Lexi Bella

On this day in Street Art History: May 30, 2018.

I painted this 10-foot Cardi B Mona Lisa mural for the Block Party. Two days on the wall. About 10 hours of painting. Ten cans of paint donated by the festival. The rest paid for by me—including materials and babysitting.
Then reposted it.
✨Cool✨
Well, not exactly.
A digital collage artist whose image I had permission to use as reference suddenly claimed I had “stolen” her work, sparking a social media pile-on. Never mind that the image was based on a photograph by which was based on a woman, posed as a painting created by Leonardo da Vinci over 500 years ago.

The internet loves a villain, and apparently that week it was me.
The funny thing is while people were arguing online, I was busy painting two more murals.

Looking back almost a decade later, it’s wild. Today anyone can generate “Cardi B as the Mona Lisa” in five seconds. Back then, people were fighting over a remix of a remix of a remix.

The lesson:
Social media drama has a shelf life.
A 10-foot mural has a much longer one.
The things people do for clout.
🎨💅

streetarthistory

🧠Bushwick BK 2013 on a rooftop off Bway & Madison
My daughter was 2 & I painted these 2 “identical” faces while hanging off the ladder using my left hand for the left side and my right hand for the right side. My daughter napped u der an umbrella & when she woke up = ur done now. Thanks to tha homey Pebbles who hung out with us helped me manage & snapped this shot.

If you remember when Instagram looked like this you deserve lower back pain benefits fr.
May 2014 — painting a federally funded project with . & back when IG was square, chaotic, and actually fun.

before reels. before algorithms, before “influencers” and “content creators” before when artists could still post without billionaire fascists deciding what gets seen.

We were painting in the streets and posting for the world organically.
I am inspired by this nostalgia and We can create new ways to do this and make them solar punk & IRL 😘💪🏽👌🏼DONT WORRY THERES MORE OF US THAN THEM AND MOM 🌍IS ON OUR SIDE.

July 2018- Painting a Lucious 💎 for curated walls in