No “Art in the Streets” for Brooklyn Museum: New York Changes Mind About Street Art Show
We've just been forwarded an email sent by the Brooklyn Museum to a street artist in the "Art in the Streets" show, currently on view at the MOCA. The Brooklyn Museum was scheduled to be the next shop in the show's tour, but that's no more.
Read the letter from Brooklyn Museum Director Arnold Lehman below:
I am writing with the unfortunate news the Brooklyn Museum must withdraw as the second venue for "Art in the Streets." I asked our curator, Sharon Matt Atkins, for your email address so that you might hear this news directly from me.
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2 Artists, 2 Coasts, Both in Jail for Graffiti
Left, LA II, right, Revok. (images via dnainfo.com & ballerstatus.com)
As LA’s MOCA tries to give graffiti and street art their moment in the Southern California sun, in New York
LA II, aka Angel Ortiz, and in Los Angeles,
Revok, aka Jason Williams, are in jail for doing the art they love.
While LA II, who is best known as a collaborator of Keith Haring, has quietly languished at Riker’s Island prison, Revok’s arrest and subsequent sentencing has been accompanied by a vocal outcry from his comrades and fans, including Shepard Fairey, who
issued a poster last week to raise money for his legal defense fund.
The debate about graffiti and street art and its role in a democratic and free society is sure to rage on as the artists associated with the art form continue to make waves by openly challenging vandalism laws. The whole phenomenon is strangely reminiscent of the emergence of hip hop in the 1980s and 90s, when artists (and their handlers) often parlayed criminal charges into more publicity and fame for the artist.
The largest question is do artists have — or should they have — a right to create art on public property or the property of others.
The Twitterverse has been very vocal about its anger regarding Revok’s arrest.
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Graffiti Vandalism Follows ‘Art in the Streets’ Show at MOCA in Little Tokyo
Police have received complaints from downtown dwellers about an increase in vandalism they think is related to MOCA's upcoming "Art in the Streets" show at the Geffen Contemporary.
It's not clear to us if residents and business owners have a problem with some of the clearly related murals that have gone up in the area or some of the tagging that has followed. But either way, it's all illegal, the LAPD's Jack Richter tells the Weekly.
Come again?
Yeah, even a mural that's going up on the actual Geffen in Little Tokyo would be verboten under city rules.
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