The Streets of New York Collection

Curator: Maria Brito

Profession: CEO, Lifestyling by Maria Gabriela Brito

About The Curator

About Maria Brito

Maria Brito is an interior designer, tastemaker, and authority on mixing contemporary art and interior design. She is the CEO and creative force behind Lifestyling © By Maria Gabriela Brito, a company that offers a unique approach to interior design by incorporating contemporary art into the interior. Lifestyling © By Maria Gabriela Brito offers full interior design and decoration services, sourcing, curating, and displaying art collections that truly reflect the company's clients' successes, tastes, and lifestyles.

Maria's projects have been published in magazines and newspapers around the world. She has been a speaker at events sponsored by a variety of luxury brands and companies ranging from Sotheby's Realty to SoHo House and has blogged about the topics of collecting and living with art for Forbes.com and most recently was featured by Gwyneth Paltrow as a guest editor on her popular weekly Newsletter GOOP. Maria, who is originally from Venezuela, is a Harvard grad and lives and works in New York City with her husband and two sons.

About The Collection

About The Streets of New York Collection

I have lived in New York City for more than a decade. This is the place where I draw most of my inspiration. The constant juxtaposition of elements, people, colors, styles, and the enormous creativity that can be breathed on the streets is what has fueled my own imagination and given birth to my company and where I have gotten most of my ideas. I saw the works of the artists that I curated in this collection for the first time in New York City, so they do tell a story, in part, my own.

On Check Fest by Kenny Scharf: "Kenny is an icon. He was such good friends with street art legends Jean-Michele Basquiat and Keith Haring and knows so much about them... I'm all about that era of the late '70s and early '80s and seeing Kenny's works always makes me smile. His most recent mural on the corner of Bowery and Houston was simply spectacular. A true king of graffiti."

On Dressed Up Bear on Money Bag by Tom Otterness: "When I first moved to NYC, I remember taking the subway on 14th Street and 8th Av. and not being able to stop looking at Tom Otterness's Life Underground installation sculptures coming from the floor, on top of the handrails, under the stairs, etc. I was enthralled by the details of his work but also amused by his way of making fun of capitalism and Wall Street in a city pretty much ruled by money and the financial industry. Genius."

On Untitled (image of SpongeBob) by KAWS: "Everything Kaws does is so playful and interesting. When the Standard Hotel had his giant sculpture outside by the entrance this past summer, I took a picture with my iPhone and tweeted it. Two days after, the image made it to the hotel's blog among one of the best!"

On amour vivacité ardeur fantaisie by avaf: "I love avaf! Everything about this collective is fun and unique. And they have a Brazilian component that makes it all so carnival-esque and so vibrant! First time I experienced their work was in 2008 when Jeff Deitch had his "Deitch Projects" downtown. I love their edge, their fluidity, and the fact that they change their name all the time. This particular work is so compelling!"

On American Flag by Vik Muniz: "I met Vik in SoHo a few years ago and ever since have ran into him many times. He is such an amazing guy! I collect his work and consider him one of the very best contemporary artists of all times. I also remember when he did this flag for the New York Times Magazine cover in 2007. It was so special and the edition was entitled The Greening of Geopolitics. Brilliant!"