No 'Art in the Streets' for Brooklyn Museum: New York Changes Mind About Street Art Show

StayWoke

If you have some time, just some light summer evening reading in SUPPORT of the exhibit: ART FOR THE PEOPLEhttp://issuu.com/staywoke247/d...

Carmelaz13

Hue-mans are a diseased species! Hell to the ones that won't teach kids!It's a sad day for society! "Let God Sort Them Out" as said by The RAMM:Ell:ZEE.Mr. Deitch did a proving matter. What are you waiting for?Carmela ZEE OUT....

Shawnc1000

Paint the city! !! Stand up and protest! !! Government should and will never be in charge of the art world! And really who the fuck cringe when they think of a subway car covered in color and paint! Stop the brainwashing stop following the corruption! !!! And paint paint paint!!! The world needs more paint more color and less government Bullshit!!!

Oh Em

Its amazing graffiti has come so far !

Jaytizz

Brooklyns scared cuz LA's takin over

Fartsyartsy

Mr. Lehman, Director of the Brooklyn Museum does not want to be associated with Deitch. I mean, who takes this guy seriusly?? Everyone knows he still puppeteers The Hole Gallery in NY, while advancing his interests in LA. Deitch will burn!!!

Bryan Linden

Pathetic. If that's the reason and confirmed as such, I'll be skipping all shows at the museum from now on. And whoever wrote that NY Daily News review should have HIS eyes thumbed out because he's obviously got the mind of a politician rather than an art critic. Anytime art doesn't get shown simply because it might cause controversy, and especially if the controversy comes from the medium rather than the content, the institution that won't show it and critics who support the decision no longer remain qualified to present, interpret, or possibly even enjoy art as far as I'm concerned.

Blobby Digital

maybe the went to the show at moca and realized it kinda sucks. deitch fail.

Samthebutcher518

So sad about this.The very first recorded form of art was the stencil..... by a cave man who blew dye around his hand for us to marvel at thousands of years later. Every single form of art has a history and a past. As much as pop art has its roots in commercial ad print, street art has its roots in graffiti. More and more people are wanting to open up to this form of art which is now old news. You know what they called street art before its was pigeonholed into this subcategory. It was called PUBLIC ART. We all have to be a little less judgmental of the history of this art form and open ourselves to the future of it. These artists have traveled around the world creating countless masterpieces, not for glory or money, but for there pure passion to create. This is the future, we are in the midst of a cultural revolution by some of the hardest working artists that have ever existed. They are able to take the old, crumbling, mundane, and dilapidated and create beautiful landmarks that affect peoples lives. Most everyone that these "street artists" are trying to reach are not the biased reporters, the upper crust, the magnates of whats what. They want to reach the people that have struggled everyday to make it to the next, they want to reach the children that have had there art funding sacked by an archaic system of teaching of standardized testing, the people from there neighborhoods, there boroughs, there streets they walk every day. These creative jewels give inspiration to the people that happen upon them. There will Always be graffiti, there will always be the rebellious youth that want to defy and leave there mark on whatever stoop they deem fit..... but they will be dealt with in the same manner that they always have, through buffing and prosecution. As I have previously stated, every art form has to come from somewhere, thats what art is....... taking something and making it better. These artists of the MOCA show have accomplished so much and positively affected so many that it is a shame that there life's work which has been established through galleries, auction houses, and museums be mired in a collateral subculture that may end up causing a few fresh coats of paint on a building. Any major city with over a million people will have rebels, we should be thankful that they carry spray cans and not guns. Every generation has different ways of growing up. Graffiti and street art is brand new in art history..... you cannot deny the fact we are watching history in the making. Just like every conflict in history this will be a fight that will be waged for years to come. For now....... how about we focus on the art, rather than the incidental things that MAY happen. The more we educate people, the more they are informed as to the beauty of it, it just might end up changing Your life for the better one day.

Jesse Edwards

let this show live on as a martyr

Mambolica

The Brooklyn Museum has been cutting a path into the realms of non-traditional art forms for quite some time and is internationally known as a leader in supporting new art practice and curation. Before everyone jumps on this institution for backing out over fear of negative press or stigma, consider how museums are funded. It may well be that it could find the funds to produce this show, but at the risk of upsetting a much larger and more significant long-term funder.

Museums are precariously balanced between funding agencies and philanthropists and with government support at a hotly contested minimum, museum directors have to walk carefully to avoid upsetting the supporters on which they rely. No museum ever wants to be in the position of publicly withdrawing its support from a show, particularly one that is sure to be a draw on non-traditional audiences. The long-term funding requirements of any museum, large or small, may ultimately force direction that cannot always support the cutting edge and breakthrough curation and exhibition people crave.

Perhaps the Brooklyn Museum, like so many museums (or even businesses, families, etc.) are simply caught between a rock and a hard place, financially speaking.

Samthebutcher518

Yes.... that is a tough rock to get out from under. This particular exhibit would have been historically important to NYC due to it being practically the birthplace for the form of art that the "art is the streets" exhibition represents. The Tate museum in London had 6 of the best artists available at that time to adorn the front of there prestigious museum in there street art exhibition....in 2008. This is not something new. We are in an age of instant information and this effects how people view street art. I dislike laying blame on any one party for shifting the balance of things but there is a severe media bias when it comes to these type of exhibitions. Instead of them talking about the artists ROA coming to paint a 4 story tall public art piece, they would rather harp on the incidentals and vandals rather than the accoplished artists the museum will actually house. This shift in reporting does affect peoples viewpoints and opinions when they are not properly informed by all sides of the argument. We are at a point where we need to educate people into this art form that isnt going anywhere, and even give a chance to nurture it off of the streets and into our homes. The system of a museum is designed to do just that..... educate. This may have been the chance for those very directors, philanthropists, and funders to learn about what there artistic futures hold in the very institution that will be documenting these great artists dozens of years from now, and possibly take out the short sightedness from a decision that could greatly affect them in the future.Respectfully.

Winkingzombie

They wouldnt have funding issues after a show like this..Im sure they are just afraid of the " stigma" attached..sad..its exactly this type of hide your head in the sand mentality about graffiti as an art form that is bankrupting galleries and museums across the US..graffiti art is what people want to see..not the same paintings over and over from the last 200 years..

Sarah

The Brooklyn Museum is actually the most likely, of any large museum, to present a show like this. Remember "Sensation" and the uproar it caused during the Giuliani years? They have done a hip hop retrospective and a "Star Wars"-themed exhibition. They are pioneers in public programming for their long-running free First Saturdays program, which opens the museum up to thousands of visitors. They have had their fare share of criticism and controversy. The real issue is that the Brooklyn Museum, much like many other museums, performing arts centers, and other arts organizations, is truly in a dire financial crisis. They have been for years, and it's only gotten worse. That's the reality.