At Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art (LA MOCA), a big new survey called Art in the Streets looks at the last forty years of graffiti. Not coincidentally, the LAPD arrested several graffiti artists the same week of the exhibit's opening — some of them, artists with work in the show. Arts writer Carolina Miranda tells Kurt Andersen she thinks the reaction by the authorities is overblown.
Should graffiti artists be arrested or given museum exhibits? Or both? Leave a comment and let us know.
Slideshow: Graffiti Art, Inside and Outside the Museum
Music Playlist
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Graffiti
Artist: Digable PlanetsAlbum: Blowout CombLabel: BMG DIRECT
The museum as canvas: as part of the exhibition Art in the Streets at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, tagger Blade from New York created this commissioned work on the museum building's outside façade. The exhibition, on view through August 8, 2011, is the first major museum survey of graffiti and street art.
(Carolina Miranda)
A billboard tagged by Los Angeles artist Augor is among the pieces featured in Art in the Streets.
(Carolina Miranda)
Not even the ladies' room was off-limits to graffiti artists – the museum's bathroom stalls were tagged by French artist André as part of the exhibition.
(Carolina Miranda)
Street art rolls into the museum: this car was tagged by the late Keith Haring.
(Carolina Miranda)
This installation, by the New York City-based Irak Crew, includes the work of prominent artist Dash Snow, who died in 2009.
(Carolina Miranda)
Eric Brunetti's "Lost: Black Female" (1996/2011) was pieced together from found missing pet posters.
"The Legacy of Decline" (2011) by Stelios Faitakis.
(Carolina Miranda)
A musical installation by Os Gemeos, with playable drum set, titled "People Say What They Want."
(Carolina Miranda)
The exhibition also displays the tools of the trade: curator Roger Gastman included a wall of vintage spray cans, some dating back to the 1950s and ‘60s
(Carolina Miranda)
Cans of spray paint and special edition markers are available at the MOCA gift shop, but the materials are not allowed inside the exhibit, lest they be used on the walls.
(Carolina Miranda)
“Stained Window,” by the British artist Banksy, uses tags contributed by students from Los Angeles’s City of Angels School to create a stained glass effect.
(Carolina Miranda)
Despite the exhibition, graffiti artists still work in a contested medium, which may be establishment, fringe, or even illegal. The artist Revok, who contributed to this mural at the exhibition, was recently arrested for some of his previous (unsanctioned) work.
(Carolina Miranda)
A few blocks west of the museum, unsanctioned graffiti art is still a large presence in the urban landscape of Los Angeles. This wall remains a prominent street art spot, and the owners of the building keep it that way.
(Carolina Miranda)
An illegal installation by Brooklyn-based artist Swoon, located a few blocks away from the legal work on view at the MOCA. Arts writer Carolina Miranda found much of Swoon’s work scattered in the downtown L.A. area – but the artist is also known for projects like Miss Rockaway Armada, for which she and a number of collaborators built boats of found objects and sailed them down the Mississippi.
(Carolina Miranda)
Across the river in East L.A., and completely independent of the exhibit at the MOCA, graffiti continues as it has for years.
(Carolina Miranda)