Good to be back in dirty old New York from dirty old Hong Kong this week. Actually on the dirty meter, we think New York still wins! Hooray!
Looking to the national stage, things couldn’t possibly be more dirty, as the rolling dumpster fire looks like it is setting records for failure to deliver on promises and a gathering cloud of accusations of straight up conspiracy, nepotism, corruption, even treason. And that’s on a good day. Art on the streets sometimes reflects directly and often indirectly on the facts on the ground. Now that spring is here, we expect to see a lot more voices again joining the fray.
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: Below Key, Chzz, Crash, Danny Boy Doid, El Sol 25, Laser 3.14, Obsrvrone,Pixel Pancho, Snik, Two One, Tony Matelli, Wrong Kong, Xeme, and Zura.
Top image: Crash in collaboration with The L.I.S.A. Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Dany Boy Doid . It’s A Living (photo © Jaime Rojo)
El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
El Sol 25. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Two One in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Laser 3.14 in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Wrong Kong in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Chzz in Ukraine. (photo © Chzz)
Zura (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pixel Pancho (photo © Jaime Rojo)
We have previously published this Pixel Pancho piece shown in detail above and below. The artist had to restore the piece after additional text was added to it without permission from the artist. We liked how the piece plays with the architecture and the trees as experienced from the High Line Park, sort of like she is lounging and specifically peering through this opening.
Pixel Pancho (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Xeme in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Xeme in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Xeme in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Snik in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A more common refrain these days as New York’s long-heralded creative community finds fewer neighborhoods to afford – this one on a Williamsburg musical instrument store that had an amazing collection of guitars. It started out as a small business in the basement of a storefront and grew two more times during the 2000s. A powerful engine of the economy in the city, when artists can’t afford to stay due to high rents the city stands to lose revenue – and soul. The stories keep piling up as artists now often are giving up and leaving for cheaper cities – so whoever put this up addressing the mayor knows of what they speak. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Obsrvrone in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Below Key (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tony Matelli at the High Line Park. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. A client waits while a her shoes are being repaired in Hong Kong last week. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)