MCCAIG WELLES GALLERY
MCCAIG WELLES GALLERY
MCCAIG WELLES GALLERY
McCaig-Welles Gallery was founded on the belief that art has the power to reflect, disrupt, and heal. Since its inception, the gallery has championed mid-career and emerging artists whose work grew from the urban aesthetics that defined cities across the U.S. leading up to the millennium. The impact of these movements now resonates in contemporary media, pop culture, and museums worldwide.
For more than two decades, Melissa McCaig-Welles has curated exhibitions that hold a mirror to society—showcasing artists whose work challenges convention, sparks dialogue, and speaks to the times we live in. Today, her practice continues to evolve beyond the walls of the gallery, expanding into community spaces and classrooms where creativity becomes a catalyst for connection, learning, and hope.
Origins
Founded in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2001, McCaig-Welles Gallery has long championed artists whose work emerged from the urban aesthetics that redefined contemporary art. The gallery’s exhibitions in New York City, and abroad have showcased artists who use creativity as a mirror for social change—bringing the energy of the street into the global art conversation.
Creative Futures
Today, McCaig-Welles’ work extends beyond gallery walls into classrooms and public spaces. Melissa McCaig-Welles curates projects that bridge art, education, and social connection.
Recent example: an installation by Queen Andrea at the Fundación María Cristina Masaveu, curated for the museum’s children’s and after-school art wing—celebrating imagination, resilience, and joy.
Partnerships
McCaig-Welles and her represented artists have collaborated with institutions including The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, PS1, and the Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson. Through these partnerships, the gallery continues to expand art’s role in public life—connecting artists, educators, and communities in spaces of beauty, belonging, and hope.
NEW YORK CITY
Notable Exhibitions
The Future Is Now
The Highline Loft, New York City (2013)
Curated by Melissa McCaig-Welles, The Future Is Now brought together leading street and urban contemporary artists for what Brooklyn Street Art described as a “blueprint for the 21st century’s multimedia art experience.” The exhibition blended traditional and digital media, showcasing artists whose work defined the evolving visual language of contemporary urban culture.
Push It
Joseph Gross Gallery, Chelsea, New York
Curated by McCaig-Welles Gallery, Push It celebrated artists emerging from the street art movement who have redefined the urban aesthetic. Featuring artists such as INDIE184 and Tracy Piper, the exhibition explored the vibrancy, resilience, and storytelling power of the city itself—expressed through graffiti-inspired, color-saturated works that challenged and energized the gallery space.
Brooklyn Is The Borough
Doyle Auction House, Manhattan, New York
In collaboration with Doyle Auction House, Melissa McCaig-Welles curated Brooklyn Is The Borough, a dynamic exhibition honoring the creative spirit of Brooklyn. The show featured artists long associated with McCaig-Welles Gallery—pioneers of the “new contemporary” and “urban” art movements—and marked her continued curatorial work with major institutions following the closing of her Williamsburg gallery.
Then She Did
The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City (2018)
Co-curated by Melissa McCaig-Welles and Lori Zimmer, Then She Did featured works by 23 women artists, including Lady Pink and Swoon. The mixed-media exhibition explored themes of femininity, sexuality, independence, and activism through deeply personal and politically resonant works. A portion of proceeds supported WIN NYC, an organization providing housing and services for homeless women and children.
From the Streets
ArtsWestchester, White Plains, NY (2017)
Co-curated by Melissa McCaig-Welles of Curator 19.90 and Marc Leader of 212 ARTS, From the Streets celebrated the evolution of graffiti and urban art from public walls to institutional recognition. The exhibition featured large-scale murals, photography, sculpture, and installations by more than 25 internationally recognized street artists, capturing the energy and diversity of a global movement. By bringing street art into the gallery space, From the Streets invited new audiences to engage with the form as both contemporary art and cultural history.
Community Partnerships/ Art and Education
Make it stand out
BRIDGING ART AND EDUCATION
From Gallery Walls to Classrooms
A Curatorial Practice Rooted in Community
Melissa McCaig-Welles recently curated an installation by New York–based artist Queen Andrea (Andrea von Bujdoss) at the Fundación María Cristina Masaveu in Madrid, Spain. The work, located in the museum’s children’s art and after-school education wing, embodies the joyful intersection of art, learning, and community that now defines McCaig-Welles’ practice.
Radiating optimism and color, Queen Andrea’s mural celebrates imagination and play—values central to McCaig-Welles’ ongoing mission to connect art and early childhood education in New York City. Through projects like this, she continues to explore how creative expression can strengthen literacy, belonging, and hope—transforming both gallery spaces and classrooms into places where art becomes connection.
INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
MADRID, SPAIN
Curator & Co-Designer — PLAY
Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson, Madrid, Spain
Co-designed and curated by Melissa McCaig-Welles in collaboration with NYC street artist Queen Andrea
Melissa McCaig-Welles co-designed and curated PLAY, a site-specific public installation created for the María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation’s Child Enrichment and Art Classes Program in Madrid. Developed for the museum’s youth-centered Street Art space, the project transformed the building’s freight elevators—high-traffic transitional spaces used daily by children and adolescents—into an immersive, uplifting environment intentionally designed for young learners.
Working in close collaboration with renowned NYC street artist Queen Andrea, McCaig-Welles co-developed the installation’s conceptual framework, visual language, and spatial design. Featuring Queen Andrea’s signature typography and vibrant color palette, the work centered on the message “Always Play,” foregrounding creativity, movement, and emotional expression as essential components of childhood and identity development.
Her curatorial and design approach emphasized youth-centered spatial planning, culturally responsive public art, and cross-cultural collaboration. PLAY reflects the core values McCaig-Welles brings to arts education: accessibility, identity-affirming environments, and art experiences that cultivate joy, belonging, and children’s creative agency.
.BEIRUT, LEBANON
I
Tim Okamura, “Shaved Head”, Private Collection Beirut, Lebanon
Lead Co-Curator — Urban Dawn II
Factory Lofts, Beirut, Lebanon
Melissa McCaig-Welles served as Lead Co-Curator for Urban Dawn II, a large-scale international street art exhibition presented in Beirut during a moment of cultural reconstruction and social transformation. Produced in partnership with Loft Investments, the exhibition brought together global urban artists to create site-responsive works that directly engaged with Beirut’s complex political, social, and architectural landscape. Themes of post-conflict identity, displacement, resilience, and the role of public art in civic life formed the conceptual backbone of the project.
McCaig-Welles’s curatorial work encompassed concept development, navigating cross-cultural sensitivities, coordinating international artists, and guiding installations both inside newly constructed loft spaces and throughout the streets of Beirut. Community engagement was central to the exhibition, with artists creating public murals and socially engaged works that responded to Lebanon’s layered social realities and invited dialogue among local residents.
This project deepened McCaig-Welles’s understanding of how public art can foster cultural literacy, identity formation, and collective storytelling—insights that continue to inform her approach to arts education and her commitment to socially engaged, community-centered creative practice.
In addition to the exhibition, McCaig-Welles co-led a series of collaborative public art initiatives that foregrounded participatory art-making, cross-cultural exchange, and inclusive creative spaces. Urban Dawn II stands as a defining example of her curatorial focus on community collaboration and the transformative power of public art.
ATHENS, GREECE “Walls and Streets”
Lead Curator — Walls & Streets
Alibi Gallery, Athens, Greece
As Lead Curator for Walls & Streets, Melissa McCaig-Welles organized and installed an international exhibition featuring globally recognized street artists including Shepard Fairey, Swoon, Logan Hicks, and Cacao Rocks. Bringing together the urban art worlds of New York and Athens, the exhibition examined how street art operates as a global visual language—one rooted in social history, political expression, and public storytelling.
Positioned within Athens’s vibrant and politically charged public art landscape, Walls & Streets explored themes of activism, resistance, identity, and community. By presenting artists whose work is deeply connected to civic dialogue, the exhibition highlighted the parallel cultural narratives that define both cities and emphasized the role of public art as a catalyst for cross-cultural exchange.
McCaig-Welles’s curatorial responsibilities included conceptual design, artist selection, international logistics, and on-site installation. Through this work, she demonstrated her expertise in coordinating large-scale, globally sourced exhibitions and in shaping public discourse through intentional exhibition design. The project also reflected her belief in public art as an accessible form of visual literacy—an idea that continues to inform her broader practice as a curator, educator, and advocate for socially engaged arts.
SWOON
"Walls and Streets" was an international art exhibition and collaboration that took place in Athens, Greece, and was curated by New York-based Melissa McCaig-Welles. The show brought together a selection of street and urban artists from Athens and New York, creating a dialogue between the two city's art scenes. It was hosted at the Alibi Gallery in Athens and featured artists like Shepard Fairey, Swoon, and Cacao Rocks.
SHEPARD FAIREY
LOGAN HICKS
LECTURES AND DISCUSSION
Public Lecture — Street Art & Cultural Identity
Moscow Urban Forum, Russia (2017)
Lecture and Workshop Developed and Presented by Melissa McCaig-Welles
In 2017, Melissa McCaig-Welles delivered a public lecture at the Moscow Urban Forum on the cultural significance of street art in contemporary society. Speaking on the main stage, she examined works by influential artists such as Banksy to explore themes of protest, identity, and the evolving role of public space in shaping collective narratives. Through her analysis, she framed urban contemporary art as a global visual language—one capable of conveying social commentary, political critique, and shared memory across borders.
This presentation was part of McCaig-Welles’s workshop “Outside Borders,” a program she designed to investigate how street art fosters cultural dialogue, community expression, and cross-cultural understanding. Using visual case studies, audience engagement, and discussion-based inquiry, she highlighted the power of public art to amplify marginalized voices and invite broader participation in civic storytelling.
McCaig-Welles’s work at the Moscow Urban Forum reflects her ongoing commitment to accessible art education and socially engaged practice. Across her career, she champions the belief that visual culture can serve as a bridge—linking communities, generations, and learning environments through creativity, dialogue, and shared experience.