High expectations for a graffiti exhibit killed the experience, although it did include work by people whose names I recognized from an earlier, much better show at the Bronx Museum of Art. Street art collected three decades ago by Martin Wong, a queer artist and the subject of another terrific Bronx Museum exhibit, sounded C😎😎L to say the least. But it seemed completely out of context on the walls of the Museum of the City of New York instead of the sides of subway cars or at 5 Pointz.
A decade after Wong moved from San Francisco to the Lower East Side, he founded the Museum of America Grafitti at a time when the art establishment--and much of the public--sneered at street art. That contempt, based in part on the issue of property destruction, ran in both directions. Wong sought to move the art indoors by encouraging the young artists to use canvas instead of subway cars and building exteriors. His efforts also provided him with an extraordinary collecting opportunity; he amassed more than 300 pieces.
FUTURA started tagging trains in high school during the early 70s before a subway fire involving spray paint cans changed his direction. He enlisted in the Navy before returning to New York City five years later and creating art with a new, more abstract style. When the Clash performed at Bonds in 1981 (I was Audrey's guest the night of June 3) he painted a controversial banner and soon became a part of the band's live show. Futura outlasted punk rock, eventually opening his own graphic design studio which continues to operate.
 |
| Untitled Work by FUTURA (1983) |
 |
| "LA2" by Keith Haring (ca 1985) |
A-ONE developed a style he called "aerosol expression." Like his mentor Jean-Michel Basquiat, he died young but a brain hemorrhage, not an overdose, killed him shortly after 9/11.
 |
| "Forward. Totally Moving in the Positive" by A-ONE (1986) |
 |
| "My Recovery" by QUIK (1990-91) |
 |
| "Talib" by MR. WIGGLES (1991) |
Label text didn't adequately explain the inclusion of this artist. The internet didn't offer any insights so I'm guessing his hallucinogenic style may have been influential bridge from the Sixties.
 |
| "King Two" by George Pagan, Sr. (1974) |
Lately, visitor interactivity seems to have become the mantra of New York City museums. It seemed more appropriate for Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection than for Sargent & Paris at the Met. Some participants definitely use the opportunity to express issues on their minds.
I had difficulty parsing this drawing--is Antarctica deliberately misspelled?
Regardless of my disappointment with the grafitti exhibit, the Museum of the City of New York always contributes to my understanding of the place I've called home since 1975. "Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor" goes even farther back.
Why wouldn't there have been a Louis Armstrong lip balm, given his association with the trumpet? Racial prejudice might be a factor although that did not appear to be the concern of this German manufacturer.
Who knew that at the height of the disco era the Imperial Bachelors--which included Black, Puerto Rican and white members--organized "hustle" parties open to all in the South Bronx as a means of reducing gang violence?
During my long tenure in New York City, I regret missing just two nightlife hot spots: the Mudd Club and the Paradise Garage. A regular of the latter memorialized its closing night with this collage.
The inclusion of this bust perplexed me before reading the label. "Deep in Vogue" forever and I don't just mean Madonna. Malcolm McLaren appropriated the House of LaBeija, something the residents of the Muller Cottage knew, nicknaming our own family Casa Donna Reed in homage!
 |
| Altar bust of Crystal LaBeija, Founding Mother of House of LaBeija by Julian Prairie (2024) |
New York at Its Core offers a thematic look at the city's rise from indigenous land to world capital. This stained glass window (1656), from a Dutch Reformed Church, reminded me that the roots of my father's family tree may reach back as far as the earliest colonial settlement of Manhattan. The Hons belonged at one time.
After the phenomenal success of the Broadway show, it's hard to believe that the titular Founding Father actually looked like this.
 |
| Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull (ca 1804) |
Immigration brought "kosher" products to New York City; I didn't realize they included scouring powder!
I love art created in support of the Works Progress Administration, surely one of the federal government's most successful and admirable programs. This poster also emphasizes that New York City pools were open to Blacks while at the same time conveying that in some neighborhoods, the pools were segregated.
