MOCA members are invited for the opening of
Art in the Streets, the first major U.S. museum survey of the
history of graffiti and
street art presented in the
United States. Enjoy performances by the stars of the classic hip-hop film
Wild Style—
Busy Bee and the
Cold Crush Brothers with
Grandmaster Caz—and the award-winning B-Boy crew from Los Angeles,
Killafornia.
Art in the Streets will showcase installations by 50 of the most dynamic artists from the
graffiti and
street art community, including
Banksy (London),
Fab 5 Freddy (New York),
Lee Quiñones (New York),
Futura (New York),
Margaret Kilgallen (San Francisco),
Swoon (New York),
Shepard Fairey (Los Angeles),
Os Gemeos (São Paulo), and
JR (Paris). MOCA’s exhibition will emphasize
Los Angeles’s role in the evolution of
graffiti and
street art, with special sections dedicated to
cholo graffiti and
Dogtown skateboard culture. The exhibition will feature works by influential local artists such as
Craig R. Stecyk III, Chaz Bojórquez, Mister Cartoon, Robbie Conal, RETNA, SABER, REVOK, and
RISK. A special
emphasis will be placed on
photographers and
filmmakers who
documented graffiti and
street art culture including
Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant, James Prigoff, Steve Grody, Gusmano Cesaretti, Estevan Oriol, Ed Templeton, Larry Clark, Terry Richardson, and
Spike Jonze. A comprehensive timeline illustrated with
artwork, photography, video, and ephemera will provide further historical context for the exhibition.
Art in the Streets will feature several
shows within the show. There will be a special section dedicated to the
Fun Gallery, which connected
New York graffiti artists with the
downtown art community in the early 1980s. Co-curated by gallery founder
Patti Astor, the Fun Gallery installation will feature the work of
Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and
the graffiti artists who shaped the gallery’s history. A section dedicated to the seminal film
Wild Style (1983), co-curated by the film’s director
Charlie Ahearn, will document its influence on the global dissemination of
graffiti and hip-hop culture. The exhibition will also feature a memorial presentation of
Battle Station, a
rarely seen work by
legendary artist and theorist RAMMELLZEE, and a display of graffiti black books and other historic works from the
Martin Wong Collection presented in collaboration with the
Museum of the City of New York. A highlight of the exhibition will be a
Los Angeles version of Street Market, a re-creation of an urban street complete with overturned trucks by
Todd James, Barry McGee, and
Steve Powers.The exhibition will open with
a skate ramp designed by pro-skater
Lance Mountain and artist
Geoff McFetridge. Skate demonstrations by the Nike SB skate team will be held on Thursday and Saturday afternoons.
“Art in the Streets will be the first exhibition to position the work of the most influential artists to emerge from street culture in the context of contemporary art history,” said
MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch. “This quintessentially urban and dynamic partnership between the
Brooklyn Museum and
MOCA began with the 2005 Brooklyn-organized exhibition of the work of
Jean-Michel Basquiat, the consummate American street artist of his generation; continued with the MOCA-organized
©MURAKAMI in 2007, defining critical elements of worldwide street art; and now culminates with a groundbreaking exhibition devoted entirely to street art and graffiti,” said
Brooklyn Museum Director Arnold L. Lehman. “The partnership has, in itself, provided a major record of public art over the past half century.”
Art in the Streets is organized by
Jeffrey Deitch and associate curators
Roger Gastman and
Aaron Rose. Gastman is the author of
The History of American Graffiti, which will be released in April 2011, and was a consulting producer on the film
Exit Through The Gift Shop. Rose curated the exhibition
Beautiful Losers and
directed the related documentary film. Ethel Seno, editor of
Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art, is the curatorial coordinator of the exhibition. The Brooklyn Museum’s presentation will be organized by Managing Curator of Exhibitions
Sharon Matt Atkins.ART ART IN THE STREETS Catalogue - A comprehensive catalogue on the history of graffiti and street art published by
Skira Rizzoli and edited by
Nikki Columbus, former associate editor of
Artforum, will accompany the exhibition. The book traces the birth and dissemination of styles through the stories of graffiti writers and street artists all over the world. It features a foreword by Deitch and essays by
Carlo McCormick, Greg Tate, and
Diedrich Diederichsen. It also features interviews and discussions with influential street artists about
wild style, cholo graffiti, and the art that emerged from
skate and
punk subcultures. Additional contributors include
Fab 5 Freddy, KET, Caleb Neelon, Lydia Yee, Kathy Grayson, Cheech Marin, Bill Daniel, and
Hiroshi Fujiwara. The book was designed by
Conny Purtill, whose previous projects include
Barry McGee: The Buddy System and Beautiful Losers.Related Education and Community Outreach
An extensive program of educational and community workshops will complement the exhibition. As part of its exhibition sponsorship and ongoing community collaboration initiative,
Levi’s® will host the
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA, offering a diverse schedule of programming that celebrates the craft of filmmaking and explores the exhibition’s subject matter. Access to the Levi’s® Film Workshop’s resources is open to all and free of charge. A special version of Associate Curator
Aaron Rose’s Make Something!! educational project will also be presented at various Los Angeles high schools. Art in the Streets will include a graffiti and street art film festival presented in collaboration with the
Cinefamily, and music and dance programs featuring some of the originators of hip-hop and break dancing.
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