course, taken the hits, and kept the engine running.
As tradition now demands, the Collective kicks off summer with a Brooklyn-style block party this weekend—thousands pouring into the streets to celebrate the visual feast. Our photographer. Jaime Rojo has been out documenting the latest wave of mural-making, capturing the energy before the crowds flood in.
What’s always set this apart is Ficalora’s instinct to unify. He’s given room to both graffiti kings and street art innovators, encouraging them to work side by side—and sometimes shoulder to shoulder. The hard lines between the two have softened over the years anyway; many street artists still tag graffiti as their first love, and plenty of writers have flexed into new directions. Cross-pollination is the norm, not the exception.
Add DJs, food trucks, neighborhood vendors, and this thing becomes more than a party—it’s community. Fourteen years deep, and like Joe says, it’s the journey, not the destination.
Although if you’re into street culture, this weekend in Bushwick is your destination, without doubt.
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.
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.
Here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Stikman, Blanco, Lexi Bella, Jerk Face, Modomatic, Savior El Mundo, RX Skulls, Humble, Klonism, RD357, Flaco, REKER, Sintex, and BOFA.
New York is gripped with anxiety and demonstrations because of the Israeli attacks on Gaza that appear to violate International Law. No one is happy, and accusations fly in this most polarizing of international conflicts that threatens to spread – who knows where next. Friday night, a colossal demonstration overtook Grand Central Station and the streets around it by mostly Jews calling for a ceasefire, followed by an equally thunderous one across the Brooklyn Bridge. No one wants to talk about it, yet everyone is talking about it. May cooler heads prevail, and may children be spared our foolish wars.
The morning glories are still beaming blue and pink over fences on abandoned lots here, even as their tumbled vines and leaves turn yellow. The East Village Halloween Parade takes off at 7 p.m. Tuesday, and people are already in costumes on the subway, in the bar, at the pumpkin stand. Street artists have naturally gravitated toward our cultural icons, real and fantasy, and they continue to bring them to walls and doorways and the occasional box truck or subway car. Hearts were warmed this week when a subway rat was caught on video in the tracks dragging a glazed donut a distance to share with his (girl?)friend. You see, even our rats are generous in spirit.
We reflect on Western society’s preoccupation with youth and what a dead end it is, as we spotted a quote this week from British author Donna Ashwork on social media. It makes sense when you look at the Rolling Stones, who played at Racket NYC with special guest Lady Gaga this week. Also we caught the Ed Ruscha show at MOMA this week. These artists are in their 70s and 80s, as are so many of the icons of the Boomer Generation. Somehow, they can be just as compelling as in their heyday sometimes, and its not because of their physical appearance. Anyway, enjoy this poem/quote:
“Don’t prioritise your looks, my friend, they won’t last the journey. Your sense of humour though, will only get better. Your intuition will grow and expand like a majestic cloak of wisdom. Your ability to choose your battles, will be fine-tuned to perfection. Your capacity for stillness, for living in the moment, will blossom. And your desire to live each and every moment will transcend all other wants. Your instinct for knowing what (and who) is worth your time, will grow and flourish like ivy on a castle wall. Don’t prioritise your looks my friend, they will change forevermore, that pursuit is one of much sadness and disappointment. Prioritise the uniqueness that makes you you,
and the invisible magnet that draws in other like-minded souls to dance in your orbit. These are the things which will only get better.“
Here is our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring Queen Andrea, Solus, Degrupo, Jerkface, Mike Makatron, Miki Mu, Home Sick, TomBoyNYC, Dirk Hiekel, Keon IVGN, Robles 147, Mistake Project, and Carlo Beley.
“Let’s dial down the rhetoric. Let’s work sincerely to negotiate a cease-fire. We need serious diplomacy” said no one who profits from war.
Ka-ching!
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: REVS, Adam Fu, JerkFace, Sac Six, Voxx Romana, Roachi, MTA, 4Some Crew, Huetek, Angurria, Swrve, WTG Studios, Enjoy, Six Million Dollar Steve, Carlitos, Dovente, and Danny Ebru.
A pause. It’s unusual to feel this sense in this city – but it’s there – on a sunny day where the sky is clear of clouds and a flock of geese still waddles and honks in the tall weeds and garbage by the Wallabout Channel. Is it a pause of satisfaction at the end of a summer full of fun, or perhaps a calm resignation before a storm as businesses are staying closed or operating at reduced staff. And while the Federal Reserve and ECB and World Bank insist there is just a smidgen of temporary, transitory inflation, tell us why a pound of butter is $6.00 at the local deli, the average price of a used car is $25K, and shipping container prices have soared to $20K?
There is a steady number of new street art pieces going up on doorways, power boxes, and concrete walls, but they are competing all of the triumphal purple and blue and pink Morning Glories flooding fences and walls and garden gates in neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn – a most generous overflow that summer gives as a parting gift.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Cssh4, Cheak, Clown Soldier, Diva Dogla, Drecks, ERRE, Fat Jak, Font 147, Goblin, Goog, JerkFace, Little Ricky, Mort Art, Praxis, Rambo, Seibot, Sinclair the Vandal, and Smetsky.
For decades, graffiti, street art, and contemporary art have spoken with one another, exchanging ideas, aesthetics, techniques, and attitudes along …Read More »
Italian graffiti and conceptual artist Elfo, whose cryptic unpainterly interventions often employ language, irony, appropriation, and deliberately rudimentary aesthetics to …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
