Sitting in Derrick Adams's old Brooklyn studio at the beginning of the summer, we got to talking about his recent experience teaching art at Brooklyn College, and he lit up. Adams talks about making progress in securing better studios, improving exhibition spaces for students, and how his diverse and eclectic class was beginning to make work that other faculty members were calling some of the best student exhibits the school had seen. What was so heartening about the story was the authentic happiness generated by shared experiences, this idea of making progress in a group effort. Further down the road in Brooklyn, Beyond the Streets, the massive graffiti and street art influenced exhibition was about to open. Active participants from the earliest years of train graffiti and tags leading up to the worldwide explosion that became street art attest to a camaraderie and storytelling atmosphere among artists that I had never quite experienced before. Egos were shoved aside in a joint ambition to relate the massive history within the show, with everyone encouraging each other to do the best work possible. BLADE and LEE shared stories as Martha Cooper took photos; Takashi Murakami was hanging out at the Smith Street Tattoo Parlour installation, and Alica McCarthy was swapping tales with Barry McGee. It felt like family.
What struck me about the travels Juxtapoz took this summer was the recurring theme of idea of camaraderie, from Brooklyn to Juxtapoz issue release parties in Miami, to Tokyo and the RVCA World Tour. There was a genuine and authentic aspiration to care and nurture the scenes and one's peers in their respective art worlds. This is special. Of course you hear the tales of art history, the friendly rivalries and competitive nature of art sales and auction prices. But from what we experienced this past three months, as we begin to look beyond our 25th anniversary year, there seemed to be extra care and attention by all the artists to give back to their influences, remind themselves of the joys of rule-breaking and genre-bending, and make work that is primal, personal and meaningful.
The Fall 2019 issue feels like an ideal companion to this overarching camaraderie and authenticity. To have our founder, Robert Williams, featured for his newest works and show, alongside Derrick Adams, who has emerged over the past five years as one of the most exciting painters of his generation, is a perfect example. That Naudline Pierre and Alicia McCarthy are pages away from each other, Anna Park and Tomoo Gokita as well—it's not a passing of the baton, but finding ways to build a kinship between the generations, no matter where they are in their respective careers. That is what we have been striving for since 1994, and in the Fall of 2019, we savor the momentum. —Evan Pricco
BUY THE FALL 2019 ISSUE HERE
In Fall 2019:
Features on Derrick Adams, Robert Williams, Alicia McCarthy, Naudline Pierre, Anna Park, Tim Biskup, Michael Kagan, Tomoo Gokita, Heather Benjamin
Spotlights on George Clinton and Fluevog, Kensuke Koike, Dave Shuten, Kendra Yee, Ruohan Wang, RVCA World Tour, Pedro Pedro, Mike Shine's Berlin travels, Gil Bruvel, Sarah Cain, and the art history of Mickey Mouse at the Disney Family Museum
