Trying to keep this sampling of world street art a truly fornighty event has proven to be more difficult than I imainged. A couple of hours a week, no big deal, exept it’s easy to say later to this when other things come up. Diligently working to make saying “later” hard, if not impossible.
That said, here is the next slice of public art, coolness being brought from the Streets, maybe your town, definitely my town, certainly other people’s towns straight to your device.
Today, the from Brooklyn, Montreal, and Amsterdam. This selection of early gets, from the aughts and early teens represents a time before I had a clear idea of what I was collecting, and long before I had any idea of sharing it beyond, perhaps, a quick FB post: if I remembered. Which I usually didn’t. So, I’m working on culling though older shots, while taking time trips to 2019, and discovering long forgotten, never shown pieces as well as finding out many of my shots never made it to Photo, the upgrade from iPhoto. That’s annoying. So, in the future, there will be a mix of fresh images, as well as lost jems and recovered gaps. Including the trip to London in July 2015 when I finally figured out what I was wanted to do. (It was the signs…)
From the Streets of Brooklyn
This is an artifact of a changing neighborhood. Sunset Park had been a strongly hispanic, Mexican in particular, ‘hood for much of the past 20 odd years. In the past decade or so, the Booklyn China town has been pushing in. And this asian Dragon on the corner of 54th and 5th Ave, in August of 2008, then Little Mexico, hints at this change. It was still there in 2018 when I last rode by in a bus, but showed signs of wear.
There was a time about 5 or 6 years ago, when Tree Sweaters seemed all the rage. They seems to have been knitted straight onto trees overnight. Now, they are largely gone. Odd fad. This well dressed tree sported this sweater in June, 2013. The Booklyn Paper noticed this trend in Park Slope back in 2012, and wrote a piece of the person behind it.
Île de Montréal, Montréal, Canada May 2013
Alien War being fought on a wall as background to a parking lot. One of those pieces hidden by a car an inevitable artifact of the city. From May, 2013.
Two story anime style girl facing the sun, whose blue hair wraps around the frontage of the second story of the building, as if being blown by the wind. May 2013
The happy Octopus of Chez José, gathering all the creatures on this side of the restaurant together—happy because it’s not a seafood join, just a sea inspired mural wrapping around the whole building. From May 2013
Street art as performance, as ephemera: a group of people announces that “Artists ❤️Animals” and turn a temporary construction barrier into a work of art—painting the corner pretty. From, May 2013
Our last stop in this quick sampling of Street Art from around the world is
Amsterdam, Netherlands July, 2013
The Headshop: shark and mushrooms under a psychedelic sky—a mural on a pulldown gate, hinting at the adventures available within. During business hours, of course.
Four story mural of a punk sporting a black leather jacket painted with “Johnny Rotten.” He’s turned his back on the playground at his feet, which has been well tagged. Looks fun to me. Like the leather jacket in shorts.