NEW YORK – After seeing a particularly striking woman on the door of the Performing Garage in SoHo, her head shaved, and skin tinted with green and pink spray paint, I wondered who was injecting extra intrigue into the street art scene. Fortunately a few tags and some Internet research later, I found out his name is Dain.
NEW YORK – San Francisco and Eureka, California, residents in the mid-1970s were lucky enough to be approached by a young man calling himself “The Human Instamatic,” who promised portraits for a small fee. This man was Martin Wong, who after collaborating with legendary San Francisco artists and performers like the Cockettes, made his name as a painter in New York. His work was a visual diary of the struggles and triumphs of his community.
NEW YORK – I’m still smarting from the loss of 190 Bowery and grappling with my opinions on real estate developer funded projects like Coney Island Walls, but while I was having internal arguments, the paint went on. In fact, 2015 was a vibrant year for street art and public art, with intriguing, engaging and even perplexing works from new-to-me artists like Ayakamay and Calen Blake, and old favorites like Swoon and Faile.
NEW YORK – This week, Martin Shkreli, alleged price-gouger of lifesaving AIDS and cancer drugs, was arrested for securities and wire fraud. Shkreli was making headlines for the $2 million purchase of “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” the single-pressing album by rap group the Wu Tang Clan. Needless to say, the Shkreli connection tested my devotion to the group, even though they have nothing to do with Shkreli’s business dealings. Which brings me to Duke A. Barnstable’s work, sitting quietly (and appealingly) on Lispenard Street, near Church Street, which may have renewed my faith.
NEW YORK – A man has a loving moment with the skeleton pony he rides across a red backdrop on a South Williamsburg wall. Across the street, disembodied hands and fingers strain for connection. Such are the surrealist wonders that greeted me after a walk across the Williamsburg Bridge.
NEW YORK – On the same street my great-grandparents opened their first grocery store as newly minted Americans 100 years ago, a battle for the heart of the Bronx plays out with bees, Joe Nobody, and one Dr. Pain and his army of hipster insects, trying to exterminate their hives with the “financial pesticide” of gentrification.
NEW YORK – It is a truth universally acknowledged, that in the season of cold and darkness, even the most jaded of New Yorkers jump at the chance to walk in, around, and through anything made of flashing, colored lights.
I was once again reminded of this ageless rule when running errands near the Flatiron Building and coming face to face with wintertime’s latest sculptural nemesis titled Nova.
NEW YORK – Alexander Hamilton may be the hottest politician in New York City thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical, but Honest Abe Lincoln may have a shot too, if street artist AINAC (Art is Not a Crime) has anything to say about it.
NEW YORK – The area where I grew up in Greenwich Village features historic buildings with plaques touting the equally historic people who graced them with their presence. Eleanor Roosevelt once spent the night here. Dylan Thomas disgraced his liver on our ground floor. Edgar Alan Poe once tore up a failed poem. They’re fun, but after a while I stopped noticing, and started being dismissive.
NEW YORK – Once I saw Magda Love’s My Head is a Jungle x2, I couldn’t stop looking for more women on walls. Perhaps I’m looking for a side order of guidance with my murals? My search was rewarded with Indie184’s mural on Orchard Street, above Broome. Continue reading