This large mural titled “Oceanic Market Merge Cultures”, was a collaboration between three artists, Lillipore, Sentrock and Birdcap in 2019.
Closer views, from left to right
below: A very pink lady by Lillipore.
below: The center character is wearing a bird mask, a sign that this portion of the mural was painted by Sentrock aka Joseph Anthony Perez. The mask may have been redder when it was first painted.
below: This fellow with the big round eyes and long banana nose was Birdcap’s (aka Michael Roy) contribution to the mural
below: 2012, commissioned by Tampa Public Art Program, painted by Carl Cowden III. In the letters that spell “Tampa” you can see the Sulphur Springs water tower, the Gasparilla ship and accompanying flotilla, the old Tampa Bay Hotel now the University of Tampa, a streetcar in Ybor City, and a nature scene on the Hillsborough River.
below: Small Tampa Heights mural by artcapco (aka Juan Pablo & Vanessa Parra)
A number of artists created this tribute to David Jude Jolicoeur, who rapped as Trugoy the Dove in the trio De La Soul. He passed away in February 2023 at the age of 54. It was painted during the 2023 Bushwick Block Party this past summer and involved a number of artists (Enjoy Hads, Six Million Dollar Steve, Mr. Makro, Brandy, and Sure78 and more? )
below: On one of the walls there is a portrait of Biggie Smalls (1972-1997) also known as The Notorious B.I.G., a rapper and hip hop artist who was born and raised in Brooklyn. It was painted by Danielle Mastrion
below: Up high on the roof, figures by stik, holding hands and looking down at passers by.
A mural by Joel Artista, aka Joel Bergner in the East Village neighbourhood of New York City. Painted in 2019. Joel is a co-founder of Artolution, a non-profit organization supporting local artists and arts programs with vulnerable children around the world.
For this mural, Artolution partnered with KIND (Kids in Need of Defense), We Are Royale, Key Food Supermarket, and Education Alliance.
Photos taken August 2023
More Manhattan murals were featured previously in this blog – Kobra on 10th Ave (from 2022)
below: Sometime between 2018 and 2022, a large wall was built using old shipping containers. If you use street view on google maps there is a section that still shows images captured in 2018 where there is no wall at Kent & Clymer. There is now graffiti on the containers.
below: Small sticker on an already spray painted area with a sparkly, positive message, “It will all be okay”.
below: Just a little black bear.
below: Slightly misshapen but also intriguing.
below: There are a lot of containers!
below: Either it was the word on, or a word that ended with on. Your choice.
below: “Do not remove” and “Jesus saves”
below: Another angle.
below: If you don’t have a sticker, a band-aid will do?
below: Sarkarbeats image of the Taj Mahal along with the purple character with the funny head whose name is DPac. He has his own instagram page – DPac explores
below: Simple yet menacing.
below: Face pareidolia is the illusion of seeing faces in objects, or in this case, in the rips and tears of old paper. Quite the fancy red dress that she’s wearing!
below: Dollar signs on green
below: A lot of the graffiti was colourful but wasn’t more that scrawls or tags. My apologies to the men and women who made them, but I wasn’t very interested in them. If I took photos of every tag, I’d be swamped. Instead, I played with the lines, colours, and textures.
below: Sold Out Art Show sticker, face with multiple sets of eyes
below: Hydration Guy
below: There is a break in the wall for the exit from Steiner Studios and this is where you realize that there is a studio lot behind the wall.
Photos taken August 2023.
You can find more graffiti by Sold Out Art Show on a previous blog past from late August
This is a mural in Bushwick with the title “Hedd Space” painted by Mr. Hydde aka Darren DeGenova – when sitting around in your underwear binge watching TV has become normal.
TV heads, or Screen heads, are a popular meme/trope/motif. Sometimes it is a comment about the role of technology in our lives… how the media takes over our brains because it can so easily shape our thoughts and beliefs if we let it. Sometimes it’s a comment on how much time we spend looking at a screen of one kind or another.
Other “TV heads” were also seen around New York City such as thus downcast and dejected one by Sinth Node (aka Spencer). An old test pattern is on the screen. Once upon a time this is what you’d see on your analogue TV if there was no programming on a given channel (such as in the middle of the night). Now with 24 hour programming these patterns are rarely seen. Also, with technological advances in television, test patterns are rarely needed. When was the last time you adjusted the picture quality of your TV? Perhaps this poor guy just needs an adjustment?
below: Still with an orange hoodie, but now with a beige box that looks more like an older version of a computer monitor. Beside him is a heartfelt not from RendaWriter who leaves positive love messages wherever he goes.
Most of these murals can be seen on, or close to, Bedford Avenue.
below: A large snail by Australian artist Mike Makatron, but not just an ordinary snail – this one has stairs leading up to a fire hydrant on top of its spiral shell.
below: “Song to the Siren” by Naveen Shakil Khan, 2021
Where Bedford Avenue meets Broadway and South 6th Street is a large mural of a young woman with her hands under her chin. The title of the painting is “Lost Time” but it has become known as the Williamsburg Mona Lisa. The mural (by Colossal Media) is from a photograph by Steven Paul (of his friend Nina Attal). Paul was a high school senior from Brooklyn in 2014 when he submitted the photo to a contest sponsored by Scholastic … and won.
below:Eduardo Kobra boxers but not really boxers, Andy Warhol is on the left and Jean-Michel Basquiat is beside him.
Jean-Michel Basquiat and # Fight for street art
below: This anti-war Elvis Presely mural was also painted by Kobra. Unfortunately it has been defaced, almost literally as it is mostly Presley’s face that has been painted over.
below: The Moxy Hotel Williamsburg recently opened on Bedford Avenue. On the upper level, south side, of the hotel is a mural by DFace. It can be seen from the Williamsburg bridge, and is near the pedestrian entrance to the bridge. DFace’s style is reminiscent of paintings by Roy Lichtenstein.
On a black wall, a Chris Tuorto hand with clenched fist beside a very simple donut
Starting back in 1985, “Mosaic Man” Jim Power began covering street poles in East Village (New York City) with mosaics of broken pieces of ceramics, coloured glass, bits of mirror, and other little treasures. The trail follows E. 8th – St Marks Place between Broadway and Tompkins Square Park.
below: Over the years, some of the poles were removed by the city and others were damaged. Back in 2017 a Go Fund Me page was set up to help Power restore the poles.
below: At the corner of 2nd Ave and East 8th Street (where it is St. Marks Place).
Photos taken August 2023
