Don’t miss ‘Art in the Streets’ in LA!

Giant throw-up by Barry McGee and Josh Lazcano on the Geffen at MOCA

Don’t miss the Art in the Streets exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, which is up for just two more weeks, until Monday, August 8th. After seeing an advance PDF of the Trespass book, MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch recruited me to help coordinate the show, an epic collaborative effort between curators, artists, lenders, and museum staff that has commanded our attention for the better part of the past year. The exhibition has brought wild style graffiti other street art forms including cholo graffiti, skateboarding and even car muraling to an unprecedented museum audience as anti-authoritarian public expressions — the creative power of which I love seeing all together! In addition to the 45,000-sq ft exhibition, associate curators Roger Gastman, Aaron Rose, and I worked on producing the accompanying book  Art in the Streets in record time (thanks to the impeccable work of editor Nikki Columbus!) that showcases the work of such influential artists as Jamie Reid from the UK — especially exciting for me as Carlo and I had tried unsuccessfully to include examples of his work into the Trespass book. It was also wonderful to meet ROA from Belgium and witness firsthand the magic of his city animals, and Robbie Conal from Los Angeles, who inspires with political guerrilla poster campaigns. All in all, it was an incredible experience working from within an institution that has no doubt set an example, and to see that there really is a community of people  involved and interested in street art — we meet again and again! While we hope the show travels to New York and Europe and maybe even South America, do what you can not to miss the full and original version in Los Angeles.

Filed under: Updates, Art in the Streets, Jamie Reid, Jeffrey Deitch, MOCA, ROA, Robbie Conal