All posts tagged: Mort Art

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.07.24

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.07.24

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!

To BSA’s Muslim brothers and sisters, we hope your Ramadan has been fulfilling as it draws to a close this Tuesday. Amid the spiritual calm, Friday’s earthquake and its aftershocks have certainly rattled us in New York and across the Northeast—a rare tremor that would barely raise an eyebrow in LA, given their familiarity with the earth’s whims. But for us, a 4.8 is no small shake! Adding to our week of natural spectacles, Monday brings an eclipse, inviting us all to don those dope glasses and gaze skyward as a celestial dance sweeps across the continent. It’s been quite a lineup: an earthquake to kick off the weekend, a celestial blackout to start the week. What’s next on the cosmic agenda? A swarm of locusts? Let’s hope the universe has checked off its list of surprises for now.

We start this week’s collection with a new text piece of unknown origin but one that strikes at the heart of life here in 2024 for many. Could this be an advertisement for the new album by Future and Metro Boomin? A spectrum of emotions and styles, the new collection is from two guys whose collaborative efforts have been making significant waves in the music industry for a half decade. Debuting at number 1, as an album “We Don’t Trust You” has been described as a monumental success, showcasing the synergy between Future’s distinctive rap style and Metro Boomin’s innovative production. The out of context graffiti message, “We Don’t Trust You,” captures a poignant irony: while distrust might seem like a safeguard, history shows that a society where trust is deeply eroded becomes fertile ground for manipulation by autocrats and tyrants.

And now, here are images from our ongoing conversation with the street, this week, including: Praxis, Homesick, Lexi Bella, Modomatic, Danielle Mastrion, Mort Art, Claw Money, Jorit, Isabelle Ewing, Paolo Tolentino, JG, Marthalicia Matarrita, Gia, and 1RL.

(photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mort Art and Paolo Tolentino (photo © Jaime Rojo)
HOMESICK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
HOMESICK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
1RL (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Praxis (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Modomatic (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jorit (photo © Jaime Rojo)
JG (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Wheres The Water (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
My Body My Voice Murals (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Marthalicia Matarrita. My Body My Voice Murals (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Lexi Bella. My Body My Voice Murals (photo © Jaime Rojo)
GIA. My Body My Voice Murals (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Danielle Matrion. My Body My Voice Murals (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Claw Money. My Body My Voice Murals (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Isabelle Ewing. My Body My Voice Murals (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Magnolia. Spring 2024. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 10.22.23

BSA Images Of The Week: 10.22.23

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!

Sometimes, this frog feels like the water seems to be getting a little warm if you know what I mean. Our minds are being strained daily by a laundry list of stressors, not the least of which is neverending war. It is almost like it is profitable for industry. Also, it is surprising how many initiatives have been approved and passed during new periods of crisis ever since 9/11. Why does it seem like a new normal is introduced every two years? Meanwhile, the House is not in order, doesn’t even have a leader, 2 of the Orange man’s lawyers plead guilty this week, Biden’s giving 100 billion to Ukraine and Israel,

Meanwhile, people are still buying pumpkins this year for Halloween, the leaves are starting to turn yellow and orange, it is raining for the 7th weekend straight, and street artists and graffiti writers are keeping the streets alive from Grand Army Plaza to LES to Bushwick to Midwood to da Bronx. We have noticed several portraits and figurative works that ring true – and photographer Jaime Rojo shares some of them below.

So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring Calicho Art, David Puck, Mort Art, Le Crue, Andaluz the Artist, Humble, Miki Mu, Blanco, SEF, J. Novik, Hu, Carnivorous Flora, Mue Bon, Girlty, Manuel Alejandro, and Al Ruiz.

SEF portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat for The Bushwick Collective. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
SEF portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat for The Bushwick Collective. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
SEF portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat for The Bushwick Collective. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Al Ruiz portrait of Maya Angelou for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Andaluz The Artist. “Abuelita” for The Bushwick Collective. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Manuel Alejandro for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
David Puck. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)
David Puck (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Girlty for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mue Bon for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Calicho Art for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Carnivorous Flora for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Therapeutic Murals for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Humble for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Miki Mu quotes John Lennon for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Le Crue Eye for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mort for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bianco for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
J. Novik. Work in progress. Some artists are real lambs. Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. MTA. New York City. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 07.16.23

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.16.23

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! And how beautiful this city is, even when the heat is on. The amount of talent on our streets is so overwhelming, thank you New York.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Homesick, Mort Art, Optimo NYC, Savior El Mundo, Neckface, Lungebox, DEK2DX, Hektad, Paolo Tolentino, Jappy Agoncillo, SMURFO, Mike King, Mat Lakas, Lasak Art, Snith Node, Big808, Talia Lempert, Individual Activist.

Optimo NYC continues the organic and self-curated takeover of the Houston Wall. We’re not sure what The End refers to, but as we appear to be on the precipice of so many things as a society and as a nation, you can choose. Based on the sunny yellow, we prefer to think of it positively, like a high school graduation. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Here it is again! It seems that Sticker Maul took to heart Optimo’s THE END message above. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
But if this unidentified artist’s message proves correct, the end will be sooner than we’d like. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mort Art adds to the conversation, especially after the dangerous air quality of the last few weeks due to the wildfires in Canada. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
This news makes me HOMESICK. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A bit of love from HekTad proves to be restorative. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mat Lakas (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Savior El Mundo tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat on the facade of his old studio which was owned by Andy Warhol but leased to JMB. During a very busy week news-wise, it was announced that Angelina Jolie signed an eight-year lease to run a sustainable atelier from the building. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Queensbridge represent! Nas by Paolo Tolentino (photo © Jaime Rojo)
2DX (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Talia Lempert. Individual Activist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Looks like we are going to have to do a lot more of this. Mike King (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Lunge Box (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Smurfo/Big808 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sinth Node (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jappy Agoncillo does a great tribute to Mac Miller(photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A message from Neckface. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Lasak Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Summer 2023. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 05.07.23

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.07.23

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!

Style Wars! A new interpretation of it is blazoned across the Houston Wall thanks to Optimo NYC, who is rather owning it recently. This free-wheeling ever changing magnet for attention in a very gentrified Manhattan cheers the fans of true graffiti almost daily right now, buffeted by the roar of traffic and the occasional rock band playing in front of it.

The many flavors of New York street art and graffiti are everywhere – in community murals speaking about mental health, aerosol tags in doorways, in wheatpasted poems on subway columns, in soldiered sculptures on the sides of parking signs. New Yorkers love to be expressive, and in general, indulge one another’s imperfect ways of doing it. There is usually someone who is crowing about the golden age of New York, and who can deny one person’s perspective. Ever the optimists, we see the changes, the losses, the gains, and the free-wheeling spirit alive on the streets, and we think New York is having a golden age right now.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: EVOL, Cey Adams, Giani NYC, No Sleep, Mort Art, JDL, Optimo NYC, Chris RWK, SEIMR, RUTHE, Scott McDonald, Sawr, Tymon De Laat, Amill Onair, Sherwin Banfield, and David H. Wagner.

Optimo NYC continues the Houston/Bowery Wall takeover with Giani NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
…and the Williamsburg Bridge for that matter… Optimo NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)
EVOL (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Chris RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
JDL’s mural detail with tag. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Profound musings from David H. Wagner (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Surely, the press will tirelessly get to the bottom of any misdeeds our elected officials commit and reveal them to the citizenry. Especially all of those guests gathered around tables sharing a great meal and a glittering night of chummy comedic camaraderie at the White House Correspondents Dinner this week. #whoprotectsmefromyou (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Queens-based artist Sherwin Banfield’s sculpture tribute to Biggie reigns supreme this spring at Clumber Corner in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Timed perfectly to coincide with the many celebrations this year of the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop, the interactive installation is a nine-foot structure made of stainless steel and bronze boasting the likeness of Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G” Wallace, also known as Biggie Smalls. Yes, that’s an actual CD implanted into the sculpture, and you can listen to his music coming from the speakers. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sherwin Banfield’s sculpture tribute to Biggie. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sherwin Banfield’s sculpture tribute to Biggie. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cey Adams (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist’s tribute to James Roosevelt Stokes, a Brooklyn man whose online obituary says “James was a lovable and fun person and was known as the “unifier”. He wanted everyone to be happy. He was instrumental in uniting the Dean Street Neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY.”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Amilli Onair (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tymon De Laat in Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Scott McDonald and Sawr in Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mort Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
SEIMR RUTHE (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Manhattan Bridge. NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 09.26.21

BSA Images Of The Week: 09.26.21

The Harvest Moon flooded New York skies three nights this week as we welcomed the fall equinox and we all stared up at the sky and the Koreans ate mooncakes and the tensions on the street seemed to tighten and then release. There is a fresh new hell of a Covid vaccine fight threatening staffing at hospitals, but luckily this week food delivery workers successfully fought for and won better conditions from a parasitic app/restaurant system that extracted their labor and gave precious little back in return. Schools opened and we’ve ducked a few good storms; the Italian Catholics are celebrating the Feast of San Gennaro and the Hasidic Jews are celebrating in those small sukkah buildings all around some neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

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.

Jerkface gave his double Mickey Mouse a face lift. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Clown Soldier (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cash Poor 907 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mort Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Rambo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Seibot (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Drecks (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Drecks (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Drecks (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Drecks (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Drecks (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Little Ricky (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Diva Dogla (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Fatjak (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Smet Sky (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Font 147 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Erre says “Come Mierda” (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Goblin (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Praxis (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cheak (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sinclair The Vandal (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Goog (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Last day of Summer. Brooklyn, NYC. September 2021. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 06.27.21

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.27.21

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! These are the beautiful long summer days that we all wait for. As New York frees itself from the shackles of Covid and our cloistered lives alone the sense of freedom to explore our city and commune with its fabulous chaos is sweeter still. But suddenly restaurants can’t sell you a bottle of booze, so maybe we also will stop seeing sidewalk sales of cocktails as well. Of course with legal weed in New York, people will still be strange and slightly hallucinated and punching random other New Yorkers, no doubt.

When it comes to freewheeling handmade one of a kind art in the public sphere, we still follow the beat on the street.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Drecks, Le Crue, Mirs Monstrengo, Modomatic, Mort Art, SacSix, SMiLE, Sticker Maul, and TV Head ATX.

Unidentified artist. Plaster sculpture. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist. Plaster sculpture. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Le Crue for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Le Crue for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Le Crue for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sac Six (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
TV Head ATX center with Sticker Maul on the left and Modomatic on the right. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Modomatic codex. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Modomatic codex. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mort Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
SMiLE (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Drecks and Mirs Monstrengo collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Dallas, TX. June 2021. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 06.13.21

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.13.21

Last week we brought you the first annual Jersey City Mural Festival with generously scaled murals and unbridled color. Muralism isn’t new but mural festivals are now a dominant vehicle or platform of expression on the streets where artists get up and create community. We have always championed the cause of the artist and cheer when they are given the opportunity to work – better even if they get properly paid for the work that they do.

That said, we still admire the small, uncommissioned, one-off pieces, and we’ve always documented that in whatever city we go to: In a way, that is what we actually consider to be street art. Unsanctioned and undercover, you’ll discover the most curious missives as you hike from mural to mural. Don’t miss them! Enjoy.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 7 Souls Deep, Adrian Wilson, Below Key, Drecks, Early Riser NYC, Ghaston Art, Hiss, Lunge Box, Miyok, Modomatic, Mort Art, Night Owl, Outer Source, Timothy Goodman, Tyler Ives, and Turtle Caps.

Timothy Goodman (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Timothy Goodman (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Modomatic (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Modomatic (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Modomatic (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Modomatic (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Adrian Wilson with The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Drecks (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Drecks (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Drecks (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Lunge Box and 7 Souls Deep on the right. This isn’t a collab. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hiss (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tyler Ives (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tyler Ives (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ghaston Art with Mort Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Early Riser NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Miyok (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Outer Source, Night Owl, Below Key (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Outer Source, Night Owl, Below Key, Turtle Caps (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Outer Source, Night Owl, Turtle Caps (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Punk New Yorker. Spring 2021. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 05.30.21

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.30.21

New York is crushing it right now.

The volume of Street Art has picked up full steam with more graffiti on walls than many OG graff fans can remember were on the trains in the 80s. Competition for spots large and small is more fierce than a Saturday afternoon rush at the nail salon. The quantity of pieces and tags and stencils ebbs and flows, as does the quality and freshness. But looking at it as you walk makes you feel like New York street and cultural life is in full bloom. Large-scale and small, the works appear like mushrooms popping up in the urban forest after a late-spring rain storm.

In other news, we’re really digging the miniatures of New York life made by artist Danny Cortes, the 1980s NYC train writer Futura is evolving himself into light fixture design with new works in a Noguchi Museum show (plus new collaborations with Comme des Garçons and Uniqlo), and Tesla’s Elon Musk is looking for “awesome graffiti” to adorn his company’s new mega-factory in Berlin. Let’s see how many graffiti and street artists get trampled in the stampede to “sell out”! Go Bro! Go Sis! Just don’t lecture us on heavy topics like gentrification, or the sullying of “our culture” by arrivistes. Yawn.

Let’s take to the streets, no?

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Conse, D. Scribblings, Damien Mitchel, False, Fhake, Kest Gak, Lorenzo Masnah, Matt Siren, Menace Resa, Michael Zelehoski, Mint & Serf, Mort Art, Royce Bannon, Shiro, Smells, Swif, The Yit Foreward, Toxic, UFO 907, and Zexor.

FALSE (photo © Jaime Rojo)
FALSE and SWIF (photo © Jaime Rojo)
TOXIC (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mint & Serf (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Shiro (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Menace Resa (photo © Jaime Rojo)
“Miguelito” by Michael Zelehoski (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This wooden sculpture installed in McCarren Park in Williamsburg is made from recycled wood from boarded-up windows. It will remain in place until October 2021.

“Miguelito” by Michael Zelehoski (photo © Jaime Rojo)
“Miguelito” by Michael Zelehoski (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The Yit Forward (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Act Like You Know by an unidentifed artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Masnah (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Masnah (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Fhake (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Zexor (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Damien Mitchell (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Conse (photo © Jaime Rojo)
D. Scribblings (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mort Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Royce Bannon. Matt Siren (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Kest Gak (photo © Jaime Rojo)
UFO907 Smells (photo © Jaime Rojo)
I Love You Always Too! (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 05.23.21

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.23.21

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week, where we are keeping our minds expanded and eyes wide open as the transformation of society and its fabric is happening right before us. We’re living in a bubble, or on one – an everything bubble at the end of a boomer age that will pop. Institutions compromised, media compromised, social net torn, leaders purchased and adrift. Late spring romanticism buoys us, as does the removal of masks out doors and sometimes inside them. New York is back, but its not sure.

And Jerome Powell finally announced that the dollar is in the gallows – or will rather be once he has successfully inflated to its ultimate death. No, we have no advice – No one is listening anyway.


So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring: Aaron Hauck, Bastard Bot, Goog, Matt Siren, Mel, Mort Art, Neckface, Royce Bannon, Sac Sic, Samantha French, Stay Busy, Stikman, TNAW, and Winston Tseng.

Royce Bannon and Mat Siren. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Stikman and an unidentified artist above. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Winston Tseng (photo © Jaime Rojo)

These two images are part of Winston’s new series, we’ll talk about this new series later on BSA.

Winston Tseng (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Goog (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mort Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sac Six (photo © Jaime Rojo)
TNAW (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Stay Busy! (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bastard Bot (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Neck Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)
MEL for East Village Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Aaron Hauck and Samantha French for O+ Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
This spot previously had a Banksy inspired “Stop Asian Hate” mural. The mural has now morphed into this. We aren’t sure if Adrian Wilson, the artist who made the original mural has anything to do with this new concept. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Saver (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untiled. Trees. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 04.11.21

BSA Images Of The Week: 04.11.21

This week we received a note from a friend in the graff/street art community urging us to encourage street and graffiti artists to create artwork on the streets that beseeches GenZ to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

They needn’t worry.

Graffiti and street artists have continued to respond to the COVID mask and vaccine issues as much as they did with the rejection of Trump and everything that came with him. During the last few years, they also have strongly responded to the BLM movement, to the topic of police brutality, to structural inequality in our economy, to last fall’s election, to indigenous people’s rights, to Asian hate, LGBTQ rights, to drug use, to anxiety, to depression, to love, to hope, to our effect on the Earth’s environment, and many social/political issues. Not always high-minded, Street artists also like pop culture icons, cute animals, and emulating successful artists who came before them and whom they admire.

It’s all part of the gig.

When we hit the streets in the pursuit of arts, we never know what we’ll find and where we’ll find it. This week we were surprised by a certain uptick in the number of sculptures on the streets. The artists used different materials, from ceramic to resin, metal, cement, and techniques associated with papier-mâché. The sculptures were mostly affixed to traffic signposts but sometimes were placed on street construction barriers. We are always happy to see sculptures on the streets as they bring back the days when sanctioned murals were definitely not the norm, and illegal street art ruled the streets in myriad small formats.

So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring: A Cool 55, AJ Maldo, Billy Barnacles, Chris Protas, City Kitty, CRKSHNK, JJ Veronis, Mataruda, Miyok Madness, Mint & Serf, Mort Art, Mr. Triple Double, Patrick Picou Harrington, Phetus, Raddington Falls, Sibot, Spy33, Turtle Caps, Winston Tseng.

Oh Sailor boy! Seibot (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Raddington Falls (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Raddington Falls (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mort Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mint & Serf (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Spy33 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Chris Protas (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Winston Tseng (photo © Jaime Rojo)
JJ Veronis. Mr. Triple Double (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A portrait of Mr. Beyonce AKA Jay-Z by an unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
CRKSHNK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
AJ Maldo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
City Kitty and Turtle Caps (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Billy Barnacles (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A Cool 55 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Miyok Madness. Rose time is almost here peeps!! (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Phetus (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mataruda in Kingston, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
“Hey baby give me a kiss” JJ Veronis (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Patrick Picou in Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Manhattan, NY. April 2021. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 04.04.21

BSA Images Of The Week: 04.04.21

Happy Easter to all the Christians! Happy end of Passover to the Jews! – and welcome to a new spring of spiking daffodiles and spiking Covid cases in New York City even while the age for vaccinations drops to 16 this week. The graffiti and Street Art is blossoming under bridges and in empty lots, as are the much needed $1400 checks and PPP loans are blossoming as well. They are meant to keep us all barely above water, which is where many New Yorkers are financially.

Maybe the trillions that Biden and Yellen and the banksters are suddenly printing will lift us, or maybe instead they’ll just trigger hyperinflation so your savings will be worth ever less? Perhaps we could require corporations and the rich to pay their fair share of taxes – or any at all? Secular heresy to suggest such a thing!

Ahhhh, but the streets! They are still alive and well, and budding with small hand-made one-off pieces, multiples, and murals. Not quite a renaissance, but we are seeing a sincere march forward by all many of artistry in the shadows and in the broad daylight, even as Rome appears to languish.

So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring: Bastard Bot, Billy Barnacles, Captain Eyeliner, Cucker Tarlson, Jesse Kreuzer, Kiki the Fox, Lunge Box, Mort Art, Nicholai Kahn, Nite Owl, NY State of Mind, Praxis VGZ, Puke Punk, SacSix, Trades Only Bro, and Urban Russian Doll NYC.

Billy Barnacles (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Praxis (photo © Jaime Rojo)
404 Error On The Wall (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Captain Eyeliner (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Trades Only Bro (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Lunge Box (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Captain Eyeliner (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Puke Punk (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cucker Tarlson U.S.A. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Only Jesus (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Nite Owl (photo © Jaime Rojo)
NY State Of Mind (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bastard Bot (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
This isn’t graffiti, the tags are. But the logo is vintage. Jolt Cola was introduced in the USA market in 1985. It was the first highly-caffeinated/carbonated soft drink at the time. Their demo was all individuals that needed to stay up late at night like students, young professionals and the likes. The drink is no longer in production. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jesse Kreuzer is a lifelong artist (he received an MFA from Cornell in 2016). In addition to painting, he makes videos, sculpture and performance pieces, and yet, “I usually feel like an outsider to the art world.” In fact, during this year’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations, one of his Diego Rivera–inspired murals painted on plywood used to protect the Whitney Museum of Art was summarily removed. “There is a certain irony here,” he wrote in New Politics, “since the current exhibit is about the Mexican muralists and their influence on American painters.” – PRINT – Jesse Kreuzer (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mort Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Nicholai Kahn (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Urban Russian Doll and Kiki The Fox for East Village Walls (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Magnolia tree in bloom. Spring 2021. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 03.21.21

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.21.21

Nowruz Mubarak! Happy Persian New Year to all the New York neighbors who celebrate it. Also, Happy Spring! Did you think it would never arrive? Already the birds are chirping in the trees, and the crocus is popping up from beneath the garbage and dog crap. That guy who lives downstairs named Manny and his brother are washing their car on the curb while blasting a mix from Marley Marl & Red Alert at top volume for the block to enjoy. All the while, there is a colorful parade of young bucks and shorties who are strutting around the neighborhood with big eyes and a burning flame of hope in their hearts.

Another reason Brooklyn is feeling hopeful is the announcement Friday by Chuck Schumer saying that New York is to get 1.6 million COVID shots every week thanks to a ‘vaccine supercharge.’ One year after the sounds of ambulances filled the air and refrigerator trucks became mobile morgues on Brooklyn streets, people are eagerly running to pharmacies and Yankee Stadium and Citi Field to get the shot.

New Yorkers are also taking to the streets to protest Anti-Asian discrimination and violence locally and nationally. Many point to Trump’s use of the term “Chinese Virus” repeatedly in the last year as a direct causal relationship to increased acts of prejudice. But once again, New Yorkers know how to re-enforce the message: “United we stand, divided we fall.” As a New Yorker and as a person, it makes you feel proud.

Finally, street art is popping off in all kinds of stylistic and thematic directions this week – from the secular American saint, Dolly Parton, posed as a vaccine nurse by SacSix, to Sticker Maul’s Priority Mail collages, to Winston Tseng’s subtle and damning phone booth campaign of Walmart and McDonald’s workers who represent our formerly middle-class neighbors who are paid so little that they actually qualify for food stamps.

So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring: Almost Over Keep Smiling, City Kitty, D7606, Damien Mitchell, Ethan Minsker, Invader, LET, Matt Siren, Mort Art, NET, Rambo, Raw Raffle, Royce Bannon, SacSix, Sara Lynne Leo, Sticker Maul, Tram, Voxx Romana, and Winston Tseng.

SacSix (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Damien Mitchell (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Winston Tseng (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sara Lynne-Leo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Almost Over Keep Smiling (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tram (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sticker Maul (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sticker Maul (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Rambo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mort Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A Cat called LET (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ethan Minsker (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Matt Siren . Royce Bannon (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Raw Raffe (photo © Jaime Rojo)
City Kitty. Vox Romana. D7606 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Daniel Mastrion (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. March 2021.(photo © Jaime Rojo)
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