Less Street, More Art: Whole in the Wall

Street art started out as graffiti in New York in the 1970s, but has developed and spread to be much more than that. This weekend the Ravels in Motion crew, and by that I mean myself with my new video camera, went to see Whole in the Wall: 1970 – Now, a large exhibition put together by the Helen Beck Gallery featuring some of the most prominent street artist from the 1970s onward. It’s on through June 27 at 529-535 W. 35th Street, and it’s really interesting both as a piece of New York history and in the way it presents street art as its seeming antithesis, fine art.

5 thoughts on “Less Street, More Art: Whole in the Wall

  1. Sniffle, Sniffle. It’s hard to see the art your grew up with in the white box; Alas, thats where people go to buy our souls and the neighbors pounded the ceilings to get us to turn down ‘Horses’. A pox on nostalgia 😉 Can’t wait for the Ravels in Motion crew to take to the streets next.

  2. That was a really excellent video.
    I have mixed feeling about it, visually it is great but the intent and context change and what makes graffiti so exciting is the unexpected nature of it. By virtue of being in a formal space, a gallery, strips away that unexpected quality.

  3. What a great video!! And yes, I understand what you mean, but don’t worry, real street artists will never give up the streets. No matter how many canvases we see nowadays at the galleries… Check Conor Harrington, Space Invader, Mr. Brainwash… They are all in the streets all the time.
    Can’t wait to go check the exhibition.

    Oh!! and fantastic blog, by the way!!

  4. Bill, after editing that video, I still have Horses in my head…it’s maddening!

    JafaBrit, totaaly agree. It just doesn’t have the same impact or work the same way. Blek Le Rat’s ‘Homeless in NYC’, for example, would be poignant if you stumbled across it in an alleyway. On a cavas sold for $10,000 hanging in someone’s apartment, it takes on a very different context.

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