Results tagged “mural”

    

Toronto street artist Specter, who has been working out of Bed-Stuy for the past few months, has recently installed a three-sided mural in collaboration with the Department of Transportation and ISCP NYC. The mural illustrates "stories and memories from senior citizens in Flatbush Brooklyn," and you can find it at the corner of Ocean and Parkside, outside of the Parkside Avenue Station.

Don't expect any subway lines to be renamed the Neverland Express anytime soon, but Councilwoman Letitia James will get Michael Jackson some sort of tribute underground even if she has to break in Poster Boy style and do it herself. As we all know by now, the King of Pop's epic 16-minute video for "Bad" (directed by Martin Scorsese) was filmed in the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in Brooklyn, and the MTA (because of some such rules that exist) refuse to rename the station after him, or even give him a plaque. That's just not how they roll. So James has come up with an alternative: a mural. The NY Post reports that she is trying to work with the MTA to commission an art contest honoring the performer, saying, "I think it would be a big tourist draw for the cash-strapped transit authority." But the MTA says they only add new artwork to stations undergoing rehabilitation, which isn't happening at Hoyt-Schermerhorn for at least five years. Could it be that someone at the organization just isn't a fan?

Yesterday word went around that there was some unwanted tagging going on the Os Gemeos work-in-progress mural on Houston Street. It didn't take long for the brothers to cover it up with a dedication to their old friend Dash Snow (an old photo of the three after the jump). There are actually two dedications to the late artist (who also was known as Sace in his tagging years), and one to Iz the Wiz (you can see his tag on the subway car in the mural). And with that, the mural is finally complete!

It was just last week that the Keith Haring memorial mural was getting buffed on Houston Street. Soon after Os Gemeos showed up to begin work on their mural, which is replacing the old Haring one. So obviously the next step is for an attention-hungry tagger to come in and vandalize the work-in-progress. One blogger reports that, "Like the Haring mural before it, Os Gemos' Houston street piece has been 'souped-up' by the locals. Not sure if the Times will be able to spin this one into a feel good tale as with the Haring 'collaboration.'" While it shouldn't be too difficult to cover up, the tag reads: "Blog about it," which people are, so looks like it'll live on digitally. [via Animal]

So the Keith Haring tribute mural has been buffed, and currently the Brazilian street art duo (and twin brothers) Os Gemeos (real names Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo) are creating their own mural in its place (Animal has photos of the work in progress).

Well, it lasted longer than it was supposed to: the Keith Haring tribute mural that went up last April on Houston and Bowery is being whitewashed today. The mural went up to celebrate what would have been the artist's 50th birthday, it underwent a modification by his former collaborator in July 2008, and was meant to be down by this past December, according to Animal NY. We contacted Deitch Projects, who along with the Keith Haring Foundation commissioned the recreation of the artist's piece, to find out what might go up on the wall next. We'll update the post when we hear back, but in the meantime, expect it to be tagged by some enterprising young street artists by sun up.

A piece of Soho advertising that had become a familiar and even beloved sight is gone from its Houston at Broadway spot: Bowery Boogie reports, "As of this morning, the DKNY mural at the corner of Houston and Broadway is gone. Painted a shade of brown. Although, the former lettering is still somewhat visible."

Following the fall that Nicole Gagne took when the outdoor staircase at 5Pointz collapsed over the weekend, the graffiti artists who are responsible for painting the murals covering the Long Island City building have added a new one in tribute to her.

       

Recently the Villager announced that East Village graffiti legend Antonio Garcia (better known as Chico) would be retiring to Florida to possibly teach art, custom-paint cars, be with his kids and "start my life. I’m going to miss the community. But it’s time to spend time with my family. I’m already 45.” He has spent 30 years using a spray paint can to generate positive messages and memorial tributes throughout the neighborhood, where he has lived since the age of two (he got his start tagging old redbird subway cars). Think of him as the Keith Haring without the art-world accolades (he calls the artist a "faker").

His pet store closed up shop at the end of October, and now it looks like Bansky only paid for one month of wall time for his rat murals that prequeled its opening. The one that went up last month on the corner of Howard and Broadway is now available for future advertisers (or street artists looking for a nice blank canvas)!

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Streetart lovers, rejoice: the Colossal Media / Banksy collaboration that we spotted yesterday on the corner of Grand and Wooster is now complete. [Photo by Jake Dobkin.]

From the inbox: “Hasn't anyone noticed that the Haring memorial mural on Bowery and Houston was ‘modified’ last Tuesday with some painted on additions? The interesting thing here is that the man behind the ‘modifications’ is none other than LA II, a long lost collaborator of Haring’s who's a graffiti artist from the lower east side. Years ago, he claimed that the Haring Foundation basically robbed him of the work he did with Haring. Now he's back to reclaim his legacy the only way he knows how. This is a fucking story!”

    

Last month, we admired reader's photograph of a mural showing a train car and the bold words "Queens is the Future!" The mural's co-creator, Joshua Frankel, emailed us to let us know he and Eve Biddle designed it for the handball court at I.S. 45 in Jackson Heights, Queens, and it was painted as part of NYCares Day last year.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Reverend Al Sharpton, and other community leaders gathered in East Harlem yesterday to paint over a mural (pictured) showing a rat with a noose around its neck and the slogan “Stop Snitching.” The phrase has become something of a mantra in recent years in high-crime neighborhoods, where speaking to the police is seen by some as treason that should be violently punished.

A Bronx neighborhood was outraged last month when a building's mural memorializing 9/11 and a local firefighter who was killed at the World Trade Center was tagged by a graffiti artist. The tagger painted his initials directly over the face of Peter Bielfeld. Tips eventually led police to arrest 16-year-old Avery Prince, who goes by the tag SIPS and has since apologized for defacing the mural.

     

Barack Obama has popped up in the form of street art in Brooklyn, and AAVR Magazine points out the Grattan Street mural near the Morgan L stop. That's part of his More Perfect Union speech in the background, and yes, it looks a little bit more like Fred Armisen's Fauxbama than the real thing.