The Best Bushwick Collective Street Art and Where to Find It
In a world rife with complexities, finding joy in simple pleasures can reconnect us to the present moment. For us, that’s a good cup of coffee first thing in the morning, an open table at a busy restaurant, and discovering amazing street art. And there’s no better place than the Bushwick Collective for a street art fix. We’ve been traipsing to Bushwick for years just to check out the latest murals, and here’s our guide on how to find the best street art this hopping street art mecca has to offer.
Where is the Bushwick Collective?
Bushwick is a neighborhood in Brooklyn which neighbors popular Williamsburg and diverse Bedford-Stuyvesant. The Bushwick Collective is located in the heart of Bushwick, but doesn’t have hard boundaries. We often think of it as having a nucleus, which is located at the intersection of St. Nicholas Avenue and Troutman Street. It extends out from that core, covering street corners and shop gates far and wide.
The Bushwick Collective Mural Map above highlights some of the best street art the area has to offer, and we’ve described them individually in more detail below. You can open a full-size map and use it as a starting point to explore the area.
When is the best time to visit the Bushwick Collective?
Every year, the Bushwick Collective Block Party kicks off the unofficial summer season. It invites the best street artists from around the globe to create new murals, but the outdoor celebration also features musical performances and food trucks, drawing thousands to the neighborhood. If you’re interested in watching street artists at work, this is a great opportunity to do so. But the Bushwick Collective is worth a visit year-round, as most of the significant murals remain untouched between the events, and new ones continue to pop up all the time.
How do I get to the Bushwick Collective?
Brooklyn Beer Garden in Bushwick
If you’re traveling to the Bushwick Collective by subway, take the L train to the Jefferson St stop. If you’re traveling by car, the intersection of St. Nicholas Avenue and Troutman Street is the heart of the action, but you can also map to a nearby landmark like the House of Yes or Brooklyn Beer Garden (both of which are also plastered with fantastic street art). Just note that if you're trekking out for the Bushwick Collective Block Party, you should check for road closures.
Iconic Bushwick Collective Street Art You Shouldn’t Miss
Biggie Smalls by Danielle Mastrion
The sacred Biggie Smalls mural by Danielle Mastrion has remained undisturbed in its prime spot on Troutman Ave in the Bushwick Collective since 2012. In the ephemeral world of street art, this is an especially unusual honor. Mastrion, who is Brooklyn born, is a classically trained oil painter. Her murals can be found in all of the city’s boroughs and across the world. On the 10-year anniversary of the Biggie Smalls piece, Mastrion gave it a refresh. It still attracts fans from far and wide and is one of the most recognizable and photographed pieces of street art in North America, perhaps even the world.
Please note: While the Biggie Smalls mural is still there, it is currently behind barricades due to an ongoing commercial project that is due to be completed in Fall 2024. It remains to be seen if the mural will be preserved.
Big Ears by Sipros Naberezny
Artist Sipros Naberezny and his signature Big Ears murals have been a Bushwick Collective staple for as long as we’ve been visiting. His current piece was painted in 2022, and features big-eared caricatures of fellow street artist Cristhian Saravia (@golden305), DJ Hadiex, and his wife and muse, Flavia Ramos. Pieces through the years always add a playful touch to the area, from a sinister Salvador Dali to a kid in an arcade claw machine surrounded by a sea of glazed doughnuts.
Portrait of a Girl by Christina Angelina
Christina Angelina’s portrait of a girl is one of our early favorites. Originally painted in 2016, the fact that the mural has endured continues to bring us joy. The Los Angeles-based artist has produced a number of incredible portraits throughout her career under the moniker @starfightera, earning her early fans like Ben Moody of the band Evanescence and drawing corporate partners like Uber and Porsche. Christina Angelina has said her characters are often different facets or manifestations of her own self. Although not nearly as massive in scale as other Bushwick Collective murals or her other street art pieces around the world, the girl on Artichoke Basile’s wall is bewitching in its simplicity. We continue to see new Bushwick visitors fall under her spell, with photos popping up on social media year after year.
Alicia Keys by Roberto Seminario (New for 2024)
Artist’s Instagram: @sef.01
Hailing from Lima, Peru, Roberto Seminario, who paints as Sef, has carved out a unique niche in the world of street art and graffiti. Combining his love of artistic realism with the innocence of youth, his murals often feature portraits of children. Many of them are fresh-faced versions of celebrities, like this girlhood image of world-famous singer, actor and producer Alicia Keys. His Bushwick Collective debut was an adolescent portrait of Basquiat, and we were utterly charmed by this sophomore effort.
Huddled Girl by Dasic Fernandez
Chilean artist Dasic Fernandez was one of our early street art discoveries, and we quickly fell in love with his signature rainbow-colored reverse drip. We’ve had the pleasure of watching him and his team work at a variety of mural festivals, but when he returned to the Bushwick Collective Block Party in 2023, he decided to work alone. His mural took five days to complete. The Huddled Girl mural sits unsuspectingly at the first floor level on Starr Street and is easy to miss. But that makes finding it all the more rewarding.
Keep Bushwick Litter Free by Jason Naylor
Jason Naylor is such a household name today, we struggle to remember when we first became aware of his work. We have photos of his colorful and inspirational murals dating back to 2017, when his specific brand of positivity was slowly proliferating the city. Whether intentional or not, his walls became social media bait when his thoughtful messages resonated with passerby after passerby.
His popularity continued to soar during the pandemic, when we were all yearning for kindness and connection. His Bushwick Collective presence has endured year after year. You can find his work where Scott Ave, St Nicholas Ave and Troutman St meet, if you look up. Or you can find him outside Heavy Woods, where his colorful mural pairs with the pink tables to conjure up the perfect photo opportunity.
Also make it a point to visit Naylor’s mural covering the Be Electric Studios building at 358 Troutman Street. The collaboration with Pittsburgh artist Ashley Hodder has a wonderfully psychedelic feel that is utterly charming in scale.
Angel Snake of Brooklyn by B Line Dot
Caffe Vita has been roasting specialty coffee out of Seattle since 1995. When they decided to penetrate the New York City coffee scene, they did so in two of our favorite neighborhoods. Their first location made our list of where to get coffee in the Lower East Side. Their second location in Bushwick is far more sizable, and functions as a roastery as well.
In 2020, Caffe Vita invited Seattle-based artist B Line Dot to decorate the shop’s exterior, and the incredible Angel Snake mural was born. Though we never need an excuse to drop by Caffe Vita for a coffee break, seeing this massive serpent in person always impresses.
Las Rosas by Robert Vargas (New for 2024)
Artist’s Instagram: @therobertvargas
Robert Vargas is known for the larger-than-life portraits that adorn his home city of Los Angeles, immortalizing such famous locals as Kobe Bryant and Eddie van Halen. For the 10th anniversary of the Bushwick Collective Block Party in 2021, the Pratt Institute graduate returned to his old stomping grounds to produce a meaningful street art piece inspired by the Latino community, who, as he put it, “are the first to arrive to work and the last to leave.” The large piece at the corner of Wyckoff Avenue and Troutman Street took over 30 hours to complete, and was actualized over three days despite a rainstorm and punishing 90-degree heat. In 2024 he reclaimed the spot with another stunning mural called Las Rosas.
Robin by Jeremy Biggers (New for 2024)
Producing work under Stem and Thorn, Dallas-based artist Jeremy Biggers has prioritized sharing his experiences as a Black man through his art. His latest piece is a portrait of his friend Robin, and the mural is an excellent monochromatic study of light and texture.
Although the piece he painted in 2022 of model and activist Chasity Samone has been painted over, it was one of our favorite murals of his. The striking red and blue palette, along with Biggers’s signature white polka dots splashed across the surface, turned us into lifelong fans.
Biggie and Basquiat by Maximiliano Bagnasco
Artists’ Instagram: @maxibagnasco
If you watched Conan’s travel series, “Conan O’Brien Must Go”, you would know that he commissioned a giant mural in Buenos Aires of him, Lionel Messi and the Pope. And guess what? Maximiliano Bagnasco painted the mural! Though Bagnasco’s Bushwick Collective mural is modest in comparison and can only be viewed from outside a closed lot, the colorful, life-like rendering of Biggie Smalls and Basquiat is still wholly impressive. And it’s just around the corner from Las Rosas, so make sure you don’t miss it.
Bushwick Breeze by Tymon de Laat
Much like one of our favorite street artists Eduardo Kobra, Tymon de Laat specializes in powerful portraits. The Rotterdam-based artist graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy, but he developed his signature style as he made his way through Central and South America and fell in love with its people.
In 2023, the Cultural Department of the NYC Consulate-General of the Netherlands worked with the Bushwick Collective to invite de Laat to participate in the annual Bushwick Collective Block Party. It was his first visit to New York. As is the case with most of his murals, the portrait that sits on the corner of St. Nicholas Ave and Jefferson St is based on a photograph captured by the artist. The subject, Kharlox Piñeda, is a Colombian man living in Bonaire, a small island in the Caribbean. De Laat met him on his travels, and also completed a portrait of his daughter.
Up From the Concrete by Claudio Picasso (New for 2024)
Artist’s Instagram: @cpwon
In 2024 a new neighbor moved in next to Tymon de Laat, and the two make quite a handsome pair. CPWon, or Claudio Picasso, formally trained in multiple artistic genres like sculpture and photography, and his many influences come through in his murals. Born in Chile and raised in Miami, he cut his teeth in one of the biggest street art playgrounds: Wynwood Walls. But his murals can now be found all over the world. We first discovered his work at the Punto Urban Art Museum in Salem, and have since encountered his murals in New York City’s most popular street art spots like the First Street Green Art Park in the East Village and East Village Walls in Chinatown. He is most widely known for the beautiful classic sculptures he renders onto walls, using color blocking and shading to create depth and magnify detail. His latest Bushwick Collective piece is a perfect showcase of his magnificent skills.
Mom and Baby by Corey Pane (New for 2024)
Artist’s Instagram: @coreypaneart
Corey Pane is an artist based in Connecticut, and much of his work has aligned with his passions in life, like music and sports. Though he’s not new to the Bushwick Collective, his 2024 mural was one of our recent favorites. Not only is it a stunning piece of work, but the subject is particularly heartwarming. Pane recently became a father, and the wall features a portrait of his partner and his newborn daughter, juxtaposed against a beautiful doe and her fawn.
Boug the Bulldog by Patrick Kane McGregor (New for 2024)
Animals are often the subjects of beloved murals, and the one by Patrick Kane McGregor is no exception. The Denver artist favors using dogs in his murals, so much so that he uses the term “walldogging” to describe his craft. He’s featured many breeds, but his bulldog Boug is his favorite model by far. Boug passed along several years ago, and McGregor continues to memorialize his pooch through his art. There was a beautiful mural of Boug outside the Little Beaver several years ago, and we were pleased to see a new larger-than-life incarnation on Jefferson Street.
Conclusion
The Bushwick Collective has earned quite a reputation over the years, and the high-profile spots are carefully curated by founder Joe Ficalora and extended by invitation only. But as we mentioned in an earlier section, the farther out you’re willing to wander, the more you’ll discover lesser known artists in “unsanctioned” spots. As street art talent continues to flock to the area, Bushwick and its surrounds has become an incubator with, quite literally, no boundaries. So put on your walking shoes and make a day of it. We’re sure you’ll find some new favorites of your own.
