As the summer nears it’s end.. it is time for bamboobanga to look back at a fulfilling summer.  This was a horrible summer I ain’t even gonna lie, but there were bright spots and our trip to MOCA for Art in the Streets was undoubtedly one of them.  This exhibit which ran from April to the first week in August, broke records for the David Geffen space.  Looks like Jeffrey Deitch kicked some ass during his first year:

I am both elated and truly surprised that this particular exhibit garnered  this type of attendance.

MOCA announced today that the exhibition Art in the Streets, presented in the first year of MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch’s tenure at the museum, attracted 201,352 visitors from April 17–August 8, 2011, marking the highest exhibition attendance in the museum’s history. Previous attendance records were set with the museum’s presentations of Andy Warhol Retrospective (2002) and ©MURAKAMI (2007), which welcomed 195,000 and 149,323 visitors, respectively. With this exhibition, MOCA expects to double its annual attendance this year to 400,000 visitors. (MOCA.ORG)

To that I say ..AWESOMMEEE..  We attended both Andy Warhol and the Murakami sessions and of those exhibits , I must say we returned to Art in the Streets 3 times .. OK..

It was a wonderful foray into the world of street art past and present.

Each decade and scene was represented. It took you from the first  Krylon Can in the 30’s to the LowRider Ice Cream Truck sitting on Daytons in the RIGHT NOW …. .. I mean it was awesome.. Everyones art was well represented ; from Lee Quinones to the homies Legit and Soon ( The King with the most tags on Venice)..

Peace to the Young Lords.. and RIP to both those brothas and MIKE ONE…

Street Art and it’s origins differ between East and West Coasts respectively , Los Angeles’ urban art has roots  represented by the cholo stylings of Charles “Chaz” Bojórquez his work can be cited back to 1969.

Our walls and yards have always been dominated by Gang Graffitti, visions of Guadalupe, Hand signs, RIP blocks , and Roll Calls; these things have always been present on our ghetto streets.  They were usually helpful indicators as to who’s hood you were in and where the hell you were, if you were paying attention.  We then branched out into traditional Hip Hop styled graffiti around the late 70’s to early 80’s.

The East Coast’s version of “writing on the walls”,  was created for similar reasons and additionally, to try to beautify, (in the hood’s own way) ,the raggedy ass buildings and pissy alleyways we must look at every damn day.  Taggers and Artists made sure to bomb every hallway, train, freeway off ramp, building space etc.. until the whole neighborhood looked like a comic strip.

A comic strip that some people swore looked like hell.  Major pieces though on trains and buildings were more than just a “throw up”.   These are the types of pieces that you see in say “Wild Style” or “Style Wars” or even at your local laundry mat or liqour store, these jawns require planning.. I mean you have to blueprint the colors, the measurements, how much paint is required etc..

You must….plan that shit out in your black book and create magic in the streets ..

More flicks from Art In The Streets  after the Jump.. 

Both East and West Coast artists made noteworthy contributions to this expose’. I was greatly disappointed though that Hawaii’s KatchOne or more of my cats from Conart didn’t get more shine..I think Mear did but other than that.. i can’t recall..  but hey you can’t have everything you want ..

Plus.. I got personal Katch pieces doggy so I will just put them up myself HAHAHA..Anyway..

If you are from LA and didn’t go once, you my friend are BOOF .

I wanted to see more from Bode’ and Dondi White but there was quite a bit of dope shit from Fab Five Freddy , Lee Quinones, Ramellzee that Battle Station was cray, and photo installations from Larry Clarke and Terri Richardson.

They had random Keith Haring, KAWS, Lady Pink,Cope2, Futura and Basquiat stuff too that really gave you a feel for the East Coast Art movement during the 80’s and so forth.  There was also  vintage KAWS pieces as they appeared on Bus Stop benches and Snipes back in the day.

Our hometown West Coast Graf heroes like, MAN ONE, PUSH, RISK, RETNA, REVOK, SABER to name a few also held a strong presence.

Like I said a lot of West Coast artists were left out but the exhibit was exciting anyway.  Just like this post will fail to fulfill all of your Graffiti Dreams but dammit you will survive LOL..

Cartoon and Esteven Oriol, had their own room lowkey.. It was bananas and Oh So West Coast.

We are locals so a lot of these images were super nostalgic….and yes those are the OG YOUNG DANA DANES on that ice cream truck man! …

There were segments that were straight giving nods to the homies of WCA, CBS, MSK and THE WRITERS OF Conart..to name a few..

This video commentary by Mat Gleason of the Coagula Art Journal is inciteful and gives you a look at all that was going on inside the environment..

WAtch  Lee Quinones, Abel, Cern, FUTURA, Loomit, Push, RISK and Sano  create “Birds of a Feather”.. an epic piece..

Props to Ganguskan on Youtube for this video retrospective right here.. he really fit all that shit in like 4 minutes LOL..

Some of the highlights were the skateboarding Demo with the NIKE SB team as well as the Graffiti Artist living  environments, here is one, they had like 5 of these..

those were my favorite because they had all kinds of random shit stuffed in those bedrooms lol.. took me back to some of my “teenage loves” , since I used to love a man with Ink under his fingernails ..HAHAH..

SOME of the other artists included are Banksy, France’s internationally known Andre, the wonderful Neckface (one of my faves),the homie Doze…..

a crazy paper joint by female artist Swoon,Fab 5 Freddy, Taki 183, Banksy, Kaws, Shepard Fairey, Spike Jonze ( yeah that Spike Jonze) his skate videos for Lakai were on display and if you follow bamboobanga you know we really fux with Spike lol. Trust , when this exhibit gets to your town, get your asses in there.  You don’t wanna miss it.  I can say this; MOCA really COMMITTED ..

Look at the Andre decorated ladies bathrooms.. An ode to his girlfriend Annabelle Dexter Jones

Now I don’t know if you guys in other states will be afforded such dope PRESENTATION, but I must admit that  even the men were pissed since they just had their regular piss stained stalls , while we got ANNABELLE HA..!

Sending a special RIP shout out to Skate, RobOne and recently the one and only Dream from WCA.

Check out this awesome piece Risk has dedicated to him