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Martha Cooper Book Showcases Unseen Photos From the Golden Age of Graffiti

📷: ART IS THE WORD by ALIVE 5 (1981) © Martha Cooper For some, the prestige of working at Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History might be a lifelong goal, but Martha Cooper felt cooped up working behind a desk cataloging artifacts day in, day out. She yearned for freedom, action, and adventure — the […]

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“Unextinguished” at MECKA Gallery: ELLE x Martha Cooper Video Interview

“I think people world rather see this,” ELLE tells ANIMAL, as she swaps a bus shelter ad with a monochrome self-portrait, swiftly and cheerfully. Just like that, she’s done and we head over to Brooklyn’s MECKA Gallery to meet the legendary street photographer Martha Cooper. Their collaborative art show “Unextinguished” opens this Saturday. For the show, ELLE […]

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Finished Martha Cooper Tribute Mural on Bowery

Here’s the “MARTY” mural that graffiti writers LADY PINK, HOW, NOSM, FREE5, TERROR161, CRASH, DAZE, BIO, and FREEDOM finished over the weekend. The mural was a surprise birthday present for legendary graffiti photographer Martha Cooper, who told ANIMAL that “It was more awesome than awesome.” It’s only there for a few days, so take a nice, […]

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Martha Cooper Tribute Mural on Bowery

Today is Martha Cooper’s birthday. In tribute to the stalwart graffiti photographer, LADY PINK, HOW, NOSM, FREE5, TERROR161, CRASH, DAZE, BIO, FREEDOM and other graffiti writers are currently working on this mural, to be finished later today. The mural was a surprise. They told Martha to come by 12 and there it was. “It’s more […]

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A Golden Age of Graffiti Art Preserved by Martin Wong

Opening night of Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection | MCNY 📷: Herman Yung “Everything I paint is within four blocks of where I live, and the people are the people I know and see all the time,” artist Martin Wong (1946–1999) once said. This quote reflects not only the sense of […]

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FUTURA’s “Breaking Out” For First Solo Museum Show In NYC

FUTURA “Uncle” sculpture, Bronx Museum of Arts. Photo: Bucky Turco Five decades after Leonard Hilton McGurr took the name FUTURA 2000, his visionary approach to art, graffiti, fashion, and design has elevated the native New Yorker to a global icon. But McGurr, who turns 69 on November 17, takes it all in stride, forging a […]

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Lee Quiñones: “Fifty Years of New York Graffiti Art and Beyond”

Cover of Lee Quiñones: Fifty Years of New York Graffiti Art and Beyond (Damiani Books, 2024). Photo by Chris Stein. It’s been said that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, which may be true among those who trade only in words but, for an artist the cover is paramount. It is the single […]

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What Other Cool Shit Does the Smithsonian Have?

Above: Tony Hawk’s first skateboard. (📷: National Museum of American History) In the newish Tony Hawk documentary, the often-spotted but identity-mistaken skater casually mentions how he donated his first skateboard to the Smithsonian. It was a “Bahne skateboard with red Stoker urethane wheels on metal trucks” according to its listing in the government’s colossal collection […]

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British Street Artist Nick Walker: “All I Ever Wanted Was My Name On Fire”

“It’s kind of creepy,” joked British street artist Nick Walker, 45, looking at a remarkably detailed figurine made in his likeness. The sculpture had just arrived yesterday at the Manhattan gallery space where his first exhibit in four years, “All I Ever Wanted Was My Name On Fire,” opens tonight. (Click the gallery above for a preview.) It depicts […]

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