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Street Art at MOCA
How Jeffrey Deitch convinced an outlaw art movement to show itself for the landmark retrospective “Art in the Streets”
But nothing good is easy, and despite all the challenges, “Art in the Streets” will be beautiful: Mr. Cartoon’s stunning, candy-colored ice cream truck; the reinvention of Twist, Reas and Espo’s hand-lettered sign explosion called “Street Market”; the towering Os Gemeos murals; Revok’s heaven; the reconstruction of the late, great Margaret Kilgallen’s final installation; and new collaborative murals — all in one spot. It’s visually exhausting just to imagine it.
One surprise that even the curators are looking forward to is the fabrication of hip-hop eccentric Rammellzee’s fabled Tribeca loft, an art studio he named the “Battle Zone.” For the last 20 years of his life, only close associates had access to this artistic treasure trove. Fans of his far-out costumes, mathematical sketches and futuristic sculpture are hoping for insight into the reclusive genius’ inspiration.
ART IN THE STREETS, THE GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY AT MOCA, PHOTOS BY GREGORY BOJORQUEZ, COURTESY OF MOCA
Stelios, from Cyprus
ART IN THE STREETS, THE GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY AT MOCA, PHOTOS BY GREGORY BOJORQUEZ, COURTESY OF MOCA
ROA, from Belgium
“It’s absolutely amazing,” Deitch says. “If you ask me the single most exceptional thing about the show, that’s it. Because this has been hidden. ... He’s right up there with Basquiat and Haring. Hardly anyone ever got into the studio to see what he was doing. He was a very difficult guy.”
While “Art in the Streets” is headed to the Brooklyn Museum after its Los Angeles debut, the curators have rightly concentrated on L.A. as a particular artistic force within the street-art movement — something that won’t change as the show moves East. It’s no mistake that the 30-foot mural that greets you immediately as you enter the exhibit is by the legendary Bojorquez, a representative of the iconic West Coast cholo hand style of graffiti.
“Estevan, Gusmano, Retna, we all come from the same mother, different fathers: L.A.,” Bojorquez says. “This is just bringing everything into focus and starting the dialogue that the city and the world really needs.”
This week, the street-art world will be focused on Los Angeles, a city whose sprawling billboard culture has made it an ideal canvas for renegade artists trying to brand themselves. Where else but the city whose artistic keystone is a collection of DIY towers down in Watts, or one with its own giant tag — “Hollywood” — permanently affixed to a hillside?
“I’m not surprised that ‘Art in the Streets,’ the first show of its kind, is happening in L.A. and not N.Y.,” Quinones says, giving props. “It took fresh eyes and minds to make it happen.”
Of course, one of those minds and two of those bespectacled eyes belong to a transplanted New Yorker. “I would have figured out a way to do it even if I wasn’t here at MOCA,” Deitch says. Yet the opportunity only came about after Deitch packed his bags and headed West, like so many dreamers before him.
“This is a show that I’ve always wanted to do,” he adds. “It was a show that needed to be done. And this is not the only show. This is only the beginning.”
36 comments
I wonder how you were able to post a comment without using the coroorate whores who made every little thing you use daily, you punk poser. If you like art then look and admire, if you dont than say so...life is not about hating corporations all the time. Pick your battles man, we all need a nickle to live on.
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BLU Why is it not in this exhibition?The art of the street would there be limits to freedom of expression?The art market would he hard to integrate the work of producing meaning, beyond the agreed upon?
The episode in December 2010 at MOCA is quickly evacuated, I think …http://next.liberation.fr/cult...
I’ll go see the work of BLU in the streets, keep your tools speculation museumFor more news, soon: http://ecritique-revue.over-bl...
A +Sabine
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[incorrect event name listed dept.] APRIL IS JAZZ APPRECIATION MONTH!
Thurs. Apr. 28th - Special TRIPLE signature "Companion Events" Jammin Foundation & Linda Morgan, Ms. SmoothAhead Jazz Presents: HONORING -6PM CHARLES OWENS "Sensei Maestro" & DOLORES PETERSEN - A.Pro-Advocate Rep.
SHOWCASE: And OPEN MIC / JAM: "Welcome Home" And JAM w/ D'z "Lady & Gentlemen" In-House Live Jazz Trio "redoubtable jazz vets" Karen HERNANDEZ & Tony DUMAS · Ralph PENLAND
7PM SHOWCASE: feat. "Woodwindist" FUASI ABDUL-KHALIQ visiting from Germany, "Special" Guest Co-Host JEFFREY WINSTON - Jazz Historian, Philantropist, writer8PM (sign-up 7:30PM) OPEN MIC / JAM: "heavy surprise guests" "stellar assortment of top-flight jazz musicians" Guest Co-Host "Young Lion" RANDAL FISHER - Intern/s DOLORES PETERSEN Presents: @ HSB&G 6122-6124 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood
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"If you choose to do art paid for by an institution, you have to play nice."
That pretty much sums up why there's a Nike skateramp, but no Blu anti-war mural at the MOCA show. Exit through the gift shop, indeed.
[unlisted dept.] SHOWCASE: And OPEN MIC / JAM: Thurs. Apr. 21st, 7:00pm And 8:00pm (sign-up 7:30pm) "Companion Events" (entertainment/music - instrumentalists/vocalists)SHOWCASE: Fundraiser - SOCIETY OF SINGERS - Deborah ASH, Synthia HARDY, Cara Lee PENDLEBURY, Polly PODEWELL, Sherwood SLEDGE, Chris SMITH "Sing SOS And JAM..."OPEN MIC / JAM: D'z "Lady & Gentlemen" In-House Live Jazz Trio "Master" accompanist/improv-musicians Karen HERNANDEZ - Music Director/p & Tony DUMAS - b • Ralph PENLAND - d, (multi-genre - Blues, Jazz, Latin, Pop...) DOLORES PETERSEN Presents: @ HSB&G 6122-6124 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood
[completely related listing dept.] APRIL IS JAZZ APPRECIATION MONTH! SHOWCASE: And OPEN MIC / JAM: Thurs. Apr. 21st, 7:00pm And 8:00pm (sign-up 7:30pm) "Companion Events" (entertainment/music - instrumentalists/vocalists)SHOWCASE: Fundraiser - SOCIETY OF SINGERS - Deborah ASH, Synthia HARDY, Cara Lee PENDLEBURY, Polly PODEWELL, Sherwood SLEDGE, Chris SMITH "Sing SOS And JAM..."OPEN MIC / JAM: D'z "Lady & Gentlemen" In-House Live Jazz Trio "Master" accompanist/improv-musicians Karen HERNANDEZ - Music Director/p & Tony DUMAS - b • Ralph PENLAND - d, (multi-genre - Blues, Jazz, Latin, Pop...) DOLORES PETERSEN Presents: @ HSB&G 6122-6124 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH1111...Outlaws?..........HAHAHAHAHAHAH......more like corporate faggots ...
This is right up L.A's whitewashed alley. Fucking street artists? More like commercial prostitutes...
Revok expressed "disdain" for indoor shows...But this one's cool...Different...it's cool... This hack, like the rest of his cronies with their redundant hit ups. Grey village grey walls..same shit over and over...
Lets talk Slick..handed his ass by HEX in 91"...this BITER is a joke....his plagerism and straight up intellectual property theft is as bad as..
Scene 1 OBEY (downloading internet image)
...it's an experiment in redundancy...did you buy a shirt..."
BANKSY (doing online banking)
...no, but these sheep will buy anything...lets sell them an "aerosoul outlaw"...in stores now!!!
Regurgitated images screaming no talent. Screaming capitalism...
Lets hope to cash whores that SEEN is somewhere to be found.
this is completely incoherent. evidence that people who are up on this stuff tend to be well, idiots.
I am so excited to travel from the east coast to west coast to see this show! I as a artist working with street art want to know more about the history of the exciting work I see on the streets. Congrats on your institution for supporting this great art movement and putting in the spotlight. Joycehillstudio.com
Play Deitch for a day by 'approving' or 'disapproving' the street art of LA for yourself. Learn how at http://moca-latte.org and get a free batch of stickers.
Really...you are the exact sort of ignorant trend whore that this exhibit is geared to.
Graffiti is on the street for the public to see
Only difference is you douche bags that want it painted over when its on your wall.
Send up a shout for Tony Silver's 1982 "breakthrough" documentary, Style Wars, regarded as the best hip hop film ever made. The film will be screened in the Art in the Streets in its entirety as well as favorite scenes.
White washing over BLU's mural was not simply an act of artistic censorship it was an act of political censorship. If BLU had created a pro-war mural there would have been no white washing and no controversy. By meekly accepting the destruction of BLU's work, the LA art community is endorsing the notion that anti-war art must ride in the back of the bus if it is allowed to ride at all.
It wasn't about being pro or anti-war, the reason it was buffed was out of respect for the residents in the neighborhood. Across the way from the mural is the "Go for Broke" monument which commemorates the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, they were Nisei - American-born sons of Japanese immigrants who fought during WWII. Simply put, it was a poor choice in judgement on Blu's part. He didn't bother to research where he was painting.
Did Deitch hold a community meeting and ask anyone if they were offended? How about the fact that MOCA sits on the very spot where Japanese were shipped off to internment camps? How about THAT for censorship? I am positive that blu knew exactly what he was doing, that wall looks directly at the VA where many of the vets there would most likely have agreed with blu's statement and Dept. of Homeland Security where people are deported from - but hey, you can become a US citizen if you join the military!
“We are working with brands that are already a huge part of this world,” Rose adds. “It is a very organic fit. They are companies who have invested heavily in street culture for years.”
Corporate marketing parasites.
This weak show rides on the tail of San Diego and others. It's hardly a first.
http://www.mcasd.org/exhibitio...
Street art is / can be radical explicitly because it stays in the street, defying what's public / private and sanctioned.
Once it moves into a museum / mausoleum, sanitized for quick grab sales in the MOCA gift shop ("Art in the Streets" mouse pads! key chains! ski masks!), it's immediately neutered.
[listing dept.] "April is JAZZ Appreciation Month"
SHOWCASE: And OPEN MIC / JAM: Thurs. Apr. 14th, 7:00pm And 8:00pm (sign-up 7:30pm) "Companion Events" (multi-genre, vocalists/instrumentalists)SHOWCASE: Pro-Vocalist - SHARON STANLEY "She's Bold & Beautiful" And JAMs...OPEN MIC / JAM: D'z "Lady & Gentlemen" In-House Live Jazz Trio - "Master" accompanist/improv-musiciansKaren HERNANDEZ - Music Director/piano & Tony DUMAS - bass • Ralph PENLAND - drums DOLORES PETERSEN Presents: @ HSB&G 6122-6124 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood
How can Deitch characterize BLU's mural as "undermining the whole show" when he approved the design? It makes no sense. Deitch lost his balls or got a call but I guarantee no one else doing art in that show saw that mural as "undermining" anything. Liar and coward.
What a bunch of bullshit. If you are commissioned to do a mural you have to "play nice"? Street art has never been about playing nice. How about we call Deitch's decision to white out Blu's mural what it was? CENSORSHIP.
Just want to mention that in October 2010 the National Gallery of Australia put on a large scale show of Australian street art, especially focusing on the explosion of stencil art and wheatpasting that occurred around 2004-2006. The exhibit has just closed in Canberra, and is currently showing in Brisbane, and opens in Melbourne later in 2011.
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