timeline: art in the streets at MOCA, los angeles

‘illustrated chronology, 1967-1987’ in the museum of contemporary art’s exhibition ‘art in the streets’image © designboom

upstairs in its exhibition ‘art in the streets,’ the los angeles museum of contemporary art presents a timeline encompassing the history of street art in ‘illustrated chronology, 1967-1987.’ beginning with the graffiti styles that emerged from american housing projects, subway yards, and suburban parking lots, this show surveys the movement’s influences and evolution to its current global state.

tracing starting points of wild style in new york, cholo gang graffiti in los angeles, and surf and skate culture in venice beach and santa monica, the exhibition documents how these have developed into an international visual language, with distinct approaches emerging from san francisco, london, paris, and são paulo. the illustrated timeline encompasses the connections between artists among these diverse geographic communities and also maps street art’s permeation across various creative fields like music, dance, film, and fashion.

image © designboom

after seeing ‘julio 204’ and ‘phil t greek’ spray-painted repeatedly, new york artist ‘taki 183’ writes his name all over the city from the late 60s. his tag becomes ubiquitious and widely imitated, prompting early exposure to the movement with the publication of the new york times story, ‘taki 183 spawns pen pals’ on july 21, 1971.

image © designboom

sample view of paraphernalia cases, featuring ‘kilroy was here’ at bottom, a tag from the early 20th century with unknown origins image © designboom

image © designboom

footage of artist basquiat image © designboom

image © designboom

early stencil work by john fekner image © designboom

‘your space has been invaded’ by john fekner and dan leichtimage © designboom

new york natives john fekner and dan leicht began collaborating in the mid 1970s when they shared a studio.

created with spray paint and automotive enamel on aluminum, ‘your space has been invaded’ makes reference to the arcade game ‘space invaders.’ this work can also be connected to contemporary french artist invader, who began creating tiled versions of the game’s characters in the late 90s

that can be seen today on streets worldwide, as well as on the main floor of ‘art in the streets.’

image © designboom

‘report from times square,’ an article by current MOCA director jeffrey deitch for ‘art in america,’ september 1980image © designboom

insight into the early collaboration between artist futura and band the clash. street art’s integration with music culture becomes increasingly popular across genres throughout the ’80s. image © designboom

at right, work by new york artist haze for the band beastie boys. he went on to create his own streetwear clothing brand, which has a freestanding store in the harajuku district of tokyo image © designboom

— ‘art in the streets’ is on display at the geffen contemporary at MOCA, los angeles now until august 8, 2011. for more on the exhibition, see designboom’s previous coverage of the show’s custom art cars as well as a general overview.

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