City Life Org – Museum of the City of New York Presents Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection

Lee Quiñones, Breakfast at Baychester, 1977. Museum of the City of New York / Martin Wong Collection (94.114.176) On View: November 22, 2024-August 10, 2025 “There are people who see the graffiti experience as a vocation of adolescence, rites of passage without a sense of direction…But I saw it early on as a catalyst to develop as a painter and explore the other horizons outside of a 40-foot subway car.” – Lee Quiñones The Museum of the City of New York proudly presents Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection, an extraordinary exhibition tracing the evolution of graffiti art from its roots on the streets of New York City in the early 1970s to recognition and celebration in galleries and museums worldwide. Above Ground showcases work drawn from the Museum’s substantial graffiti art collection, complemented by loans from private collections. It highlights the transition many graffiti artists made from tagging subway cars to creating paintings on canvas, marking a pivotal moment in the movement’s evolution as it entered broader public awareness and significantly influenced global culture. The exhibition highlights many never seen donated 30 years ago by the visionary artist and collector Martin Wong – including works in...