The Artist Who Starred in Wild Style Returns to London with Landmark Exhibition

Elena Leo is the Arts & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.

Lee Quiñones, the legendary New York subway artist and actor, is back in London after more than four decades with Outside is America, a major exhibition at Woodbury House running from 20 October to 27 November. The show spans Quiñones’ career from 1982 to 2025, showcasing everything from rare early drawings to new large-scale installations.

Quiñones, widely celebrated as a pioneer of the city’s subway art movement, has not exhibited in London since his 1982 show at Lisson Gallery. Long before graffiti was embraced by the mainstream art world, he turned the subway into a canvas for social commentary. His murals, including the anti-nuclear double-car piece Stop the Bomb (1979), transformed Cold War anxieties and urban struggles into public art, capturing the energy and unrest of the city.

Born in Puerto Rico and raised on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Quiñones has also made his mark in film and music. He starred in Wild Style (1983), the defining hip-hop film, and appeared in Downtown 81 as well as Blondie’s iconic “Rapture” video. Coinciding with this London exhibition, the BFI London Film Festival is presenting a 4K restoration of Wild Style, highlighting Quiñones’ lasting impact on culture both on screen and on canvas.

Outside is America offers a rare opportunity to see an artist who helped shape contemporary culture alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Jenny Holzer, tracing his evolution from New York’s underground to the world’s leading museums, including MoMA, the Whitney, and the Brooklyn Museum.

Outside is America – Lee Quiñones Exhibition
Dates: 20 October – 27 November 2025
Venue: Woodbury House, London