-- A Cyberspace Review Of The Arts

Street Art Report

There has probably been street art as long as there were streets, and we know that graffiti go back to Pompeii and before. The selection we have here derive from the explosion of spray-paint graffiti which struck the subways and numerous other surfaces in the 1970s and have remained with us ever since. Strongly influenced by comic books, television cartoons and advertising, it has been generally associated with the low side of pop culture. To some extent a breakout has occurred in the last several years. Graffiti-related works have not really gone over well in galleries, but influence from traditional high art, respectable illustration, and Modernist and later styles of gallery and museum art are beginning to appear. Here we're bringing you a few of the more remarkable works of the last few months. Most of those presented here appeared in the fading hipster kingdom that runs along the Left Bank of the East River from Long Island City to Red Hook in the shadow of Gentryzilla.

NOTE: Be sure to enlarge these pictures by clicking on them; there is a wealth of detail in most of them which cannot be easily seen otherwise.

These paintings aren't quite on the street; they're on the roof of a building just north of the Williamsburg Bridge, itself a favorite locale for graffiti-writers.

This curious creature appeared on the side of a building along Kent Avenue in Williamsburg. It vanished after about a week; it may be that the unimpressed owner of the building painted it over.

This complex painting (and collage) also appeared on Kent Avenue. It appears to be the work of several people, including the reknowned Deuce 7, who did some remarkable pictures on the Williamsburg Bridge about a year ago which were quickly obliterated by his enemies.

The last item in the series appears several feet away from the others, and may be a signature; or not.

These sculptures are made out of bicycle parts and reside on Vernon Boulevard in Queens under the 59th Street Bridge. The use of machine parts to make sculpture has a considerable history, and ranges from the highest high art through the realms of gas station pop and kitsch. These are unusually well worked out, and they are probably welded to their base, because no one has made off with any of them yet.

Something of an explanation has appeared at the site:

This impressive piece of sculpture appeared recently on the Pulaski Bridge, which spans Newton Creek from McGuinness Avenue in Greenpoint to 11th Street in Long Island City. (There is a small flat space beside the pedestrian pathway over the columns that support the bridge.) It is bolted to the surface and looks pretty official, but no sign or inscription has yet appeared to take credit for it.

If it lasts until summer it will provide a fine place to sit and contemplate Newton Creek, which the Sanitation Department's massive mechanical onions are struggling to clean up.

These paintings are in graffiti style, but they were almost certainly painted at the behest of the proprietors of the business located there, The Williamsburg Music Center rather than as an act of subversion. They are located on the north side of the Brooklyn approach to the Williamsburg Bridge.

I'm guessing that more than one artist was involved, given the profusion of styles, references and allusions; but there is no doubt that they all work together.

Note: While it is generally difficult or impossible to establish authorship for street art, some of the above paintings or sculptures may be under copyright restrictions. They are not necessarily in the public domain.