Well, the world ended this week—again. Yet here we are, still standing, and so are you. It turns out Donald Trump has successfully rallied the resentment of those feeling abandoned by the system, and they now firmly believe he’s their champion. Meanwhile, disbelieving technocrats and exasperated suburbanites are left shaking their heads at the audacity of those who elected this populist strongman. Twice. With another election loss under their belts, will anyone soften their stance enough to find common ground? Probably not. In fact, if everything goes according to plan, they won’t. For some, the longer we keep fighting one another, the better.
Look, the pigeons in New York do not care about all of that noise. As long as those pizza crusts keep coming, bro.
Here’s our weekly conversation with the street, this week featuring: Nick Walker, City Kitty, IMK, JEMZ, STOMP, Yevgeniya Shevchuk, Mendoza, PAR, SNIPE, DZEL, OPTIMO NYC, Lorenzo Masnah, ZOOT, and Iván Argote.
On any typical Wednesday, New York is a freak show on the subway, streets, in the corner deli. In a good way! This spooky time of year brings a larger allotment of costumes to the streets. Because it is Halloween, these alter egos also brings hidden fears and anxieties to the surface, revealing characters that lie deep within some people.
Only a few days before a US national election that feels pivotal and frightful to many, voters express fear and uncertainty toward both major candidates. In the wooly street art scene, symbols of the underworld reappear and linger year-round, waiting to be uncovered. Here, we present a collection of recent productions, large and small, peppered with quotes to celebrate Halloween.
“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” – The Raven, Edgar Allen Poe
“Ghosts are real, this much I know. There are things that tie them to a place, very much like we do.” – Crimson Peak by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins
The city of New York is hot, clammy, steamy, and caked with grime. It smells like fish, marijuana, musty A/C exhaust, curry, piss, fresh-cut grass, melting pavement, aerosol spray, watermelon, cucumbers, mint, fried zeppole, Axe body spray, laundromat detergent, and pizza. With this oppressive heat, the ‘crazy’ dial seemed turned up – some people on the street appeared to be delusional with baked brains and insufficient hydration. In its chaotic way, the street never stops moving. People are herded onto our crowded, damp, and sticky subway system with its pumping kinetic energy and no coherent schedule, our new airy modern electric tandem buses with chilly automatic voices, our electric bikes and scooters of every design with big puffy tires or small bagel sized ones, our statement cars and bloated SUVs with dark windows, our swerving and sleek skateboards, and our white box trucks slaughtered with wild aerosol sprayed styles and family business-named signage like Dragon Good Luck Delight and Bayridge Appliance Repair.
Graffiti and street art keep popping up and accompany New Yorkers to their next stoop sale, pickle ball game, house party, dinner party, or dog’s birthday party. If this visual feast disappeared, we would all be confused, a piece of our cultural DNA excised. For us, this is the proper visual language of New York, certainly better than most of the new architecture popping up like middle fingers, a rash of uninspiring rectangles formed by mediocrity, their design potential sapped by greed and spreadsheets.
Here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring City Kitty, Chris RWK, Homesick, Degrupo, Kooky Spook, Muebon, Epic Uno, RX Skulls, MCA, EXR, CKONE, RZB, BILX, JEMZ, Joshua Montes, and Soupy.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
