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UP For Debate: Artist Gregory de la Haba Agitates the Street
De la Haba shared an Instagram post on October 24th, 2023 featuring a new artwork that collages and composites six doors and entrance ways that still exist in some form around the five boroughs, all covered with years of tags, stickers, graffiti and other street detritus. As of this writing, the post has 109 comments, many of them from street artists-some quite salty, some pleasantly titillated. The debate concerns de la Haba creating a massive hi-res photographic print that blends and remixes 14 years of his own photographs of these various doors, some more iconic than others, like the door to Jean-Michel Basquiat’s famed studio at 57 Great Jones Street in Manhattan, where he died. Inciting further ire from several street artists whose work can be seen in the photo collage, is the fact that the large-scale print is actually indoors.
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Activism through Art: Ai Weiwei’s “Sunflower Seeds”
Sunflower seeds: small, unique, and fragile; we consider them cheap edibles. Sunflower Seeds was a 2010 Tate Modern Installation by the Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei, an exhibit for which he was arrested.
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A Brief History on The “Art” of Tagging
“Tagging” is a way of claiming a place or thing. A tag is unique and what it contains varies depending on the person. Today, they are seen everywhere from subway stations to local burger joint restrooms. The number of them plastered around cities proves its relevance in pop culture today–read about how the “art” of tagging has developed over time in this writeup by Kayleigh Ione Walker.
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EINE STADT WIRD BUNT: Unlocking the History of Tags
A graffiti exhibition is the last thing you would expect in a museum known for its archaic form and looming historical presence. Despite its novelty, the carefully curated “EINE STADT WIRD BUNT: Hamburg Graffiti History 1980-1999” is the Museum of Hamburg History’s highest-attended exhibit. With over 75,000 visitors since its opening in November 2022, the museum has extended its run until January 7th, 2024.
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Park Avenue’s Tunnel Vision
The section of the fabled street just below 42nd Street, where Grand Central blocks the road forcing traffic to go around via the Park Avenue viaduct, is among Manhattan’s busiest pedestrian thoroughfares. The perfect place for some art. That’s exactly what Patrons of Park Avenue (POPA) had in mind when they started featuring art installations on the Park Avenue Malls. Yes, even Park Avenue has its underground, quite literally, and this one has a distinct downtown edge to it. Read Scott Orr’s account of what happens under Park Avenue.
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188 Allen Street Gallery: “A Beautiful Moment”
The destruction of the shed in front of the former Cheese Grill did more than rid the block of one of Manhattan’s countless street-side dining spaces. It was the end of a brief, shining moment in the history of art in New York City, an unprecedented period of creativity, community and jollification. Celebrating the short life of 188 Allen, J. Scott Orr speaks with curator SacSix and the art community, reflecting on what it represented.
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Paul Cézanne: Father of Modern Art
Paul Cézanne is often regarded as the father of modern art. Coming from the old world where allegorical and history painting ruled, Cézanne’s work paved the way for the major artistic shift that happened at the beginning of the 20th century.
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The Striking Vision of the Maxo Vanka Murals
In an austere church in Millvale on a hillside above the Allegheny River, the haunting murals of Maxo Vanka celebrate immigrant life, religious faith, and our shared humanity, while also lamenting society’s ills and flagrant inhumanity.
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The Doors of Madeira
The city of Madeira, in the Azores islands off the coast of Portugal, is home to over 200 unique murals on a series of doors. What’s behind these doors? How did those murals get there? Find out in this new piece from Martin Ciesielski.
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Bristol Street Art History: Nick Walker
The Third Installment on UP’s Bristol Series – Nick Walker. A Bristol born artist who’s painted vandals across the world.