Artist's Booted Car

When you think of East Village artists, you usually think of artists living in hovels, creating great works of art on an empty stomach.

You don't usually think about their car being booted by the City. And yet, that too is a part of the artist's life.

Behold, as seen on Avenue B this past Thursday:

Artist's booted car.

Here is a close-up of the notice:

Close-up of notice.

It's no longer a question of money for paint vs. drugs, today it's a question of money for paint vs. drugs vs. boot penalties!

#eastvillage #boots #avenueb #cars #artists

Selfie Portrait

East Villagers artists would be lost without their smart phones. (Literally!)

This artists painted a selfie of herself on the sidewalk, at the corner of Second Avenue and East 7th Street:

Selfie Portrait.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

Oops — NSFW!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #artists #nsfw #secondavenue #selfieportrait #sidewalks

Paper Plate Art

If you're wondering what the Joe Strummer mural has to do with Valentine's Day, you're not alone!

It may be that the future is unwritten, but this paper plate art project involved a lot of writing:

Paper plate art project.

Luckily, it rained, so most of the paper plates stuck to the sidewalk. Some of them blew away though — you can see some of them on the left, past the stairs.

Here are some close-ups of the paper plates that remained:

East Villager artists are such a romantic bunch!

#eastvillage #joestrummermural #paperplateart #artists #7thstreet #paperplates

Work Of Art Car

You can always tell an artist's car in the East Village — they're works of art themselves!

Behold, seen on East 7th Street:

Work of art car.

Of course, if you need confirmation, all you have to do is walk around to the other side:

The other side.

Your ego has no followers — not like East Village Today!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #artists #cars #paintings

Another Day, Another Mural

I was walking across St. Mark's Place yesterday afternoon, when I happened upon this mural being painted:

Mural being painted.

There was a man smoking a cigar who was supervising the work. He told me the painters' names were Outer Source and Dirt Cobain.

Cool names!

Outer Source wore a disco mask:

Disco mask.

Their activity drew quite a crowd:

Quite a crowd.

Another day, another mural!

#eastvillage #artists #murals #painters #stmarksplace

Gelarto Mural Update

Do you remember the messed-up mural on the wall outside the beloved Gelarto, on Avenue A and East 9th Street?

Of course you do.

Efforts were finally taken to fix it!

Behold, ten days ago:

Fixing the mural.

When I passed by again this past Saturday, I saw that it was finished:

Finished.

I guess it's an improvement — it's not worse than it was!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #artists #avenuea #gelarto #murals #painters

The Christmas Tree Artist

In the East Village, artists approach their Christmas Trees like they would a canvas.

Behold, on Second Avenue and East 6th Street, this past Saturday:

Standing back, mulling.

Adjusting the placement of a light.

Pretty soon he'll become disgusted, call himself an impostor, and head for the nearest bar — it's the East Village way!

#eastvillage #6thstreet #artists #christmastrees #secondavenue

Vandals & Vendors

Since the closing of our local Chase Bank, the corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place has become a very popular location for vandals and itinerant street-vendors alike!

Two Saturdays ago, I walked past and saw this scene:

Contemplating their next move.

Wait — that's wasn't it. It's the paintings in front of the graffitied wall I wanted to capture.

As I was preparing to take a picture from the front, the artist himself photobombed me!

The artist himself.

I didn't get his name, but I told him the picture would go onto this blog — ten days ago!

Oh well, better late than never, eh?!

#eastvillage #artists #graffiti #paintings #secondavenue #stmarksplace #streetvendors #photobomb

Low Tech

As part of my series of Day Trips Outside the East Village, I ventured into the Lower East Side this past Saturday. Walking up Forsythe Street, I passed by the Mulherin art gallery.

The pictures near the window caught my eye. They were photographs of houses — nothing special, just drab houses. They looked exactly like the kind of pictures I take, so I stopped in!

It turns out they weren't photographs at all, but paintings! The show is called Low Tech, and the artist is Mike Bayne, from Canada!

As much as I liked the houses, this is the one I took a picture of:

The Enfield.

What I like most about this is the half-a-sign on the left. This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy when cropping photos: do I extend the frame to the left to bring in the rest of the sign, and shift the center leftwards, or do I Photoshop it out? In this case, I would Photoshop it out, but he left it in! Incredible!

East Villagers who appreciate the unadulterated mundane should make this day-trip to the Lower East Side! Here is a map showing how to get there from the East Village:

Directions from East Village.

The show will remain open until October 9!

#artgalleries #artists #daytrips #forsythestreet #lowtech #lowereastside #mikebayne #mulherin #painters

fresco Update

East Villagers continue to abhor a blank wall, as seen yesterday evening, beside the beloved Dallas BBQ on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place:

Big ol' glam shoes.

Nothing like some big ol' glam shoes to brighten the neighborhood — even Fido approves!

#eastvillage #artists #constructionsites #dallasbbq #constructionfences #murals #secondavenue #stmarksplace #dogs

fresco

East Villagers abhor a blank wall!

I was riding my Citibike down Second Avenue this past Tuesday when I saw this artist creating a mural on a construction fence beside the beloved fresco:

Creating a mural.

He must have had permission to do this, because it was broad daylight, and he wasn't looking over his shoulder!

Fast forward to yesterday, and the mural was complete:

Completed mural, front view.

Completed mural, corner view.

The construction fence along the abandoned section of St. Mark's Place, on the other hand, is less decorative:

Less decorative construction fence.

Still, it has movie posters — that's something!

#eastvillage #artists #constructionsites #constructionfences #fresco  #frescoes #secondavenue #stmarksplace

Table & Easel

I was walking across East 7th Street — oh, about eleven days ago! — when I saw this combination table and easel:

Combination table and easel.

No doubt some artist got a new one of each and, not being a hoarder, put the old ones out for the next young, Midwestern transplant!

Freegan artists… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #easels #tables #artists #7thstreet #freegans

Invader Alert

Emerging from Tompkins Square Park on my Citibike this past Saturday, approaching the East 9th Street intersection, what should I see but the newest installment by the mosaic artist Invader!

The newest installment.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

Another addition to the Mosaic Trail!

#eastvillage #9thstreet #artists #avenuea #invader #mosaictrail #mosaics

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

Mosaic Trail Expands Eastward

I was walking across East 7th Street this past Friday morning, when I saw what could only be described as the newest addition to the Mosaic Trail:

Newest addition to the Mosaic Trail.

It's difficult to know at this time whether this is by Mosaic Man Jim Power, a recent work by the famous Invader, or a new mosaic artist, but one thing is certain: It's a welcome addition to the beloved Mosaic Trail!

East Villagers love mosaics!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #artists #invader #jimpower #mosaicman #mosaictrail #mosaics

Invader 2

As I wrote in Invader 1, Invader is a world-famous artist, who works exclusively in the medium of small ceramic tiles. Recently, he's been working in New York City, including (naturally!) in the East Village!

On Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place, at the beloved, local, recently-closed branch of Chase bank, Invader installed a mosaic of Spiderman, climbing the wall:

Spiderman climbing the wall.

It looks like a whole new mosaic trail is opening up… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #artists #chasebank #invader #mosaics #secondavenue #spiderman #stmarksplace

Invader 1

Invader is a world-famous artist, who works exclusively in the medium of small ceramic tiles. Recently, he's been working in New York City, including (naturally!) in the East Village!

East Villagers love street artists — even more, they love liberating the work of street artists!

At the corner of First Avenue and East 4th Street, above the beloved Guayoyo, is a mosaic of Woody Allen, half liberated:

Woody Allen, half liberated.

Here is a close-up:

Close-up.

It's hard to know why the liberator stopped where he did, or why he didn't liberate the edge pieces at the top. It's also hard to know if he labelled the pieces, so he could reassemble the mosaic at home.

East Villagers are hopeful that Invader will return to fix the mosaic. This time, he should put up a sign that says:

Please Do Not Steal My Mosaic. Thank You!

You can't mince words with East Villagers Today!

#eastvillage #4thstreet #artists #firstavenue #guayoyo #invader #mosaics

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

Music & Paint

Early in the afternoon this past Saturday,  I was walking across East Houston Street. As I approached Second Avenue, I saw this an art gathering!

Behold:

This fenced-in area is called First Street Green Cultural Park (that's a mouthful!). When I try to connect to their website from work, I get this:

First Street Green Cultural Park FortiGuard malicious website warning.

So be careful — music and paint offer no protection from malicious websites… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #artists #communitygardens #firststreetgreenculturalpark #fortiguard #houstonstreet #maliciouswebsites #musicians #painters #secondavenue

Wonky Eye

It seems like every post is about murals these days!

You may recall that I wrote about the new mural on the riot gates of the beloved Best Hou ekeeping on Avenue A, first when the original mural was primed over, and then when the new mural was being painted. I even included a video snippet of the work being done!

I passed by the now long-completed mural this past Sunday, and noticed something peculiar. The eyes are wonky:

Wonky eyes.

What's up with this? I wondered, so I took a closer look:

A closer look.

The right eye (on the left side, in the picture) has no sclera — otherwise known as "the white of the eye"!

Weird!

Maybe the model was stung by a bee and her eye is swollen, like in Animal Crossing – City Folk:

Stung by a bee.

Speedy recovery… from the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #artists #avenuea #besthousekeeping #murals #animalcrossingcityfolk #riotgates