Lee Quiñones Returns to London with ‘Outside is America’

Lee Quiñones didn’t just witness the birth of graffiti, he helped to write it… literally! Emerging from the subways of 1970s New York, his murals became powerful tools for social and political commentary. His work pushing the boundaries of what public art could be. Being a key part of a movement that would echo far beyond the city’s underground.

Painting Trains

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico he was raised on New York’s Lower East Side. Lee Quinones began painting subway cars in 1974. In a city gripped by crisis, his murals sped across the subway system. He became a key player in a growing art form that would transform the city. Something that would go on to spread across the World.

Developing Style

At this time, Lee would often write his name ‘LEE’. Colourful and often combined with a character, they would take different forms and sometimes with messages attached. His Stop the Bomb double whole-car mural (1979) for example delivered a blunt message about Cold War tensions. Whilst his 1978 transformation of a Lower East Side handball court is regarded as one of the first true public murals of the modern street art era. It was a pivotal moment. A signal that art didn’t need to wait for gallery walls.

Wild Style and Subway Art

In the early 80’s two key cultural artefacts were pivotal in spreading the world of New York graffiti. Subway Art by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfont and the movie ‘Wild Style‘ by Charlie Ahearn. Both featured Lee Quinones with the artist actually playing the lead in Wild Style. Together they would help establish LEE as a key part of the culture happening at the time.

Graffiti to the Gallery

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Quinones became a key figure in New York’s East Village scene. Exhibiting alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Futura, Jenny Holzer and Martin Wong. He helped to blur the lines between the street and the gallery. Using symbolism, language, and figuration to challenge complacency and hold power to account.

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

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A Dialogue Between Cities

Quinones has always drawn inspiration from the urban environment. Both its harshness and its resilience. Reflecting on the New York of his youth, he likens the city’s disinvestment and decay to London during the Blitz. Both cities, he says, were “left to burn, yet alive with resilience.” His exhibition, Outside is America uses that lens to explore shared histories between urban centres. From the Bronx to London they have been shaped by external forces, systemic neglect and the creativity that emerges in response.

In the foreword to the exhibition Curator Pedro Alonzo said:

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

For Woodbury House, hosting this show is a moment to reflect on a lifetime of influence. Joseph Bannan, Partner at Woodbury House, explained:

“From the subway cars of New York to the permanent collections of the world’s most respected museums. Lee Quiñones has continually expanded the language of contemporary art while remaining deeply rooted in social and political commentary. Outside is America is not simply a return to London after four decades. It is a landmark moment to reflect on a career that speaks as urgently to today’s climate as it did in the 1970s”.

Outside is America opened with a private view on Thursday, October 16th at Woodbury House. The exhibition runs until November 28th, 2025.

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