PABLO PICASSO
HENRI MATISSE
HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC
JULES CHÉRET
ALEXANDER CALDER
SEN-1
STANLEY BOXER
ROY LICHTENSTEIN
FRANK STELLA
SAM FRANCIS

​Visionary graffiti artist SEN-1 tells us a major theme of Hip Hop and the street art scene is that if somebody copies or tags over you, you have to “up your game” to stand apart. A similar process happened on a much larger scale in the 20th century between PARIS + NEW YORK. In France, artists like Picasso & Matisse revolutionized art as we knew it, quickly displacing the old guard. In postwar New York, the upstart artists of the downtown arts scene, in turn, replaced their European forebears.

It’s a process that builds up, year after year—exactly the way a wall becomes covered in graffiti.

AN URBAN CONVERSATION: PARIS + NEW YORK is a celebration of the artists, past & present, who are galvanizing cultural dialogues, challenging the standards of aesthetics, and pushing the possibilities of artistic expression.