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J. Scott Orr

J. Scott Orr

Observer

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The Aerosol Awakening: Shepard Fairey On Street Art’s Infiltration of Miami Art Week

The Aerosol Awakening: Shepard Fairey On Street Art’s Infiltration of Miami Art Week

"There's a really generous spirit to people in street art, public art, graffiti, where people are doing things that they want everyone to be able to...

05.12.2025 2

Observer

J. Scott Orr

Will the Latest Basquiat Biopic Hew to History? Al Diaz Has His Doubts

Forty-seven years later, Samo has a life of its own—just not the one Diaz imagined when he and a 17-year-old Jean-Michel Basquiat picked up spray...

02.12.2025 3

Observer

J. Scott Orr

Fine Art Meets Street Art: The New Museum’s Freeman Alley Gambit

Whether Freeman Alley becomes the scene of some kind of dialogue between art worlds or another example of cultural appropriation may depend on how...

14.10.2025 2

Observer

J. Scott Orr

It’s Born to be Wild, But Street Art Doesn’t Always Stay That Way

The unprecedented increase in value of work by street artists has led to a commodification of a product that was once simply a source of public...

27.08.2025 2

Observer

J. Scott Orr

Beyond Times Square Sleaze: Jane Dickson Still Captures the Pulse of the City

A look back at her nearly five-decade career reveals flirtations with a raft of subjects ranging from carnivals to casinos, car races to quotidian...

19.08.2025 6

Observer

J. Scott Orr

Last Swipe: NYC’s Farecard Artists Face Extinction as the MTA Eliminates the Beloved MetroCard

As the city phases out the once-ubiquitous cards, artists like Juan Carlos Pinto, Thomas McKean and Nina Boesch are preserving their legacy.

22.05.2025 3

Observer

J. Scott Orr

Mapplethorpe Unbound: Rediscovered S&M Images Surface in New York City

The stark black-and-white compositions do what Mapplethorpe did best: transform the socially unacceptable into formalist art through meticulous...

09.04.2025 2

Observer

J. Scott Orr