An impromptu mid-sized style meeting of talented graffiti writers hit up an industrial block in Bushwick last week and we’re lucky to have these fresh pieces for you today.
Locals, out-of-towners, and international visitors brought letterstyles full of spring energy, adding classic and fresh new licks together for a proper BK jam. It’s always good to see talents like these getting together to write on walls, paying tribute to their peers and catching up with old friends.
Happy Easter, fool.
JK it’s also April Fools Day but we know you are no fool amiright?
This week we are going all graffiti for our Images of the Week section, and most of it is on Brooklyn roofs. So we’re giving a high five to tulips, daffodils, forsythia, hyacinths, ducklings, robins singing, Sunday dinner with your moms or pops, the hat parade on 5th Avenue, chocolate rabbits, and graffiti pieces on the roof. Here’s hoping for warm weather, a new colorful season, and excitement coming back to the streets of the city.
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Aneko, Asult (2DX), Baer, (BTR), Bishop203, Curve, Distort, Egs, EWOK, False, Home, Jins, Kider, Low Brow, Minus, MQ, Nerds, RELS, Sear, SEN, and Trace.
With special thanks to Stephen Kelley for his expertise and inspiration.
We ran into BSA contributor Stephen Kelley on the streets of Brooklyn and he informed us of his impending move for greener pastures and bigger dwellings to accommodate the yet to arrive new member of the family (congratulations buddy). At the same time we invited us to his rooftop where he has been hosting writers, locals and forefingers to get up on the perfect canvases that are the squares that house the rooftop staircase exit. We hereby dedicate today’s Images Of The Week to the graff writers….STEVE keep waxing poetic…
By James Prigoff
I have been documenting Norman Vogue and Mike “BAM” Tyau’s Spraycan painting for thirty years. It was evident in the early days of West Coast “writing” that the two of them and their crews had very special talent.
Following their work over the years brought me to the Wrist Ship Supply building in West Oakland yesterday.
Modern Graffiti Art started on the East Coast with simple tags and evolved over the years until it became the most significant art form of the last forty years. In the evolution, part of the art form became Street Art and today is entitled Urban Art. The variety of imagery would fill endless books, light years away from what once were known as Graffiti Masterpieces.
The mural that these artists have created, “West Side is the Best Side”, is historically important for many reasons and I think it has an significant place among the art form’s historical images for these reasons;
It is technically very proficient as an example of how sophisticated the use of the spray can has become.
It pays tribute to a few of the most important writers to develop on the West Coast, particularly an iconic young R.I.P who wrote DREAM.
It is a classic in that it goes back to the roots of name writing and characters.
It celebrates the train writing that brightened the drab railroad cars and became a vehicle to send the “writer’s” name to distant cities.
Put it all together and they have created a very special piece of art, far more so than the average eye would perceive.
Sage coordinated the deal at first and got all the scissor/boom lifts for the artists to use and coordinated daily operations early on. Jase, King157, Sear & Done/TDK all painted their pieces within one day. Vogue painted his & Dream’s throwies all within one day also. The “Schmoe” piece was painted by Done on the caboose in memory of him since he passed away in a car accident back in July and he was a part of the TDK crew.
I’ve told Sage to help us file this at the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest train mural.
(Continued credits continue at the end of posting)
In addition to Bryan “DERP,” three other interns who worked on the mural include Thavin Rajanakhan, Thitiwat Phromratanapongse, and Dominic Cheng
“We would not have been able to complete the first half of this mural without these guys,” say Vogue and Bam, who wish to express their gratitude to everyone and especially to the interns.
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BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
