ArtNowNY: Push It

ArtNowNY presented Push It, a group exhibition curated by Melissa McCaig-Welles featuring 21 New York and California-based artists exploring the crossover between street art and fine art practice. The opening reception ran April 3rd at 6pm, followed by an after party at The Electric Room at Dream Downtown with a DJ set by Alison Mosshart of The Kills.

Opening Reception: April 3rd, 2014 | 6–9 PM

Exhibition Dates: April 3rd–26th, 2014

Push It frames a conversation that’s been building for years: how the street art genre — historically rooted in subversive, low-brow culture — is reshaping what happens in fine art studios. Street art, broadly defined as eye-catching or confrontational work placed in public venues through wheat-pasted graphics, stencils, paintings, object interventions, or 3D installations, has moved decisively into institutional spaces.

The show explores that shift through a range of practices. Maya Hayuk, a New York mid-career artist, was recently commissioned for the Bowery Wall in lower Manhattan. Swoon brings her signature intricately cut wheat-paste stencils, floating sculptures, and installations made from found and low-fi materials — work that layers aesthetic sophistication onto economic and environmental commentary. Lady Pink and GILF use their platforms to advance social and political examination.

Push It deliberately avoids the tired binary of high versus low art, surveying instead the fluid, transdisciplinary approach of artists who have long since moved past that argument.