As long as I'm on the topic of good public art in NYC, here are a few shots from the Houston Bowery Art Wall, which I enjoy passing by on my way to my Tuesday night Irish music sessions. This is a rotating mural space supported by the space's owner, Goldman Properties. I didn't actually know the history until I did a little googling - turns out that the first mural here was done in the early 80's by Keith Haring and Juan Dubose. In 2008, the developer, who was an art fan, turned the space over to a curator who re-created the original mural in honor of what would have been Haring's 50th birthday. I remember that one, I don't know enough about art to tell you what it meant but it was vibrant and lively and so much fun to look at.
That was up for a while, and then after that a series of street artists have been invited to use the space for a period of a few months each. I've enjoyed watching the pieces go up, but besides the Haring re-creation, the current one and the last one have been my favorites so far. The current one is by PichiAvo, two artists from Spain who like to combine classical art with graffiti. Their gigantic young Poseidon with his charging white horses set against a colorful street art backdrop is a glorious thing to see. The one before that was a downtown street scene by Logan Hicks that was just mesmerizing in its photographic detail, and when I started looking into it for this post, I was amazed to find out that the artist created it using STENCILS, five layers, one layer a day. Incredible, I wish I'd managed to get over there some time when he was actually working on it!
The general history here was lifted from the Atlas Obscura's article about the wall (which includes a photo of the Haring mural for your enjoyment); for lots more about the murals themselves (including the ups and downs of creation), check out the Graffiti Wall Archives at Bowery Boogie. That's it for the writing, click on any of the pictures for a slideshow view.
That was up for a while, and then after that a series of street artists have been invited to use the space for a period of a few months each. I've enjoyed watching the pieces go up, but besides the Haring re-creation, the current one and the last one have been my favorites so far. The current one is by PichiAvo, two artists from Spain who like to combine classical art with graffiti. Their gigantic young Poseidon with his charging white horses set against a colorful street art backdrop is a glorious thing to see. The one before that was a downtown street scene by Logan Hicks that was just mesmerizing in its photographic detail, and when I started looking into it for this post, I was amazed to find out that the artist created it using STENCILS, five layers, one layer a day. Incredible, I wish I'd managed to get over there some time when he was actually working on it!
The general history here was lifted from the Atlas Obscura's article about the wall (which includes a photo of the Haring mural for your enjoyment); for lots more about the murals themselves (including the ups and downs of creation), check out the Graffiti Wall Archives at Bowery Boogie. That's it for the writing, click on any of the pictures for a slideshow view.
1 comment:
Beautiful. All I could do is share, which I did.
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