Woodbury House is proud to present “OUTSIDE IS AMERICA”, a landmark exhibition by Lee Quiñones, one of the most influential artists to emerge from the New York City street art movement. Opening on 16th October 2025 with a private view attended by the artist, the exhibition marks Lee Quiñones’ first solo show in London in forty years, following his 1985 presentation New Horizons at Riverside Studios.

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and raised on New York’s Lower East Side, Lee Quiñones began painting subway car murals in 1974. From the beginning, he used art as a form of social commentary — a visual protest against nuclear war, poverty, racism, and classism. His 1979 mural Stop the Bomb became one of the most iconic double-car paintings in New York’s subway history, a defiant statement on Cold War politics. In 1978, his transformation of a Lower East Side handball court into a monumental mural introduced art into the public space — the first of its kind and a catalyst for what became a global street art movement.

“OUTSIDE IS AMERICA” brings together an extraordinary selection of paintings, drawings, and Lee Quiñones’ distinctive “tablet works” — fragments of his studio walls inscribed with phrases, poems, and layers of colour that serve as living records of his process.

Through these works, Lee Quiñones examines systemic violence, misinformation, and the erosion of leadership — themes that have remained central to his practice for over five decades. Quiñones describes America today as “a ship with a wheel but no rudder… a giant hurricane where no one knows which way is north, south, east, or west.” His works respond to this atmosphere of instability, using wordplay, symbolism, and figuration to question complacency and insist on accountability.

The exhibition also uses Lee Quiñones’ framework as an American to explore larger historical connections between urban centres devastated by external forces — including London. He likens the devastation of 1970s New York to the Blitz, “a city disinvested in, left to burn, yet alive with resilience,” drawing a parallel between disillusion, fragmented communities, and the conditions that can spark powerful new art.

“Art arrives at the time it deserves. A painting made twenty years ago may only make sense today,” says Quiñones. “These works retrospectively carry forward conversations I’ve been having my whole life — about the human condition, our collective hypocrisy, and how we can possibly move forward together.”

Highlights of “OUTSIDE IS AMERICA” include Red Dawn (2021), a portrait of Red Cloud, the Lakota tribe leader. The work fuses Indigenous Taíno iconography with a wry linguistic twist — the phrase “get off my lawn” reimagined as “get off my dawn” — reframing resistance as reclamation.

In No Strings Attached (2021), Lee Quiñones depicts Public Enemy’s Chuck D as a puppet freed from his strings, symbolising emancipation from systems of control. The painting reflects on manipulation and displacement — a call for cultural agency and self-determination.

One of the exhibition’s most poignant works, Heart in a Hurricane (2009–2025), takes the form of a floor-based installation featuring a distressed American flag beside a quiet self-portrait. Quiñones describes it as “a flag and countryman in mourning, land of the slave, no wind in its sails” — a searing reflection on national identity and human vulnerability.

The show also includes historic works such as LEE (1979), created during the first European exhibition of the New York graffiti movement at Galleria La Medusa in Rome, alongside The Fabulous Five. Another key piece, Black Panther (1982), represents a pivotal moment in Quiñones’ artistic evolution — bridging the vivid, declarative energy of his graffiti beginnings and the more nuanced, painterly language that would define his mature practice.

Created during a period of deep experimentation with tone and hue, Black Panther embodies Quiñones’ exploration of how darkness itself can illuminate form. Moving away from the fluorescent palettes and hard outlines of his subway murals, he sought a quieter power — one defined by restraint, atmosphere, and emotional depth.

As Quiñones reflects: “It’s about not outlining the panther, but letting the panther outline itself — using less for more, not having to highlight everything with brightness, but highlighting everything in the darkness.”

Visually, the panther’s silhouette materialises organically from surrounding shadows, its presence felt as much as seen. Unseen by the artist himself since its creation, the work re-emerged in pristine condition over forty years later — a rediscovered marker of his instinctive ability to extract emotion from minimal means.

The exhibition also presents Wildstyle Heart (1982), a drawing created during the filming of Charlie Ahearn’s seminal film Wild Style, in which Lee Quiñones starred. The work was made directly off-set after filming scenes in the South Bronx and connects to the film’s emotional core — the “Love Stinks” sequence painted inside an abandoned supermarket.

Executed in graphite and spray paint, Wildstyle Heart carries a raw, textural energy that captures both the vulnerability and resilience of an artist translating personal heartbreak into creative expression. Unseen until its debut at “OUTSIDE IS AMERICA”, it bridges the cinematic and the personal — a rare document of the man behind the movement, caught between love, loss, and legacy.

The private view on 16th October 2025 at Woodbury House, Mayfair, welcomed collectors, curators, and cultural figures for an evening that celebrated both the artist’s return and his continued evolution. Lee Quiñones was present throughout the night, personally greeting guests and signing exhibition catalogues, each featuring a foreword by Pedro Alonzo — the internationally respected curator known for his work at the ICA Boston and Dallas Contemporary.

The atmosphere was charged with anticipation and admiration, enhanced by an exclusive DJ set from Andy Purnell, whose music underscored the energy of the evening. Attendees included friends of the gallery and fellow artists such as Torrick ‘TOXIC’ Ablack, Nemo Librizzi, JonOne, and Remi Rough, each paying homage to a peer and pioneer whose influence continues to span generations.

From the moment the doors opened, “OUTSIDE IS AMERICA” resonated as more than an exhibition — it was a gathering of artists, thinkers, and believers in art’s power to question, provoke, and heal.

On 17th October 2025, Woodbury House hosted a public book signing with Lee Quiñones, inviting visitors to meet the artist and have their catalogues signed. The session drew crowds of admirers, collectors, and students — a rare opportunity to engage directly with one of the founders of contemporary street art.

Throughout the afternoon, Quiñones shared insights into the stories behind his works, his disciplined studio practice, and his reflections on both America’s cultural landscape and the evolution of the movement he helped to pioneer.

“OUTSIDE IS AMERICA” garnered immediate global attention from both art-world and mainstream media. Features appeared in Hypebeast, Inspiring City, FAD Magazine, Art Plugged, The Upcoming, and Times Radio, each recognising the show as a landmark in Lee Quiñones’ artistic journey.

Press coverage highlighted the exhibition’s balance between historical reflection and contemporary urgency, praising its ability to situate Quiñones’ voice firmly within today’s social and political climate.

Through “OUTSIDE IS AMERICA”, Lee Quiñones offers a meditation on power, loss, and perseverance. His paintings are not declarations but questions — urging viewers to confront the state of a nation and, by extension, the human condition.

Drawing parallels between New York City in the 1970s and London during the Blitz, Quiñones explores how both cities — devastated by neglect yet alive with creative resistance — birthed artistic revolutions.

As Pedro Alonzo notes in his foreword:

“Lee’s practice, as well as those of his peers, largely emerged from neighbourhoods and communities that had been devastated by redlining, disinvestment, and discriminatory lending policies.”

In this sense, “OUTSIDE IS AMERICA” is both a personal and political act — a testament to survival, reflection, and transformation.

Download the exhibition catalogue to read the full foreword here: ‘OUTSIDE IS AMERICA’ Exhibition Catalogue

“OUTSIDE IS AMERICA” remains on view at Woodbury House, 29 Sackville Street, Mayfair, London, until 28th November 2025. The exhibition stands as both a reflection on Lee Quiñones’ extraordinary journey — from painting New York subway cars to exhibiting in major museums worldwide — and a meditation on art’s role as conscience and witness.

For Woodbury House, the exhibition reaffirms its mission: to champion artists who began on the streets and went on to redefine contemporary art. “OUTSIDE IS AMERICA” is not just a return — it is a reckoning, a renewal, and a reminder of art’s enduring power to speak truth to power.

You can learn more about Lee Quiñones and his latest exhibition by downloading the exhibition catalogue for “OUTSIDE IS AMERICA” by enquiring below.

Lee Quiñones (b. 1960, Ponce, Puerto Rico) is widely regarded as the most influential artist to emerge from the New York subway art movement. His work, grounded in social and political consciousness, bridges the worlds of street art and fine art. His paintings and drawings are held in major public collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, and Pérez Art Museum Miami, among others.

Quiñones’ practice has evolved across decades — from the spray-painted trains of the 1970s to the introspective studio works of today — yet his message remains consistent: art as resistance, art as truth.

You can learn more about Lee Quiñones and his latest exhibition by downloading the exhibition catalogue for “OUTSIDE IS AMERICA” by enquiring below.

Woodbury House is a private art gallery located in Mayfair, London, specialising in post street and graffiti art. The gallery represents pioneering artists including Blek le Rat, Richard Hambleton, DEFER (Alex Kizu), Torrick ‘TOXIC’ Ablack, Gary Stranger, Lee Quiñones, and Goldie.

Through exhibitions, collaborations, and events, Woodbury House continues to celebrate artists who transformed the streets into canvases and brought social consciousness into contemporary art.