In the previous article, we did a high-level introduction to Brooklyn as whole, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge into DUMBO, and then briefly skimming through Williamsburg and Bushwick. With that introduction, we’ve only just scratched the surface of Brooklyn. Indeed, all of these neighborhoods deserve their own article. And, for Bushwick, that moment has come.
There’s a lot more to Bushwick than I’m going to cover here; it’s known for having a large Latino community, especially Puerto Rican and Dominican, and since the gentrification of Williamsburg, it has also become the new center of indie culture in Brooklyn. But that’s not what this article is about. Today, we’re here to go mural hunting!
We rode the L train to the Jefferson Street station in Bushwick, and basically from the moment I stepped out of the station, I was in mural heaven. Let me show you some of the murals I found…
BUSHWICK FOR THE WIN!
As always, I have to make an honest effort to track down the artists responsible for all of this magic. After a couple of hours on the internet, here’s what I was able to find—but if you notice that anybody is missing, please reach out and let me know so I can update these credits!
Before we let the credits roll, I want to address one tag in particular that you’ll see on many of the murals above: Bushwick Collective. The Bushwick Collective is a nonprofit that curates and commission murals, and one of the primary reason why Bushwick is so packed with this awesome art. The exact model varies: some artists are paid directly, some work pro bono for exposure, while still others are supported through various types of sponsorships. So, for art discovery, this organization is a good aggregator of all things street art in this neighborhood, but not in itself an artist. If you want to see some of the art they have enabled, check out this page on streetartnyc.com. It looks like there are still some absolutely bonkers murals that I missed!
Now, here are the actual artists…
Enzo Yabusero (@enzoartworld)
Cristhian Saravia (@golden305)
HUETEK (@huetek)
Andre Leon (@contrabandre)
NAP DONT SLEEP (@napdontsleep)
Manny Alejandro (@manuelalejandro.nyc)
Ross Pino (@rosspino88)
DUEL RIS (@7lineartstudio)
Nate Dee (@miaminate)
Mishka Bobishka (@mishkabobishka)
HOPS ART (@hopsart_1)
case_maclaim (@case_maclaim)
Adam Kiyoshi Fujita (@adamfu)
Ruben Ubiera (@urbanruben)
Ashley Hodder (@ashleyhodderart)
Santiago Spirito (@cabaiospirito)
If you want to see more of my coverage on street art around the world, click on one of these buttons!
It was a random walk down a few alleyways in Toronto in 2016 that began my obsession with street art. At that time, this website was already well-established… but this was the first time I had taken so many pictures of murals that I felt the need to give them their own article. You can read vol. 1 here. Fast-forward almost 10 years, and this has become perhaps my favorite series on this website.
Well, today is a special one. It’s time for a return to—NOT ONLY the city that started it all for this series on street art—but the EXACT PLACE in that city. Almost 10 years later, we’re back into Toronto for vol. 2, and we’re going to start in the same area where I originally fell in love with collecting murals: Kensington Market.