Graffiti takes – as its point of departure – works from the 1950s and 1960s by artists such as Hedda Sterne, David Smith, Martin Barré, Dan Christensen, Carol Rama, and Charlotte Posenenske. In juxtaposition are spray paint on canvas works by seminal graffiti writers such as Rammellzee, Futura 2000, Blade, and Lee Quiñones. A selection of significant 1980s and 1990s paintings, which clearly reference or incorporate graffiti, by Lady Pink & Jenny Holzer, Martin Wong & LA2, and Keith Haring, is followed by more recent examples of spray paintings by Chris "Daze" Ellis, Michael Krebber, and Christopher Wool. 

This exhibition inaugurates a new long-term Museion research project which focuses on soft and non-violent forms of resistance – and art as a social and urban practice. New York based artist and archivist Ned Vena (b. 1982 Boston, USA) serves as co-curator. His artistic practice, which involves paintings, sculptures, installations, and films, was deeply informed by his active practice as a graffiti writer and his profound research into the history of graffiti; and vice versa, his thorough studies of the history of painting also shaped his understanding of graffiti. Both his personal dedication and cross-disciplinary archival knowledge manifest in the exhibition.

A “documenter of the constellation of social life,” Martin Wong (1946-1999) developed innovative approaches to technique and form, creating rich surfaces and intricate details from astrology, architectural space, and various modes of language. Wong was born in Portland, Oregon and raised in San Francisco, California. He studied ceramics at Humboldt State University, graduating in 1968. Wong was active in the performance art groups The Cockettes and Angels of Light before moving to New York in 1978. He exhibited for two decades at notable downtown galleries including EXIT ART, Semaphore, and P·P·O·W, among others, before his passing in San Francisco from an AIDS related illness. His work is represented in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; and Tate, London, UK; among others. Human Instamatic, a comprehensive retrospective, opened at the Bronx Museum of The Arts in November 2015, before traveling to the Wexner Center for the Arts in 2016 and the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in 2017. From 2022 to 2024, the first extensive, touring exhibition of Wong’s work in Europe, Martin Wong: Malicious Mischief, curated by Krist Gruijthuijsen and Agustín Pérez-Rubio, debuted at the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Madrid, traveling to the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin and the Camden Art Centre in London, before concluding at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. In dialogue with Canadian artist Paul P., Wong’s work was on view at P·P·O·W in Spring 2024 in The Midnight Sea, A Little Dash of LSD. His work is currently on view at the Whitney Museum, New York, NY and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.