City as Canvas Exhibition Tour

Traveling to the IMA from the Museum of the City of New York, City as Canvas features more than 100 works from the Martin Wong Collection and chronicles the origins of graffiti and its evolution from a creative outlet – viewed by many at the time as a public nuisance – to an accepted form of art.  With intricate drawings, colorful works on canvas, and photographs of graffiti writing that have long since been erased, the exhibition will explore the movement’s beginnings on the streets and subways of New York, the reasons it exploded as a form of artistic expression during this time period, and the complexity of its youthful artists and their creative process.

Please note: this exhibition contains some profanity and mature content

Image Credit: SaneSmith, Sane Rock, ca. 1990, ink on paper, 8 × 11 in. Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Martin Wong, 94.114.188.