Art in The Hood: Tragedy on the third rail..

Sunset Park has always been a neighborhood abundant with street art. I have documented a lot of the wall art as I come across it in my Art in The Hood series. Some of the artists who appear in the hood are many times more often than not from outside the neighborhood and not all art appears on our walls. There was a heyday when the terminal at the 9th Avenue station was a primary target of  taggers before the MTA started to clean the cars. The Gothamist reports that a graffiti artist named Jason Wulf, 42,  who was known by his tag DG met an untimely demise by apparently deciding to try his art in the caverns of our subway system at the 25th street train station on the N line. It's a pity that a life is cut short by an obsession. Sometimes you take unnecessary or dumb risks and you pay the price for such folly. You can read more about it at the Gothamist here..

Art in the Hood: Bansky strikes in Sunset Park

The celebrated UK street artist who has been playing a hide and seek game with the NYPD Graffiti squad has hit our neighborhood. A crew from the Gothamist went down to take pictures. But why a truck? Don't we have enough empty walls in the nabe? Should we consider it an insult that he painted a truck which could drive away rather than a wall which would be more permanent? In any case, which so much negative stuff happening in the nabe these last few days it makes for a bit more lighthearted happening. The question is. Is thee above art or vandalism? I rather opine for the latter. Nothing artistic about the above. A third grader could have painted that. Common Bansky! If you're going to invade our neighborhood paint something more "artistic".

Related links:

Gothamist

WPIX 11

Art in The Hood: UPROSE mural 25th street and 4th Avenue

This mural on the corner of 25th street and 4th Avenue done last year by the same crew from Groundswell that did the mural on 7th Avenue takes the whole side of the C Town supermarket located on the same corner. It's on the section of Sunset Park which real estate agents for marketing reasons have dubbed Greenwood Heights. It's a rather impressive mural to see and rather than being done by a professional crew it is even more impressive for the fact that it was done by volunteer students..

Art in the Hood: Mural Southwest Corner 32nd Street

Located on the Southwest corner of 32nd street and 4th Avenue this mural appears to have been painted sometime in 2012 by a guy whose tag is Vers. He has a website at VERSGRAFX.COM where he showcases his other work.. There are two other works on this intersection done by other artists. I will be posting those in the coming days.

Changes on the wall...

A slight controversy arose at the painting of the Mural at Rite Aid on 4th and 63rd street. Apparently management at Rite Aid did not want any human faces on the wall (photos below) and asked that they be replaced by animals instead. The new version is the one that will remain. I managed to snap a picture of the wall before the changes so we can keep it for posterity. In any case, the walls are coming along just fine and will be a fine addition to the many points of interest in the neighborhood. Maybe it will entice our neighbors in Park Slope and Bay Ridge to venture across the frontiers of our neighborhoods to come take a look. Being as most people in this city according to one study I read, rarely venture outside a radius of 7 blocks from where they live. Part of the purpose of this blog is to cover the nabe from end to end as well as our neighbors who all have something to offer so we can appreciate the world around us beyond those seven blocks..

While speaking to who I think was the manager he told me they are considering doing the wall on the Rite Aid on 5th and 53rd street. I suggested they could use a more local theme such as the entrance gates at Green Wood Cemetery or the statue of Minerva (sister to the Statue of Liberty, maybe perhaps a scene from the Battle of Brooklyn which took place on Battle Hill where the Delaware regiment sacrificed themselves to prevent the British from capturing Washington. There are a lot of themes one could come up with which are relevant to the nabe and it's history and it would be Brooklyn themed.

As it looks now.

Before..

Art in the Hood: Groundswell Mural on 7th Ave and 63rd street

I took this and the following shots a while ago and never got around to posting them. But since my post yesterday highlighting another mural on 4th Avenue I figured I would post these. This mural known as the Groundswell Mural is on the overpass on 7th Avenue and 63rd street. It was painted over two years ago and you can read all about it here with accompanying links to a slide show. There are other murals I have shot as well. I will have to dig up the pics or go back and reshoot them. Sunset Park has a lot of art on it's walls..

Art in The Hood: Rite Aid on 4th gets a new paint job

One thing about Sunset Park is that it has a lot of murals and a new one is going up at the Rite Aid on 4th and 63rd street. The work is being done by urban artist "Angel VASE ONE Garcia and his assistant based out of the Czech Republic Dmitrij Proskin who goes by the tag Chemis. They still have a ways to go but it does seems as if the have quite a bit of it done already. Angel related to me that he has a contract to paint many of the Rite Aid Pharmacies' side wall and he has already completed a number of them. Maybe they will get to do the Rite Aid on 5th and 53rd. That would be nice. They both have websites you can visit where they showcase their work. you can catch Jorge at VASEONEUW.COM  and Chemis you can catch at CHEMISLAND.COM . The entire thing is being coordinated by a guy who goes by the tag The Royal King Bee (They all have tags) whose website is KINGBEEUW.COM. Maybe I should do a series on all the murals that you can find in Sunset Park. That should keep me busy for a while. Walls have become the new canvas of the urban landscape and neighborhoods the new museums. It will be interesting to see what the wall will look like when they are finished.

Jorge Garcia AKA VASE stands in front of the section he was working on.

Dmitrij Proskin AKA CHEMIS in front of the section he was working on.

Some shots of the work in progress..

Revised 10-4-2013

 

Shop Amazon Through Us and Help Support This Blog