Paint the Streets at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum

Media release: 5 September 2023

Paint the Streets

Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum

16 September 2023 – 6 January 2024

Brand-new exhibition, Paint the Streets opens at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum on 16 September 2023 until 6 January 2024
Curated in partnership with Worcester Paint Festival, the exhibition includes Worcester street artists alongside big names in street art such as Goldie, Banksy and Inkie
Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum will be open throughout the Worcester Paint Festival weekend, including a special opening on Sunday 17 September, 10.30am – 4.30pm.

The new exhibition Paint the Streets opens at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum on Saturday 16 September until Saturday 6 January 2024.

Exploring the story of street art in partnership with Worcester Paint Festival, Paint the Streets features work by pivotal artists from the US and UK including Shepard Fairey (Obey), Banksy, Goldie and Inkie, alongside a selection of current street artists who have been part of Worcester Paint Festival.

The exhibition has been co-curated with Kate Cox, founder of the Worcester Paint Festival which over the past 3 years has successfully raised the profile of street art in the City.

Although people have been expressing themselves via caves, walls and streets throughout history, the first ‘graffiti’ appeared on walls in Philadelphia in 1965. In the late seventies and early eighties there was a boom in the graffiti scene in New York. In 1984, UK graffiti culture exploded from London to Glasgow, with significant clusters in Bristol and the Midlands. Worcester was represented by young graffiti artists making their marks across the city at this time and later creating their own event, Class of 89 which drew young artists from the UK and beyond. Worcester’s first Street Art exhibition was held at the Art Gallery & Museum in 1990.

Celebrating street art, murals and graffiti, Worcester Paint Festival started in 2020, with a handful of murals (due to the pandemic), before the first festival launched in 2021. The festival aims to inspire, include and educate, delivering murals to the city each year from both established and emerging artists, and working with the city’s communities. Paint the Streets features artists who have been linked to Worcester Paint Festival, both past and current, from 2D pieces to spray cans and other items.

The exhibition includes works on loan from East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Worcester Paint Festival artists and archive from private lenders.

Deborah Fox, Senior Curator at the Art Gallery and Museum commented: “We are very pleased to collaborate with Worcester Paint Festival to bring Paint the Streets to the Art Gallery & Museum. It is wonderful to be able to celebrate Worcester’s home-grown street artists alongside big names such as Goldie and Banksy”.

Kate Cox, Curator of Worcester Paint Festival and Co-curator of Paint the Streets added: “It’s great to be able to tell the story of this controversial yet vibrant underground scene. Graffiti and street art history is so important culturally. We hope to educate, showing the intricacy and work involved, alongside an opportunity to view rare works from the early scene.

We expect thousands of visitors to visit the city during the festival weekend and beyond and hope the city will once again embrace both the murals and Paint the Streets.”

Worcester Paint Festival takes place on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 September. The Art Gallery and Museum will be open all weekend, including a special opening on Sunday 17 September 10.30am – 4.30pm.

Paint the Streets is on at Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum from 16 September to 6 January and entry is free. For more information, please visit www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk

ENDS

Press contact:

For further information contact:

Helen Large, at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum on email Helen.Large@worcester.gov.uk

Image Credit: ‘Heading for Global Destruction’ by Goldie. Created at the Bridlington International Street Art Contest, 1987. Photo courtesy of Martin Jones, Zulu Dawn Hip Hop Collection, based at Dudley Archives.

There will be a photo opportunity at the Art Gallery & Museum on Thursday 14 September, 11am with Kate Cox and Worcester street artists.

Exhibition Details:

Paint the Streets

Saturday 16 September 2023 – Saturday 6 January 2024 | Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum
Monday to Saturday 10.30am – 4.30pm. Special opening Sunday 17 September 10.30am – 4.30pm.

FREE entry

Related Events:

Special Sunday Opening

Sunday 17 September, 10.30am – 4.30pm. Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum will be open through the Paint Festival weekend, including Sunday 17 September.

Bite-size Talk

Tuesday 10 October 2pm Introduction to the exhibition with Kate Cox, Director of Worcester Paint Festival and co-curator of Paint the Streets.

£4 and can be booked in advance at the Art Gallery or online: Bite-size Talk: An Introduction to Paint the Streets – Museums Worcestershire

Museum after Hours – Paint the Streets

Friday 20 October, 6 – 8.30pm

Get your friends together and enjoy the Art Gallery and Museum on a Friday night. Enjoy a themed cocktail, check out Paint the Streets after hours, and have a dance as DJ Zee-Rock will be spinning some urban beats. Free entry and a cash bar.

About Worcester Paint Festival

For further information contact:

Kate Cox at Worcester Paint Festival, email: worcesterpaintfestival@gmail.com

About Museums Worcestershire

Museums Worcestershire is the joint museum service of Worcester City and Worcestershire County Councils. It comprises three fantastic venues– Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum, the Commandery in Worcester and The County Museum at Hartlebury Castle.

The collections and exhibitions at our sites are many and varied, covering centuries of the county’s history right up to the present day. Thousands of objects, including the historic buildings themselves, are brought to life through innovative exhibitions and events throughout the year.