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.