Look out Tonys, here comes Style Wars – the musical

We all know and love Style Wars, the quintessential documentary of the New York street culture in the 80’s.  This was New York’s urban life in raw form before hip-hop, graffiti, breakdance and rap were recognized (and commercialized) in pop culture- no watered down, refined or user friendly version here.  The film is like a row call of the vanguards of the various urban subcultures featuring Iz the Wiz , Dondi White, Seen, Zephyr, Revolt, Futura, Daze and many more.

Twenty-eight years later, the influence of Style Wars is still far reaching.    The film will be honored (maybe) by being reimagined as a musical by Todd James (a.k.a. REAS) and Steve Powers (a.k.a ESPO).  Todd James posted on his blog that the musical version is to be seen at “Street” at LA Moca’s “Art in the Streets” April 2011”.

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Museum Censorship Continues

MOCA decided to whitewash the Blu mural it commissioned for the much anticipated street art retrospective the museum is planning for April.  It went up for a couple of hours, and then it came right back down.  Apparently the painting’s close proximity to a Japanese-American soldier monument as well as the LA Veteran’s home is rumored to have sparked a problematic situation.  Right on the heels of the David Wojnarowicz controversy, this act of censorship becomes especially interesting. While no wounded party has come forth with objections at this point, I trust that there is more to this story than currently meets the eye.  For a little more, check out the the New York Times Arts Beat or just visit any street art blog in the world.

 

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Deitch Being Deitch

The press releases haven’t been written up yet, but the buzz begins; Jeffrey Deitch’s first 2011 show will be a graffiti and street art one.  Surprise! Deitch continues to champion the genre, and MOCA will no doubt benefit from a huge turnout thanks to a whole new demographic.  The show will be large in both artist representation and historical scope, por ejemplo– a special nod to LA with the inclusion of 1970s Chicano mural art.  Read more.

Fasten your seat belts because next week I will be talking about literary arts.

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Get Eli Broad on the Phone…

By now, most of you are well aware of Jeffrey Deitch being elected as MoCA’s incumbent director. This has been cause for much written commentary, but none comes close to a call out quite like this tongue-in-cheek video where Hitler reacts to the news.

via Marshall Astor:

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