In Plain Sight

Williamsburg, Brooklyn
On view Fall 2012

The Street Museum of Art (SMoA) is pleased to announce its inaugural exhibition, In Plain Sight, currently on view throughout the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Featuring the found work of C215, Elle, Faile, Gaia, Imminent Disaster, Jaye Moon, JR, Nick Walker, Paul Richard, R. Robot and Sweet Toof, In Plain Sight is the first exhibition of its kind to adopt the guerrilla tactics of a street artist in its curation. Rather than trying to displace these inherently public works of art within a gallery setting, The Street Museum of Art coexists with the vibrancy of New York City’s urban environment.  Much like the essential nature of street art, In Plain Sight is ephemeral. The duration of this exhibition is entirely reliant on external forces and the reaction of the public.


Click Here to view a larger map of In Plain Sight and print

While the work included in this exhibition may be clearly visible to any pedestrian walking down the street, many remain unnoticed by the jaded eyes of New York City locals. Each piece has been cleverly positioned by the artists­ – hidden in plain sight and taunting those who pass by to stop and look. The exhibition encourages visitors to rediscover this city through a street artist’s perspective – paying attention to the freshly wet cement of a sidewalk, the rooftop of a run down industrial building or the flat exterior surface of a familiar storefront. For a moment, through the scavenger-hunt-like exhibition experience unique to The Street Museum of Art, one can begin to imagine the artists on their search for the ideal urban canvas.


Didactic labels publicly posted alongside each of the artists works encourage a more direct interaction between the viewer, the art and New York City’s urban landscape. SMoA challenges previous methods of exhibiting street art with an unauthorized program of public exhibitions calling for one to physically walk through the city and experience each piece firsthand, within its original context. As The Street Museum of Art’s inaugural exhibition, In Plain Sight is an illegal guide to Williamsburg, Brooklyn through the lens of a street artist – offering a new way to view the city and acting as a catalyst for future public street art exhibitions.

(French) c. 2011 Stencil Wythe between N3rd and N4th Parisian street artist C215 began spray painting his urban portraits in 2005. Using multi-layered stencils and intricate detailing, C215 paints faces of the beggars, refugees, street kids often ignored by society. While their identities remain unknown, a feeling of familiarity is experienced when looking into his subjects’ eyes. C215’s portraiture occupies what the artist describes as the “non-places” of a city, utilizing walls of a run-down building or the rough surface of a rusty metal door as his canvas. As the elements of the streets interact with C215’s stencils, these faces will begin to grow old and disappear among the city’s urban detritus - giving his work an added sense of life. C215 (French) c. 2011 Stencil Wythe between N3rd and N4th Parisian street artist C215 began spray painting his urban portraits in 2005. Using multi-layered stencils and intricate detailing, C215 paints faces of the beggars, refugees, street kids often ignored by society. While their identities remain unknown, a feeling of familiarity is experienced when looking into his subjects’ eyes. C215’s portraiture occupies what the artist describes as the “non-places” of a city, utilizing walls of a run-down building or the rough surface of a rusty metal door as his canvas. As the elements of the streets interact with C215’s stencils, these faces will begin to grow old and disappear among the city’s urban detritus - giving his work an added sense of life.
(French) c. 2011 Stencil Wythe between N3rd and N4th Parisian street artist C215 began spray painting his urban portraits in 2005. Using multi-layered stencils and intricate detailing, C215 paints faces of the beggars, refugees, street kids often ignored by society. While their identities remain unknown, a feeling of familiarity is experienced when looking into his subjects’ eyes. C215’s portraiture occupies what the artist describes as the “non-places” of a city, utilizing walls of a run-down building or the rough surface of a rusty metal door as his canvas. As the elements of the streets interact with C215’s stencils, these faces will begin to grow old and disappear among the city’s urban detritus - giving his work an added sense of life. C215 (French) c. 2011 Stencil Wythe between N3rd and N4th Parisian street artist C215 began spray painting his urban portraits in 2005. Using multi-layered stencils and intricate detailing, C215 paints faces of the beggars, refugees, street kids often ignored by society. While their identities remain unknown, a feeling of familiarity is experienced when looking into his subjects’ eyes. C215’s portraiture occupies what the artist describes as the “non-places” of a city, utilizing walls of a run-down building or the rough surface of a rusty metal door as his canvas. As the elements of the streets interact with C215’s stencils, these faces will begin to grow old and disappear among the city’s urban detritus - giving his work an added sense of life.
(American) 2012 Hand painted drawing Bedford and N11th Elle, previously known as Oopsy Daisy, has been wheatpasting her hand-painted drawings and prints around New York City for the past three years. She finds inspiration in the way different cultures adorn their bodies and one’s personal search for the perfect human skin. The female figures depicted in her work explore themes such fetishism and regeneration as the nude figures are continuously changing in appearance through the embellishment of tattoos, fur, animal skins and feathers. Elle (American) 2012 Hand painted drawing Bedford and N11th Elle, previously known as Oopsy Daisy, has been wheatpasting her hand-painted drawings and prints around New York City for the past three years. She finds inspiration in the way different cultures adorn their bodies and one’s personal search for the perfect human skin. The female figures depicted in her work explore themes such fetishism and regeneration as the nude figures are continuously changing in appearance through the embellishment of tattoos, fur, animal skins and feathers.
(American) 2012 Hand painted drawing Bedford and N11th Elle, previously known as Oopsy Daisy, has been wheatpasting her hand-painted drawings and prints around New York City for the past three years. She finds inspiration in the way different cultures adorn their bodies and one’s personal search for the perfect human skin. The female figures depicted in her work explore themes such fetishism and regeneration as the nude figures are continuously changing in appearance through the embellishment of tattoos, fur, animal skins and feathers. Elle (American) 2012 Hand painted drawing Bedford and N11th Elle, previously known as Oopsy Daisy, has been wheatpasting her hand-painted drawings and prints around New York City for the past three years. She finds inspiration in the way different cultures adorn their bodies and one’s personal search for the perfect human skin. The female figures depicted in her work explore themes such fetishism and regeneration as the nude figures are continuously changing in appearance through the embellishment of tattoos, fur, animal skins and feathers.
(American) c. 2011 Stencil N9th between Driggs and Roebling This street art duo has been working together on the streets of New York since the late 90’s. Drawing their inspiration from a variety of sources—from the covers of pulp novels to advertisements and flyers seen around the city—Faile utilizes the urban environment as a vehicle for making their work more accessible to a wider audience. For these guys, street art is not the message but the medium that enables a direct interaction with the public. Faile (American) c. 2011 Stencil N9th between Driggs and Roebling This street art duo has been working together on the streets of New York since the late 90’s. Drawing their inspiration from a variety of sources—from the covers of pulp novels to advertisements and flyers seen around the city—Faile utilizes the urban environment as a vehicle for making their work more accessible to a wider audience. For these guys, street art is not the message but the medium that enables a direct interaction with the public.
(American) c. 2011 Stencil N9th between Driggs and Roebling This street art duo has been working together on the streets of New York since the late 90’s. Drawing their inspiration from a variety of sources—from the covers of pulp novels to advertisements and flyers seen around the city—Faile utilizes the urban environment as a vehicle for making their work more accessible to a wider audience. For these guys, street art is not the message but the medium that enables a direct interaction with the public. Faile (American) c. 2011 Stencil N9th between Driggs and Roebling This street art duo has been working together on the streets of New York since the late 90’s. Drawing their inspiration from a variety of sources—from the covers of pulp novels to advertisements and flyers seen around the city—Faile utilizes the urban environment as a vehicle for making their work more accessible to a wider audience. For these guys, street art is not the message but the medium that enables a direct interaction with the public.
(American) c. 2012 Digital Print Kent between S2nd and S3rd As a young street artist having grown up in New York City, Gaia’s work explores the relationship between man and nature within an urban environment, or in fact the lack thereof. Cat Eating Mouse, originally created as a hand-printed block print, depicts a cat eating not with his feline paws, but with the hands of a man. By combining both animal and human features in his work, Gaia uses his hybrid imagery to express the concerning dichotomy between these two worlds - the natural environment and man’s industrially made city. Gaia (American) c. 2012 Digital Print Kent between S2nd and S3rd As a young street artist having grown up in New York City, Gaia’s work explores the relationship between man and nature within an urban environment, or in fact the lack thereof. Cat Eating Mouse, originally created as a hand-printed block print, depicts a cat eating not with his feline paws, but with the hands of a man. By combining both animal and human features in his work, Gaia uses his hybrid imagery to express the concerning dichotomy between these two worlds - the natural environment and man’s industrially made city.
(American) c. 2012 Digital Print Kent between S2nd and S3rd As a young street artist having grown up in New York City, Gaia’s work explores the relationship between man and nature within an urban environment, or in fact the lack thereof. Cat Eating Mouse, originally created as a hand-printed block print, depicts a cat eating not with his feline paws, but with the hands of a man. By combining both animal and human features in his work, Gaia uses his hybrid imagery to express the concerning dichotomy between these two worlds - the natural environment and man’s industrially made city. Gaia (American) c. 2012 Digital Print Kent between S2nd and S3rd As a young street artist having grown up in New York City, Gaia’s work explores the relationship between man and nature within an urban environment, or in fact the lack thereof. Cat Eating Mouse, originally created as a hand-printed block print, depicts a cat eating not with his feline paws, but with the hands of a man. By combining both animal and human features in his work, Gaia uses his hybrid imagery to express the concerning dichotomy between these two worlds - the natural environment and man’s industrially made city.
(American) c. 2009 Hand-cut paper cutout N11th between Wythe and Kent Imminent Disaster began pasting her work on the streets of New York in 2006. The intricate details of her hand cut wheat pastes possess a delicacy that contrast with the rough terrain of the urban environment. Inspired by the forgotten histories of this city’s past, Imminent Disaster places images of traditional narratives among the industrial architecture that is often devoid of the feminine nature present in her work. Imminent Disaster (American) c. 2009 Hand-cut paper cutout N11th between Wythe and Kent Imminent Disaster began pasting her work on the streets of New York in 2006. The intricate details of her hand cut wheat pastes possess a delicacy that contrast with the rough terrain of the urban environment. Inspired by the forgotten histories of this city’s past, Imminent Disaster places images of traditional narratives among the industrial architecture that is often devoid of the feminine nature present in her work.
(American) c. 2009 Hand-cut paper cutout N11th between Wythe and Kent Imminent Disaster began pasting her work on the streets of New York in 2006. The intricate details of her hand cut wheat pastes possess a delicacy that contrast with the rough terrain of the urban environment. Inspired by the forgotten histories of this city’s past, Imminent Disaster places images of traditional narratives among the industrial architecture that is often devoid of the feminine nature present in her work. Imminent Disaster (American) c. 2009 Hand-cut paper cutout N11th between Wythe and Kent Imminent Disaster began pasting her work on the streets of New York in 2006. The intricate details of her hand cut wheat pastes possess a delicacy that contrast with the rough terrain of the urban environment. Inspired by the forgotten histories of this city’s past, Imminent Disaster places images of traditional narratives among the industrial architecture that is often devoid of the feminine nature present in her work.
(Korean/ American) c. 2012 LEGO Bricks N7th between Bedford and Berry Jaye Moon uses plastic toy LEGOs to construct the forms of her sculptural street art. Her series of typographical work placed around the city reads with quaint sayings such as “Paradise Here” and “Somewhere Better than this Place,” expressing the artist’s interests in the new portable and instant lifestyles of urban living. By using this the LEGOs as her primary medium, the public is able to interact with Jaye Moon’s work by deconstructing or reconfiguring the mosaic like bricks–making them communal objects within the city’s landscape that can easily be picked up, broken down or rebuilt. Jaye Moon (Korean/ American) c. 2012 LEGO Bricks N7th between Bedford and Berry Jaye Moon uses plastic toy LEGOs to construct the forms of her sculptural street art. Her series of typographical work placed around the city reads with quaint sayings such as “Paradise Here” and “Somewhere Better than this Place,” expressing the artist’s interests in the new portable and instant lifestyles of urban living. By using this the LEGOs as her primary medium, the public is able to interact with Jaye Moon’s work by deconstructing or reconfiguring the mosaic like bricks–making them communal objects within the city’s landscape that can easily be picked up, broken down or rebuilt.
(Korean/ American) c. 2012 LEGO Bricks N7th between Bedford and Berry Jaye Moon uses plastic toy LEGOs to construct the forms of her sculptural street art. Her series of typographical work placed around the city reads with quaint sayings such as “Paradise Here” and “Somewhere Better than this Place,” expressing the artist’s interests in the new portable and instant lifestyles of urban living. By using this the LEGOs as her primary medium, the public is able to interact with Jaye Moon’s work by deconstructing or reconfiguring the mosaic like bricks–making them communal objects within the city’s landscape that can easily be picked up, broken down or rebuilt. Jaye Moon (Korean/ American) c. 2012 LEGO Bricks N7th between Bedford and Berry Jaye Moon uses plastic toy LEGOs to construct the forms of her sculptural street art. Her series of typographical work placed around the city reads with quaint sayings such as “Paradise Here” and “Somewhere Better than this Place,” expressing the artist’s interests in the new portable and instant lifestyles of urban living. By using this the LEGOs as her primary medium, the public is able to interact with Jaye Moon’s work by deconstructing or reconfiguring the mosaic like bricks–making them communal objects within the city’s landscape that can easily be picked up, broken down or rebuilt.
(French) c. 2012 Photograph S5th between Wythe and Berry As a French street artist working in Paris, JR began covering buildings with his photography in 2001. Since then, the Inside Out project has allowed others to join the artist on his efforts by providing printed photographs to anyone who submits their portraits—ready to be pasted in cities around the world. In 2011, a Native American Lakota tribe organized a group action on their reservation in North Dakota with the Inside Out project. Over the past year, JR has been pasting the tribe’s photos around New York City to help share their story. This large scale eye watchfully gazes down at pedestrians on the street, crossing the bridge, and even across the river in Manhattan while blending in with the city’s architecture. JR (French) c. 2012 Photograph S5th between Wythe and Berry As a French street artist working in Paris, JR began covering buildings with his photography in 2001. Since then, the Inside Out project has allowed others to join the artist on his efforts by providing printed photographs to anyone who submits their portraits—ready to be pasted in cities around the world. In 2011, a Native American Lakota tribe organized a group action on their reservation in North Dakota with the Inside Out project. Over the past year, JR has been pasting the tribe’s photos around New York City to help share their story. This large scale eye watchfully gazes down at pedestrians on the street, crossing the bridge, and even across the river in Manhattan while blending in with the city’s architecture.
(French) c. 2012 Photograph S5th between Wythe and Berry As a French street artist working in Paris, JR began covering buildings with his photography in 2001. Since then, the Inside Out project has allowed others to join the artist on his efforts by providing printed photographs to anyone who submits their portraits—ready to be pasted in cities around the world. In 2011, a Native American Lakota tribe organized a group action on their reservation in North Dakota with the Inside Out project. Over the past year, JR has been pasting the tribe’s photos around New York City to help share their story. This large scale eye watchfully gazes down at pedestrians on the street, crossing the bridge, and even across the river in Manhattan while blending in with the city’s architecture. JR (French) c. 2012 Photograph S5th between Wythe and Berry As a French street artist working in Paris, JR began covering buildings with his photography in 2001. Since then, the Inside Out project has allowed others to join the artist on his efforts by providing printed photographs to anyone who submits their portraits—ready to be pasted in cities around the world. In 2011, a Native American Lakota tribe organized a group action on their reservation in North Dakota with the Inside Out project. Over the past year, JR has been pasting the tribe’s photos around New York City to help share their story. This large scale eye watchfully gazes down at pedestrians on the street, crossing the bridge, and even across the river in Manhattan while blending in with the city’s architecture.
(British) c. 2011 Stencil Wythe between N10th and N11th Coming out of the street art scene in Bristol, Nick Walker moved from graffiti to stenciling in the early 90’s. The artist’s iconic bowler hatted character is an urban prankster whose work possesses a charming yet mischievous sense of humor. A stand in perhaps for the street artist himself, this bloke always manages to keep his face concealed from the public as he is seen vandalizing the city—all while dressed in a gentleman’s disguise. Nick Walker (British) c. 2011 Stencil Wythe between N10th and N11th Coming out of the street art scene in Bristol, Nick Walker moved from graffiti to stenciling in the early 90’s. The artist’s iconic bowler hatted character is an urban prankster whose work possesses a charming yet mischievous sense of humor. A stand in perhaps for the street artist himself, this bloke always manages to keep his face concealed from the public as he is seen vandalizing the city—all while dressed in a gentleman’s disguise.
(British) c. 2011 Stencil Wythe between N10th and N11th Coming out of the street art scene in Bristol, Nick Walker moved from graffiti to stenciling in the early 90’s. The artist’s iconic bowler hatted character is an urban prankster whose work possesses a charming yet mischievous sense of humor. A stand in perhaps for the street artist himself, this bloke always manages to keep his face concealed from the public as he is seen vandalizing the city—all while dressed in a gentleman’s disguise. Nick Walker (British) c. 2011 Stencil Wythe between N10th and N11th Coming out of the street art scene in Bristol, Nick Walker moved from graffiti to stenciling in the early 90’s. The artist’s iconic bowler hatted character is an urban prankster whose work possesses a charming yet mischievous sense of humor. A stand in perhaps for the street artist himself, this bloke always manages to keep his face concealed from the public as he is seen vandalizing the city—all while dressed in a gentleman’s disguise.
(American) c. 2011 Drip Painting N11th between Wythe and Berry Despite his abilities as a realist painter in the gallery setting, Paul Richard’s street portraits possess a playful sense of spontaneity and quickness as he manages to capture the facial features of his subjects with nothing more than a few drips of paint. Rather than applying his portraiture on the surface of a building, allowing for the work to be more easily seen by pedestrians, Richard plays with the public’s general inattentiveness to their urban surroundings by painting on the city’s sidewalks. Paul Richard (American) c. 2011 Drip Painting N11th between Wythe and Berry Despite his abilities as a realist painter in the gallery setting, Paul Richard’s street portraits possess a playful sense of spontaneity and quickness as he manages to capture the facial features of his subjects with nothing more than a few drips of paint. Rather than applying his portraiture on the surface of a building, allowing for the work to be more easily seen by pedestrians, Richard plays with the public’s general inattentiveness to their urban surroundings by painting on the city’s sidewalks.
(American) c. 2011 Drip Painting N11th between Wythe and Berry Despite his abilities as a realist painter in the gallery setting, Paul Richard’s street portraits possess a playful sense of spontaneity and quickness as he manages to capture the facial features of his subjects with nothing more than a few drips of paint. Rather than applying his portraiture on the surface of a building, allowing for the work to be more easily seen by pedestrians, Richard plays with the public’s general inattentiveness to their urban surroundings by painting on the city’s sidewalks. Paul Richard (American) c. 2011 Drip Painting N11th between Wythe and Berry Despite his abilities as a realist painter in the gallery setting, Paul Richard’s street portraits possess a playful sense of spontaneity and quickness as he manages to capture the facial features of his subjects with nothing more than a few drips of paint. Rather than applying his portraiture on the surface of a building, allowing for the work to be more easily seen by pedestrians, Richard plays with the public’s general inattentiveness to their urban surroundings by painting on the city’s sidewalks.
(American) c. 2011 Cement Wythe between N3rd and N4th R. Robot’s mechanical characters can be found anywhere from the large urban walls painted around Brooklyn to the illustrated pages of the artist’s children’s books. By simplifying his work down to the use of one singular recurring image—the robot—he explores a variety of universal narratives that are familiar while also somewhat obscured. Here, instead of working on the arrestingly colorful murals we are used to seeing around the city, R. Robot has playfully drawn his characters into the wet cement of the sidewalk. R. Robot (American) c. 2011 Cement Wythe between N3rd and N4th R. Robot’s mechanical characters can be found anywhere from the large urban walls painted around Brooklyn to the illustrated pages of the artist’s children’s books. By simplifying his work down to the use of one singular recurring image—the robot—he explores a variety of universal narratives that are familiar while also somewhat obscured. Here, instead of working on the arrestingly colorful murals we are used to seeing around the city, R. Robot has playfully drawn his characters into the wet cement of the sidewalk.
(American) c. 2011 Cement Wythe between N3rd and N4th R. Robot’s mechanical characters can be found anywhere from the large urban walls painted around Brooklyn to the illustrated pages of the artist’s children’s books. By simplifying his work down to the use of one singular recurring image—the robot—he explores a variety of universal narratives that are familiar while also somewhat obscured. Here, instead of working on the arrestingly colorful murals we are used to seeing around the city, R. Robot has playfully drawn his characters into the wet cement of the sidewalk. R. Robot (American) c. 2011 Cement Wythe between N3rd and N4th R. Robot’s mechanical characters can be found anywhere from the large urban walls painted around Brooklyn to the illustrated pages of the artist’s children’s books. By simplifying his work down to the use of one singular recurring image—the robot—he explores a variety of universal narratives that are familiar while also somewhat obscured. Here, instead of working on the arrestingly colorful murals we are used to seeing around the city, R. Robot has playfully drawn his characters into the wet cement of the sidewalk.
Sweet Toof
(British) c. 2011 Spray paint Seen from corner of Kent and N4th Previously working as a member of the Burning Candy Crew, Sweet Toof began graffiting on the streets of East London in the 1980’s. The artist’s signature set of pearly white teeth can be found in both his gallery and street work, grinning behind their bright pink gums. The basic shapes and limited color palette used in his street art enable a quick execution that is necessary when painting illegally. Bringing to mind false dentures amusingly worn by children, the simplicity found within his work is both playful and familiar. By painting a mouth on the top of the building—seen here from both the street level and while crossing the bridge—Sweet Toof brings the city’s architecture to life. Sweet Toof_Kent (British) c. 2011 Spray paint Seen from corner of Kent and N4th Previously working as a member of the Burning Candy Crew, Sweet Toof began graffiting on the streets of East London in the 1980’s. The artist’s signature set of pearly white teeth can be found in both his gallery and street work, grinning behind their bright pink gums. The basic shapes and limited color palette used in his street art enable a quick execution that is necessary when painting illegally. Bringing to mind false dentures amusingly worn by children, the simplicity found within his work is both playful and familiar. By painting a mouth on the top of the building—seen here from both the street level and while crossing the bridge—Sweet Toof brings the city’s architecture to life.

 

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