Museum of Graffiti

The Museum of Graffiti (MoG) first opened its doors in late 2019. Co-founders Alan Ket and Allison Freidin form an apropos duo to head the museum. Ket is a graffiti artist veteran and brand consultant, while Freidin practices law and has frequently represented street artists. Ket and Freidin selected their current space for MoG because of the Wynwood Art District’s history with street art. The area has always had a rich graffiti and street art culture, and this was only magnified when Tony Goldman created Wynwood Walls, a public street art space reclaimed from industrial zones. The walls feature dozens of murals by rising local and established international artists, and attract millions of visitors each year. Ket, who had previously worked with Goldman, felt that there was a need to educate the public who visited Wynwood about street art. Though there are literally hundreds of monumental murals decorating the streets of Wynwood, context and history were lacking. 

Eleven artists, including Slick, Shoe, Abstract, and Entes, were selected to create a mural on the facade of MoG. The 3,000 square foot interior is just as decorated with street art. A permanent exhibition charts sixty years of street art’s history through photographs, oral histories, mixed media sculptures, and an entire wall of vintage spray paint cans. In addition to the permanent gallery, there are also two galleries for temporary exhibitions. These have included an artist retrospective for Niels Meulman, who goes by Shoe in the graffiti world. Shoe hails from Amsterdam and works in a calligraffiti style, which combines elements of calligraphy with street art. Another major temporary exhibition was titled, “The Fabric of America: Artists in Protest.” This exhibit included thirty denim jackets designed by local graffiti artists and illustrators to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

In addition to the permanent and temporary exhibitions, MoG also hosts a variety of community events and initiatives. Unsurprisingly, some of these include contributing additional street art murals to the Wynwood area. For example, a monumental mural titled “AMERICAN HISTORY” graces the walls of two buildings near the museum at NW 25th Street and 3rd Avenue. Another project is a series of classes run by professionals which teach the public how to create graffiti and street art using spray paint and traditional techniques. Print signings, artist guided tours, film screenings, and art talks also frequently grace the museum’s itinerary. Visitors to the museum can also visit the gift shop and purchase artists’ prints, street art supplies, publications, and apparel.

MoG positions itself primarily as an educational space, rather than as a gallery or commercial hub. Ket and Freidin strive to create a counter-narrative to many of the often repeated myths and misconceptions about graffiti and street art. One of the most ubiquitous misconceptions is that graffiti is always associated with gangs. The permanent exhibition chronicling the history of graffiti traces its origin to New York City in the 1970s. Graffiti’s grassroots growth and explosion of popularity can be linked to its compelling social and political messages, as well as easy accessibility. Another misconception is that graffiti or street art is vandalism. While certainly some works are acts of vandalism, the museum also explores the rigorous process involved in locating suitable spaces, acquiring permits, and the act of legal creation. Finally, graffiti and street art are often thought of as ephemeral art forms. MoG opposes the idea that it should be this way. The museum strives to document and record as much as it exhibits. A digitization partnership with Florida International University is helping the museum in this endeavor. Because graffiti and street art have historically been transient arts, there was no unified preservation effort before the museum began its efforts. In this way, MoG is a trailblazer for the culturally vibrant and aggressively contemporary art forms of graffiti and street art.

About Us, Museum of Graffiti. Accessed December 2nd 2020. https://museumofgraffiti.com/about-us/.

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