Humen Bote

This morning, as I walked past the East 4th Street Lego Man again, something jumped out at me.

No, not a mugger! It was the very groovy skeleton graffiti sticker!

See it?

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

My first thought was to write "Groovy Skeleton and IsThatPhoebe, sitting in a tree…", but then I found out something amazing: The groovy skeleton is done by an eight-year-old boy!

It's true! His father wheat-pastes them up around the city!

Thanks to JodoNYC, official graffitier of East Village Today,  for that information.

#eastvillage #4thstreet #ethanarmen #graffitistickers #humenbote #instagram #isthatphoebe #jodonyc #legoman

Jodo Bee Mural

Last night after work, I took a trip outside the East Village, to the Lower East Side!* I had been invited through Instagram to see the new mural by the illustrious JodoNYC!

It's not easy finding one's way around outside the East Village, but after putting my sleuthing skills to work I eventually found the beloved Stanton Social. I asked the greeter inside if she knew where the bee was, and she showed me — and now I will show you:

Giant Jodo Bee.

They grow so quickly — I remember when this bee was knee-high to a grasshopper!

______
* This is in an area known as Hello Square — people here are so friendly, they welcome you with a resounding Hello!

#daytrips #greeter #hellosquare #instagram #jodobee #lowereastside #murals #stantonsocial

Turn Me

One of the hazards of having an Instagram account as well as a blog is that if I post a picture on Instagram, sometimes I forget to post it on the blog!

Such is the case with a picture I took — in April! — of a sign in the window of the beloved Verameat, on East 9th Street:

Taken in April.

On Instagram, this was called "After the robbery". (Verameat was robbed! Terrible.)

I passed by there again, oh, about twenty days ago, and was intrigued by this sign:

Intriguing sign.

Now you know how to get inside Verameat!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #doorknob #instagram #robbery #signs #verameat

Aim High

East Villagers love a new mural — that's why the owners of the beloved Foot Gear Plus, on the corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place, hire artists to paint a new mural every year or so!

Or maybe they don't hire them, I don't know.

One thing I do know: this new mural will delight East Villagers for months to come:

Delightful mural.

It really captures the East Village today: a gray, dismal past hailing a colorful, bright present!

(Do you know what i just noticed? The standing foot of the colorful, bright girl has a reflection under it. This is a technique that is much over-used in Photoshop; you don't usually see it in paintings!)

As it happens, I saw the artist working on this mural last night, as I was walking across St. Mark's Place:

Artist working.

He was working from sketches he had prepared earlier:

Working from sketches.

By the way, the artist's name is Ashton Agbomenou. He has a web site, and is on Instagram!

What more is there to say? Another artsy day in the artsy East Village!

#eastvillage #ashtonagbomenou #firstavenue #footgearplus #highaim #murals #stmarksplace #instagram #artists

Instagram

If you're a part of the 21st-century crowd, you probably already know this: Since about February 23, East Village Today has been on Instagram!

The pictures are the same as what's posted here, except they're square, sometimes with a filter, and have no back-story — but they have lots of hashtags!

Still, if you love the East Village, you can never have too many ways to follow East Village Today!

#eastvillage #instagram #selfpromotion

Public Art Exhibition

East Villagers are accustomed to seeing art in public, from murals to sculptures to mosaics to performances — art is everywhere!

Usually the materials are low-cost, however — spray paint, found objects, broken bottles…

It's less common for someone to pay a photographer and models and have the works printed larger than life, but that's exactly what happened at the new building going up on Avenue A, called 100 Avenue A.

Here are samples of the photo banners:

There is an Instagram page that shows the people involved:

Visual art: Trina Merry Assistants: Michael Mejia and Jessica Mellow Models: Gwendolyn Nymph (black and white) and Sara Nicole (magenta) Commission/ad campaign for a luxury condo being built in the East Village. Their entire campaign uses bodypaint by Trina Merry, and these are the hero images and the first to be released. They are billboard-sized on the scaffolding of the buildings to Avenue A & 7th St! Thank you Trina, for having us on the team! #branding#creative#commercial#bodypainting#photography#visualart

A photo posted by Jessica Mellow (@riseofthesporks) on Nov 8, 2015 at 4:34am PST

Congratulations to young, East Village artists, on a job well done!

#eastvillage #art #artists #avenuea #constructionsites #instagram #photographers #photography