.
Amanda Gorman
such great dignity and poise
inauguration
.
by Scooj
Tag: USA
A time for clowns
.
Too much to endure
quite incomprehensible
four more years of pain?
.
by Scooj
– Written before the final result of the Biden/Trump election, fingers tightly crossed. A Trump win will give Boris succour and further self-belief, on the other hand a Biden win will come as a huge wake up call for Boris and his populist cronies.
Impotent
.
I can’t influence
the USA election
but I sure can hope
.
by Scooj
Shouty
.
Childish baby-mouth
Trump hurls abuse, and so rude
exposed and stupid
.
by Scooj
Evasion
.
Avoid paying tax
avoid difficult questions
avoid decency
.
by Scooj
Thursday doors – 30 April 2020
Doors 104 – New York City paste up and sticker doors
Lock down continues and the weather has become a little unsettled, which adds up to a failure to find some new fresh doors for you this week, so it is a return to my archives and some doors from a family trip we took to New York in October 2017.
Each morning I would rise early and wander around the East Village area where out holiday appartment was and snap up some street art before the rest of the family got up – I combined shopping for breakfast with getting my street art fix, a win-win situation.
Many of the doors in the area were peppered from top to toe with wheatpastes and stickers. Here are a few of them to give you a flavour of the district:
You can spot a paste up by Phoebe New York to the right of the door buzzer.
There are two more Phoebe New York paste ups here, one above the boxer on the left and one at the bottom right of the door.
I hope you enjoyed this little tour, brief I know and I am sorry about that.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors and you ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
by Scooj
2012. Allen Street, New York (4)
Allen Street in East Village is a bit of a mecca for street art, but it is not concentrated like some of the spots in Bristol, but rather it is dotted about along the entire length of the Street. This exceptional piece by Joe Miller was rather new when I photographed it in October 2017.
The piece is a tribute to Charles Bradley a well known soul singer originally from Florida, but who had lived in New York for more than 20 years, and had died the month before from cancer. The mural has such incredible energy and movement and captures the singer doing what he loved and did best. It is an amazing piece.
2011. Ludlow Street, New York
On my walks around New York, I somehow ended up near this piece on several occasions, I guess it was easy to recognise and see from a distance, so it had imprinted on my mind. It is an interesting designed writing piece by Felipe Pantone.
The whole thing, the bright prism colours, the black and white stripes, the precise straight lines all remind me very much of 1980s design, when there was little or no subtlety and everything was vibrant and ‘in your face’. I guess what I am saying is that I get some strong retro vibes from this piece. A nicely thought out and painted piece.
2010. East Village, New York (3)
Have a beautiful day! Wandering around East Village early in the morning before the rest of the family got up pretty much guaranteed that I would have a beautiful day, and that was before we’d even thought about sightseeing. Finding wheatpastes by Phoebe New York simply added to my state of happiness.
It is difficult to have regrets when you manage to see so much street art, but I know that there was a whole bunch more that I missed. Perhaps we’ll just have to go back again some day. Some of the Phoebe New York paste ups were really faded and looked rather less sophisticated than her more recent work, so I am guessing that some were already quite old.
Her modus operandi seems to be relatively straightforward…a PNY head stuck onto a cut-out of a model from a magazine and a message of some sort. It is a great idea, but the equally clever bit is in finding a great place to paste the piece up. Various doorways seemed to be favourite, although competition for space can be ferocious at times.
The first time I came across Phoebe New York was at Upfest 2016, but I have a feeling that she might not have travelled all the way over to Bristol but could have had an accomplice who pasted her pieces up…only a hunch. It matters not, I love her work to pieces.
2009. Rivington Street, New York (2)
I find it hard to believe that it was October 2017 when I went to NYC with my family. In many ways it feels so recent in others it feels like a lifetime ago. One of the great things about being there was staying in Rivington Street, which was at the heart of a whole bunch of great street art spots, and it wasn’t even me who chose the hotel!
I was surprised and delighted to find quite a few pieces by Bristol’s very own Nick Walker, including this one at the top of a hotel in the street. I think this piece is called ‘Raining Love’. I appreciate it isn’t a very good picture, but it was a long way up and I only had my crappy little camera with me on this particular walk. This is the first of a few more posts from that trip.
