BEYOND THE STREETS is returning to Saatchi Gallery with an all-new exhibition opening this November, bringing together new, historic and previously unseen works by leading figures in international street culture.
The landmark exhibition traces six decades of the extraordinary influence of street culture on contemporary art, photography, fashion, music and activism. The story is told through innovators and legends from graffiti, street art, hip-hop, 2Tone and a wider ecosystem of people willing to challenge boundaries and take risks, reshaping the world around them. These movements may take different forms, but they share the same core impulse to create, disrupt, and be heard on their own terms.
BEYOND THE STREETS transforms Saatchi Gallery into an immersive journey through the history of street culture and its ongoing influence. Spanning more than ten rooms and bringing together over 100 international creators, the exhibition features paintings, sculptures, fashion, ephemera, large-scale installations, site-specific interventions, immersive environments, historic works, new commissions, rare archives, and interactive experiences. Together, these works – many of which have been created specifically for the show – create a multilayered portrait of street culture: one that can be explored, experienced, and felt rather than simply viewed.
Top – The Specials photographed by Janette Beckman, Bottom left Normski, MC Duke. Riverside Hammersith. 1980s. Photo by Normski, Bottom right GOLDIE spraying a can of Buntlack. Photo by Gus Coral
This expansive exhibition features UK drum ‘n’ bass pioneer GOLDIE; internationally renowned artist KAWS; notorious s feminist artists the Guerrilla Girls; a tribute to one of the most stolen books in the world Subway Art; a spray paint infinity room; the artists behind the legendary icons of 2Tone – Beat Girl and Walt Jabsco; a short film from Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova; an animated puppet shop; and Damien Hirst.
A room dedicated to activism will feature work from the Black Panthers’ official photographer Neil Kenlock, a video piece from Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova, who spent two years in Russian prison for her 2012 protest performance Punk Prayer, works by emerging artist GG the Illustrator; the archive of the See Red Women’s Workshop, a London screen printing studio which produced some of the Women’s Liberation Movement’s most significant imagery from 1974 – 1990, and and Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the 2008 ‘HOPE’ portrait associated with Barack Obama’s successful 2008 campaign to become president.
The Big Issue – which has campaigned for opportunities for homeless, low-income and marginalised people across the UK for three decades – will mark its anniversary in the exhibition with 35 of its most influential covers.
The first ever The Big Issue. September 1991. Courtesy of The Big Issue.
Other highlights include a recreation of part of a New York City subway train inside the Gallery, works by graffiti pioneers FUTURA 2000, LADY PINK and ZEPHYR, notorious anonymous feminist artists the Guerrilla Girls, paintings by American artist Kenny Scharf, a comprehensive archive of English football firms’ calling cards, some of the earliest polaroids of US hip-hop stars dating back to 1971, photographer Jill Posner’s archive of radical 1970s feminist graffiti, works by neo-conceptual artist Jenny Holzer, seminal UK music photographer Normski, a retrospective of New York City subway art, a history of graffiti on the London underground, the archive of trailblazing UK magazine Hip-Hop Connection, and a history of the aerosol spray can, from its wartime use protecting soldiers from malaria to its defining role in global street art.
Elsewhere, there will be a room dedicated to the 2 Tone movement including photographs by Janette Beckman and original sketches, storyboards and artwork from the artists behind the instantly recognisable 2 Tone silhouettes.
