Ben Quesnel on The ‘Taking it to the streets’ Talk by the Bruce Museum

On July 9, Alvarez Gallery artist Ben Quesnel co-moderated the “Taking it to the Streets” Zoom event by The Bruce Museum, along with Leonard Jacobs, producer of the Bruce Presents series, a monthly series developed by the museum featuring notable leaders in arts and science.   

According to Jacobs, “Taking It to the Streets” is a relevant conversation around street art and the breakout moment it’s currently living by “embracing an unparalleled movement for civil rights and equality, at an inflection point in our nation’s history and discourse.”   

Jacobs highlights that “history teaches us that art and artists always lead the way toward confronting injustice and driving systemic change. There is perhaps a no better example of this than street art—truly the art of the people.”  This Zoom event featured five artists of the street-art vanguard, “representing a diverse, radically inclusive cross-section of this evolving visual art form”: Holly Danger (experiential designer and video artist, past exhibitor at Alvarez Gallery), Ana De Orbegoso (multimedia, including public projections), Yedi Fresh (illustration, painting, digital art, mural work), Jahmane (graffiti, large-scale murals, canvas, photography, fashion design) and Epic Uno (graffiti, package design, illustration, corporate identity). The artists engaged in a discussion about their work and assessed their impact. The event also highlighted Tatiana Mori, Executive Director of the Greenwich Arts Council, who named Epic Uno and Yedi Fresh the first two members of its Artists-in-Residence program.   

[1] Source: Bruce Presents: Taking It to the Streets: A Conversation with Contemporary Street Artists