Vehicle Tags - Financial District

Street Art- Manhattan

Street is a part of the Manhattan landscape. That means graffiti tags, wall decals, store fronts, and stickers. 

Kips Bay, Manhattan

Nomad, Manhattan

Midtown, Manhattan

N Train, Union Square

Learning the Language

The origins of the graffiti and street art world help make sense of the fever that fuels the movement. At the same time, a lot has changed since graffiti first started defining New York in the 70's. Bellow are three documentaries that speak to both of those realities:

1. Exit Through the Gift Shop

2. Style Wars

3. Bomb It 

Exit Through The Gift Shop 2010

Exit Through the Gift Shop 2010

This is a Banksy film. Although Banksy himself would have been a fascinating focal point, the scenes follow the story of Thierry Guetta. Thierry is a French immigrant obsessed with following and filming street artists. This film features contemporary artists, and does not delve into the history of the movement.

Length 1 Hour 27 Minutes

Trailer

Full Length- Available on Hulu Plus and Netflix

Style Wars 1983

Style Wars 

"People look at a person, what you write on trains? Oh, you vandalism and all that. Yeah I vandalism alright, but still in general I know what I'm doin'. I did somethin' to make yo eyes open up. Right? So why is you talking bout it for?" 

"The graffiti gave the impression at best that no one was in control of the system." 

Style Wars explores the point of view of the graffiti artists, and New York City Mayor Edward Koch. This documentary focuses on early graffiti culture in NYC. 

Length 1 hour 10 minutes

Trailer 

Full Length 

Bomb It 2007

Bomb It

"A common fallacy is the idea that graffiti started in New York City. It started in Philadelphia." New York quickly became the graffiti capital of the world, taking the title away from Philadelphia. This documentary gives a robust history of the writing movement that began in the 70's, and explores the dynamics between graffiti movements and "Quality of Life" laws, and the fight over control for public space. The documentary was filmed in five continents, 

Length 1 Hour 33 Minutes

Trailer 

Full Length Film 

5 Pointz

Before NYC took down 5 Pointz, I got the chance to tour it with a camera. With each circle around the outside of the industrial building, more and more pieces would register with me. The quantity of pieces, and their variety, was overwhelming.

After walking around as much of the building as was possible, Meghan and I walked back to our train. We wanted to come back with more people. It was a sin to live in NYC for longer than two years and not make the trip out to Long Island City to see this place. There was a good Peruvian place right there, too.

When I heard about NYC turning 5 Pointz into a condominium, I was upset. I signed the petition, and reposted the campaign. A few months later, pictures surfaced of the now white-washed walls that used to be crammed with works of the world's greatest street artists. It was sad. It was the end of an incredibly alive and beautiful gallery.

Esteban del Valle

5 Pointz

This blog is a small way of preventing galleries like 5 Pointz from being scrubbed away. I'm passionate about it, because I like seeing street artists boldly and assertively pursue their craft.