- (Pic #1) Stunning wall of distressed doors and windows from Brazil — “Art In The Streets” – MOCA
New exhibit demands our attention.
The debate is raging in Los Angeles right now, where the Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporay Art has launched a comprehensive, controversial exhibition called “Art In The Streets,” which will remain open through August 8th. That should give you plenty of time to judge for yourself on how the exhibit – showcasing 50 world-famous graffiti artists’ life work – should be defined, or positioned in art history. Check out this small sampling, and then get downtown.
Calligraphic installation by “Retna” named after a Wu-Tang Clan song (aka Los Angeles-based artist Marquis Lewis)
"Cosmic Cavern" neon installation by Kenny Scharf
Mister Cartoon's "International Ice Cream Truck" 2010
Paper installation by "Swoon"
Street art by "Andre" extends into Geffen Ladies' Room. "Anabelle" said to be his GF.
Installation in a dark corner by "Neckface" considered "the scariest" in the exhibition.
Henry Chalfont documents subway car art -- "a way to overcome our faceless anonymity."
Painting by Dondi White - "Born Again" (1986)
Los Angeles street art pioneer Chaz Bojorquez
"Pissing dog" installation by Banksy
Banksy wall sculpture - fine print on bottom says: "...to the nearest art dealer."
Banksy enlisted the help of 8th and 9th graders at City of Angels School for his floor-to-ceiling "Stained Glass Window."
Vibrant abstraction by "Futura" (Leonard McGurr)
An authentic urban voice
Personally, I find this kind of raw visual ambien expression packed with high energy and substance. It reminds me that so much great art comes from unexpected places. Our culture would never be as diverse or as rich if it were not for the countless new voices from the inner city — showcasing themselves through rap, poetry and dance. MOCA’s street art show, much like rap, allows for those authentic voices to be heard in a public forum.
However — Saying the MOCA show “glorifies graffiti,” the L.A.P.D. and L.A. County Sheriff’s Department both report that instances of vandalism are up in the surrounding area, Little Tokyo.
But MOCA Director, Jeffrey Deitch says the LAPD is overreacting and that the “anarchy” displayed by the street art subculture was to be expected. He also reminds street art critics that MOCA is cleaning up after the renegade artists.
Censorship or Sensitivity?
In the meantime, Deitch has done some “cleaning up” of his own. The former NY art dealer ordered a $13,000 museum-commissioned mural by Italian street artist “Blu” white-washed off the side of his own building.
A brief appearance: Anti-war mural by Blu, white-washed by MOCA
The anti-war image (seen at right) pictures a line of coffins covered in dollar bills. Critics call the white-wash “censorship.” Deitch calls it being sensitive to the neighborhood, home to a Veterans’ hospital and a war memorial to Japanese-American soldiers. The work, therefore, was considered “inappropriate.” And it’s gone.
The irony is obvious. As the L.A.Times points out—Street art is inherently “fugitive by nature, and vulnerable to being destroyed by angry shopkeepers who just don’t appreciate the creativity.” But here, the same museum that commissioned the radical work — also wiped it out. Apparently, Deitch had not asked to see a sketch.
Now that’s art.
What’s next? We start calling gang initiations including killing random men, women and children on the streets to “make your bones” in the local gang an “artform”?