Politics and activism at the summer's biggest street art show

Works by Shepard Fairey, Cleon Peterson, and Conor Harrington at “Beyond the Streets.” Credit: Dan Bradica, courtesy “Beyond the Streets”

Stepping into “Beyond the Streets,” the two-floor graffiti and street art exhibition that opened in Brooklyn Friday, visitors are greeted by four words: defiance, disruption, activism, and ego.

They’re the words curator Roger Gastman used when asked what makes street artists tick during an interview with Yello.

“Not every single artist fits all four of those pillars, almost everyone fits into a majority of those pillars,” Gastman said. He laughed, “everybody has a few screws loose.”

Tagging or wheat pasting in public spaces is obviously defiant and disruptive, and no one who spray paints their name across a city is lacking in ego. As for activism, it’s an inescapable part of today’s street art landscape and of “Beyond the Streets.”

The exhibition is more than 100,000 square feet and opens by exploring graffiti’s modern roots, with early graffiti taggers and “Kilroy Was Here,” the meme of a man peeking up over a wall that became an Allied mascot during World War II (Kilroy also makes an appearance in the stairwell).

Modern graffiti began in the 1960s in Philadelphia and New York City, where names like Cornbread, JULIO 204 and TAKI 183 were written across cities (the numbers referenced the streets the graffiti taggers lived on). Also featured is a jacket painted by Keith Haring in 1989 and the photography of Martha Cooper, a former New York Post photojournalist who documented graffiti’s early decades.

One space in the exhibit hangs modern neon signs by artist Patrick Martinez across from framed posters from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s by the Black Panther Party’s in-house artist, Emory Douglas. The glow of neon messages like “Deport ICE,” “Fight The Power,” and “Invest In The Oppressed” reflect on the frames of Douglas’ work.

Broken Fingaz, an Israeli street art crew, mashed up ‘90s American pop culture with images of terrorism, war, world leaders, and burning flags in “Thanks For the Memories,” inspired by growing up during the Gulf War and watching American shows. Nearby, yellow walls display the work of the Guerrilla Girls, a feminist artist-activist collective that’s pushed for gender equality in the art world for more than three decades.

Fascism is a theme in work by Cleon Peterson, who uses only red, black, and white to depict uniformed men attacking victims, including Lady Justice. Peterson’s pieces hang behind a statue he created of a red uniformed man on a horse, called “Blood & Soil.” Across the floor, Conor Harrington explores patriotism and nationalism through abstracted figures and red, white, and blue striped flags in “Hot Air I Do Declare” and “The Trouble With Trolls.”

Shepard Fairey brought his 30th anniversary show, “Facing The Giant: 3 Decades of Dissent.” It features more than 30 pieces, including many iterations of his Obey Giant. Fairey’s pieces tackle topics like propaganda, war, and climate change. His 2013 series showing Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Richard Nixon was inspired by currency and stamps while his 2005 piece “Make Art Not War” makes a simple statement.

There’s an entire exhibit on the Beastie Boys, whose logo was made by Cey Adams in 1983, and the show branches out beyond street art, as its name suggests. Artists like Takashi Murakami, Felipe Pantone, KC Ortiz, and husband-wife duo DABS MYLA provide moments of color and delight.

Street art is an especially American art form, born in the northeastern United States and popularized alongside hip-hop and street culture. In a country with constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech protections, it pushes expression into the streets.

One wall leading to a water fountain and restrooms is decorated in vintage anti-graffiti posters, with phrases like “Say it, don’t spray it!” and “Wipe out graffiti.” Today, street art has gone mainstream, but the throwback PSAs are a nod to its renegade past and a reminder that activism and speaking out are as core to street art as defiance, disruption, and ego.