#i love many of owens interactions w other rats!

[celestial-virtue]

Nov 3, 2024 》

Some more Rat! doodles!! 🥐🐀

[suedaviesposts-blog]

Bushwick Street Art. Mural by Jeff Henriquez. The Bushwick Collective

Bushwick Street Art: A Critical Conversation on the Street

I have seen street art around the world. Buenos Aires, Singapore, Austin, Jersey City and Newark, NJ are some of the recent places I have visited. I have both enjoyed and been troubled by most of these experiences and the Bushwick Collective brought all this to the surface. Tourists come from all over to see the art to see the Bushwick Collective.  But Bushwick street art is far more than the Bushwick Collective, it is a living, breathing dialogue, a disagreement about art, graffiti, gentrification and the community that is taking place all over the walls of the community. There are tags, murals, tags on murals, political statements, painted advertisements. It is the most important, thought-provoking and interactive outdoor street art gallery that I have had a chance to see.

Bushwick: A History of Challenges and Changes

Bushwick Street Art. Owen Dippie, New Zealand Street Artist. The Bushwick Collective

Bushwick is a poor and working class neighborhood of more than  300,000. It has grown and changed through waves of immigration–Dutch during colonial times (it was called Boswijk or Town of Woods), then Italian, then African American and Puerto Rican, and more recently, many more Latino communities (Dominican and Central American). In the late 1960s and 1970s, when riots occurred all across the country and the Bronx burned, so did Bushwick. Those who could left. Abandoned buildings, drug, poverty and gangs took hold. In the 1980s, 45% of the community lived below the poverty line and the crack epidemic swept the neighborhood.

Broken Windows Theory of Policing

Bushwick has come a long way since then and some of the residents have been there through all of it. In the 1990s, Mayor Rudy Giuliani came into office and brought the “Broken Windows” approach to policing which focused on decreasing low level crimes–graffiti, vandalism, public drinking, fare evasion–as the gateway to reducing serious crime and making neighborhoods safer. This approach was felt most in the poor, African American and Latino communities and resulted in the harassment and arrest of young people. Graffiti was prosecuted and seen as one of the “Broken Windows” that needed to be cleaned up.

As changes were taking place all over the city,  artists, writers and students began moving to Bushwick, laying claim to abandoned warehouses and lofts. More recently, young professionals have been drawn into the community by the rising rents and prices in Manhattan, Williamsburg and DUMBO.

Bushwick is now a mix of longtime residents (predominantly Latino)  that have been there for decades, artists and newer students and professionals. The poverty rate remains at 30% while newer trendy stores are arriving. I saw a lot of industry in the neighborhood–construction, design, steel fabrication, mechanical and other small companies.

The Bushwick Collective-An Outdoor Street Art Gallery

The Bushwick Collective is an outdoor street art gallery started by Joseph Ficalora. He grew up in Bushwick during the 1970s and 1980s. In 2012, Ficalora began to bring artists from around the world to paint walls in Bushwick to bring the community together to beautify the neighborhood. There are now hundreds of murals all over Bushwick. There are also tags (writing of names/initials), political murals, stickering and many other personal and political expressions on the walls, stoops, dumpster and even in the bathroom of a restaurant that I went to. While the heart of the Bushwick Collective is at Troutman Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, there is art all over.

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Street artists come from all over the world to paint in Bushwick. Blek the Rat (France), Banksy (UK), Phlegm (London), Reka (Australia), Olek(Poland), Pixel Pancho (Italy), Solus (Dublin), Kobra, Spiros, Owen Dippie ( New Zealand) are some of the artisits found on the Bushwick walls. Local Bushwick artists include Sara Erenthal, ac2 bsk, Hopsart, Zexor and others.

Political Art in Bushwick

There are many political murals

Brooklyn Street Art. Gummy Bear Being arrested by Whitby. The Bushwick Collective.

Bushwick Street Art. Protest Mural

Bushwick Street Art. Police Brutality Mural by AC2 BSK. Bushwick artist. The Bushwick Collective

Bushwick Street Art. Everything is not OK by Adam Fu. The Bushwick Collective.

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Current Controversies in Bushwick

Ads

Tagging

5Pointz Building

  garffiti bombers

Street Art Tours

L’Amoure Supreme

YouTube documentary-No Free Walls: Art and Gentrification Collide in Bushwick

Owen Dipi-New Zealand saved for a year

  Zexor:  I AM NYC. I AM BROOKLYN. I AM BUSHWICK. I AM EVERYTHING YOU HATE AND LOVE! I AM FREEDOM. I AM ART! I AM ZEXOR.  PR and grew up in Bushwick

Street Party on June 3

Visiting in Future-L closing

https://travelforlifenow.com/austin-graffiti-park/

Bushwick Street Art: A Brooklyn Outdoor Gallery Bushwick Street Art: A Critical Conversation on the Street I have seen street art around the world.