The Berlin Wall was many negative things but on the positive side it was a wonderful canvas for street art. Part of the wall has been preserved and highlights the often beautiful and provocative murals and graffiti on the wall. The preservation initiative is call the East Side gallery.
There are many good books that highlight the art of the wall. Some of the art work is absolutely amazing.
It was admittedly very cold; Perhaps too cold to spend the day outside wandering around the Long Island City industrial complex that is 5 Pointz, also known as the Crane Studios. But that did not deter us.
So on December 10, with temperatures in the 20s, we decided to meet there and examine the look of the landscape. The "we" included (from left to right in the photo) Sheila (photographer and script supervisor), MJ (blogmistress of Petopia ), Leona (journalist and novelist), Caroline (novelist and co-author of Confessions of a Carb Queen: A Memoir
I have been chronicling NYC street art for over 8 years (and even have some work from the 1970s and 1980s). What was so vibrant and active not even three years ago around the city has now dried up - very little of it is left as neighborhoods "gentrify". And what is left is a shadow of what was.
It is not just the free proliferation of aerosol street art around 5 Pointz, it is also the overall quality of work - the type that requires time to create. It is of extremely high quality. A place like 5 Pointz is very important to the cultural life of the city on both a historical basis and on an artistic basis. I hope that it not only survives but also thrives.
MeresOne, the CEO of 5Pointz, is trying to make this "Temple of Tag" a Graffiti museum. Let's give him a show of support!
This is a short video of the press opening of the Dorian Grey Gallery's street art salon which took place on Saturday December 11, 2010.
And there will be another opening this week - a public opening on December 16, 2010 - Thursday night from 6-9p at 437 East 9th street in the East Village. As the press opening was fun, so will the public opening. Come one, come all!
I never thought that I would say this but I love seeing squashed chewing gum on the sidewalk. Okay let me explain - I love seeing Ben Wilson's art work that is painted on squashed used chewing gum on the sidewalk. Mr. Wilson carefully paints each splat with beautiful and intricate designs. His work has been featured on BBC and a variety of other British media outlets. Oh if we could only get him to New York City where chewing gum circles are everywhere!
Read more: Artist Uses Old Chewing Gum to Beautify Sidewalks | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
The Subway Art blog takes its name from the NYC MTA subway. It is a celebration of anything creative that one can find on the subway, which in my opinion is massive. Take for example some graffiti that Jowy found on the J line (which is a line I don't usually take). The post is called "I Jew New York"
Some of the first graffiti I noticed when I moved off the J line three years ago was some lettering by the Lorimer Street station that spelled out “I [Star of David] Jew York.” I have only seen this tag about two or three times, up until last week when some sprung up at Essex Street, then at 14th and 8th Avenue. The artist has simplified his or her work since I last noticed it, by inserting a heart into the Star of David and dropping the text in most cases. Let us know if you seen any more of these colorful little symbols pop up elsewhere!
Check out http://subwayartblog.com/
An excellent cause -
5 Pointz Toy DriveWe hope that you had a great Thanksgiving and are getting ready for the rest of this holiday season. |
DECEMBER 6 MAGIC
at Otto's Shrunken Head Tiki Bar & Lounge
538 East 14th Street, between Avenues A & B
7pm onwards
great drink specials ($2 draft beers, $4 well drinks)
$1 admission
PASSWORD: COST REVS
COST REVS was the graffiti tag plastered all over NYC in the early 90s. It turns out I knew Cost - he was Adam Cole, of PS 40, JHS 104, and Stuyvesant/Rhodes, born in 1969. I went to his brother's bar mitzvah (there was a caricature artist there and I left with an embarrassingly exaggerated drawing of myself). Cost, a major target of Giuliani's graffiti crackdown, was ultimately arrested and in 1995 was sentenced to 200 days of cleaning up graffiti, three years probation, and fined $2,180 (though sources claim he did over $100 million worth of damages to city property). The judge denied the prosecutor's request for a 60-day jail sentence because he said he didn't want taxpayers to foot the bill for his punishment. As of a few years ago, Revs was doing sculpture in NYC, still using his tag. You can read a whole lot more about them as you sip a tall boy and remember them good old days.
- Read about Cost and Revs in the NY Times from 1993, and Cost's Sentencing in 1995
- What is Revs up to recently?
Okay folks - MAGIC GARDEN will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary in February and I'm working on cooking up some great stuff this winter/spring to make it fantastic - things like performances by native musicians, comics, storytellers, raffles for great NYC prizes, NYC vendors, food, etc.. Please email me if you would like to be involved in some capacity - as a performer, donator, vendor, volunteer, blah blah blah. Let's show each other all the amazing things we've been creating. Details to come.
Noteworthy mentions:
Dorrian's Red Hand Bar just celebrated its 50th anniversary. Yep, the bar made famous by the Robert Chambers "Preppie Murder" scandal.
Tim Haft, our dear friend and founder of Punk Rope, is celebrating his 50th birthday at Otto's on Monday and is working his arse off to raise lots of money for a great cause - and now I will quote him, "For the past 6 years I've done my best to help kids and adults experience exercise as fun, rather than as a chore. Kids, in particular, desperately need to move more, yet schools are CUTTING, rather than adding, physical activity programs. That's a dumb move! By purchasing tickets for our BEAT INACTIVITY SENSELESS RAFFLE, you'll get a crack at winning some of these cool prizes and will also enable Shana and I to provide FREE rope jumping workshops to schools in need. Tickets are only $3 and you need NOT be present to win. For more info about the prizes and to buy tickets visit:
http://punkrope.myshopify.com/collections/events-classes
Don't forget to send me info to help promote you and your business/artistic endeavor. We New Yorkers need to help each other out. Job listings, gigs, businesses, special offers. Check out all this and more at: www.nycmagicgarden.com. I'm redoing the calendar so send me stuff to post - your art shows, gigs, ventriloquism showcases, etc..
There are spots available for upcoming "Be Nice Campaigns" so email me if you're part of a local charitable organization and want to raise money. More details at: http://www.nycmagicgarden.com/benice.html.
RULES AND REGULATIONS
-Only people who were raised in NYC are invited
-You are encouraged to invite any good folks who grew up in the city
-Significant others are invited, despite their place of birth (only if they're really significant and only if accompanied by you)
-Please email me if you have any questions, password suggestions, or if you have COST REVS stories to share
-If you know someone who would have fun at this party, send her/him to www.nycmagicgarden.com to sign up
Can't wait to see you Monday,December 6!
Zoe (PS 59, JHS 104, LaGuardia HS)
GROUP, NEW YORK: Street Art at the Dorian Grey Gallery
December 10 – EXTENDED TO February 10, 2011
Opening reception Saturday December 11, 2010 from 6-9p
EAST VILLAGE - Coming off back-to-back successful exhibitions featuring pioneering and influential East Village artists, the Dorian Grey Gallery plays host to a diverse exhibition of emerging artistic talent focused on a "New York” theme, titled: GROUP, NEW YORK.
With a keen eye focused on street art and the New York emerging art scene, the Dorian Grey Gallery continues to be the premier exhibition space and voice for numerous local undiscovered and rising artistic talents. For GROUP, NEW YORK the gallery will arrange an extensive installation of original paintings, photographs, sculpture, works on paper and mixed media. The salon style installation provides a stunning visual array of over 80 affordable works of art, all priced under $1,000. The impressive roster of over 25 artists includes such noted NY talents as: Crash, LAII, TAT's Cru, Erin Hudak, Ellen Stagg, Colette, Augustus Goertz, Alan Steele, Paul Weston, Charlene Weisler, Ricardo Accorsi, Philip Van Aver and many more.
GROUP, NEW YORK will be the latest exhibition at the Dorian Grey Gallery in what has become the East Village's hottest art attraction for emerging art. The gallery is a dynamic pop up venue geared towards showcasing both established and emerging street and graffiti artists alongside other works that present a diverse selection of exemplary art in an intimate and informative environment.
In fact, Dorian Grey Gallery just received some real street art credibility in the form of an unexpected original Kenny Scharf mural on the gallery’s roll down gate. Scharf whose prolific work graced many walls in the city during the graffiti heyday of the 1980s, once lived across the street from the gallery’s current location. In town to work on the Houston Street mural and thrilled to see a new gallery on his old block, Scharf unexpectedly showed up and painted the gate with some of his signature graffiti art creatures.
DGG’s Scharf Gate
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GROUP, NEW YORK runs from December 10-January 11, 2010 at The Dorian Grey Gallery, 437 East 9th Street between 1st Ave and Ave A. Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 12a-7p. Subway stop: #6 Astor Place. Free Admission.
CONTACT: Christopher Pusey, 516-244-4126, [email protected] , www.doriangreygallery.com Facebook : Dorian Grey Gallery