Caleb Neelon & Katie Yamasaki. Photo by Lois Stavsky.

For the fourth consecutive year Ad Hoc Art has brought dozens of artists to the Welling Court community in Astoria, Queens, transforming it into a first-rate open air museum. Here’s a small sampling of what could be seen this weekend:

Queen Andrea. Photo Lois Stavsky.

Veng at work on collaborative mural with Chris, RWK. Photo by Tara Murray.

Kimyon Huggins. Photo by Lois Stavsky.

Kosbe. Photo by Tara Murray.

JC. Photo by Lois Stavsky.

Mata Ruda & ND’A. Photo by Lois Stavsky.

Icy & Sot. Photo by Lois Stavsky.

El Kamino. Photo by Lois Stavsky.

If you are anywhere near NYC, a visit to Welling Court is a must!  The diversity of the works and the responses of the local residents to them are astounding. And if you’d like to help fund this project, check this out.

Photos by Lois Stavsky and Tara Murray

Nosego at work. Photo by RJ Rushmore

This past Saturday, I was in New York’s Little Italy helping to facilitate some more walls there. Thanks to Little Italy, Sambuca’s Cafe, Umberto’s Clam House, The Low Brow Artique, and Montana Cans, we brought Chris and Veng of Robots Will Kill and Nosego to Little Italy for two new pieces of Christmas-themed art. It was a great day, and everyone had a lot of fun painting and chatting with all the people who stopped by to see what was going on.

Even Santa stopped by to help out. Photo by Wayne Rada.

Chris and Veng painted a spot just next to Umberto’s Clam House on Mulberry Street between Grand and Hester. I love the detail on Chris’ character’s sweater of a Robots Will Kill logo made partially from candy canes.

Veng and Chris

Unfortunately, this photo is about all that’s left of Nosego’s piece, painted on Mulberry Street between Hester and Canal. A vigilante Grinch must have not wanted us to be spreading Christmas cheer, because the piece was painted over in a really poor buff job on Monday night. Such a shame, given how many people seemed to be loving the piece on Saturday evening. Nosego, Little Italy, and Vandalog wanted to get people smiling and excited for Christmas, but somebody wasn’t smiling. But hey, art outdoors is always temporary. Sometimes this sort of thing happens. Of course, we didn’t plan for the piece to be up forever anyway. Christmas in July is for retailers, not murals. I just feel bad that I dragged Nosego up from Philly for the day, and that so many people are going to miss out on a seeing a great mural.

Nosego. Why would anyone buff this? Photo by Ruddy Was Here.

Photos by RJ Rushmore, Wayne Rada and Ruddy Was Here

Doodles

Part one of the Illegal Baltimore series can be found here, and part two can be found here.

Walking around in the abandoned areas of Baltimore gave me a peace of mind that the NYPD would never allow in New York. However, engaging life-long citizens of Baltimore about the graffiti surrounding them in the streets came with its own merits. The blending of New York and Baltimore-based artists that I saw in the the city’s innards was mirrored in its streets. With the, then recent, invasion of international artists for Open Walls Baltimore, the city had become a hub for any east coast street artist to visit. As long as you had friends in the area or on the roster, chances are you ended up there. Read the rest of this article »

The walls outside Bushwick’s new Low Brow Artique have evolved into first-rate open-air gallery.  Now alongside the mural fashioned by the Yok and Sheryo, is an exquisitely intriguing piece crafted this weekend by Chris and Veng of Robots Will Kill. Here are some earlier images:

Chris at work on his iconic character

Veng begins painting his wondrous chameleon

Veng adds finishing touches

Photos by Tara Murray

EKG & Dark Clouds

Opening this evening from 6-9pm at Bushwick’s stylish Low Brow Artique is You and Me, an intriguing exhibit of collaborative pieces in a range of textures and styles. Curated by Rhiannon Platt, it features works by Cash4 & Smells, OCMC & This Is Awkward, Veng & Sofia Maldonado, Chris & Veng (RWK), EKG & Dark Clouds, Matt Siren & Fenix and Royce Bannon & Russell King, The exhibit continues through September 1 at 143 Central Avenue.  Here are two more pieces:

Veng & Sofia Maldonado

Matt Siren & Fenix

Photos by Tara Murray and Lois Stavsky

Gilf

Gilf recently organized a legal spot for seven artists, including some of my favorites, at 229 North 10th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Here are the finished results:

Cake

Sofia Maldonado

Veng

LNY

Joe Iurato

Icy and Sot

Photos by Gilf

Katie Yamasaki and Caleb Neelon

Organized by Ad Hoc Art, The Welling Court Mural Project is once again bringing some of the finest artists anywhere to Astoria, Queens to grace the walls of the Welling Court community. The event opened officially today at noon, coinciding with Welling Court’s annual block party, but a number of artists have already had begun making their mark earlier this week. These images were captured yesterday:

Toofly @ work; image begun by Sheryo on the right

Subtexture — with a message

Veng

Christopher Cardinale

Images from opening day to follow.

Photos by Dani Mozeson

OverUnder at work

Earlier today — on this Memorial Day weekend – some of our favorite artists were busy over on East 4th Street off the Bowery. Tara Murray, a former student — who has become as addicted to street art as I am — caught up with them as they were finishing. Here are a few images from this latest MaNY Project with FABnyc under the direction of the indefatigable Keith Schweitzer:

OverUnder close-up

ND'A at work

Chris & Veng RWK

Photos by Tara Murray

A huge fan of Veng’s larger-than-life signature character that surfaces frequently throughout NYC and beyond, I was delighted to discover another side of his talents in his small, delicately-rendered birds – largely fashioned with watercolor and ink on paper – at Mighty Tanaka.  Here are a few more images:

The exhibit, The Birds and the Bees, also featuring work by Gigi Chen, continues through May 4th at 111 Front Street in Brooklyn’s DUMBO district.

Photos by Tara Murray & Lois Stavsky

Specter for Open Walls Baltimore

This week’s link-o-rama is a few days delayed. Parents were in town earlier this week and even came to an event some friends of mine organized at Haverford College: A talk by Jayson Musson (the artist who created and plays the character Hennessy Youngman). I don’t think my mom was amused. Here’s what I’ve been reading this week:

• Fault Magazine interviewed me about street art and The Underbelly Project.
• Open Walls Baltimore is coming along nicely.
• Shok-1 and Remi/Rough collaborated on a wall.
• D*face has been busy in NYC.
• Shepard Fairey is the latest artist to work with Montana on custom spray cans. Of course, they come in red, black and creme.
• David Shrigley is the latest artist to have his work on a billboard near the Highline.
• Seven Years with Banksy by Robert Clarke allegedly offers a behind-the-scenes look at Banksy. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s out in the UK here and USA here.
• I’ve heard a lot of people talking about Crash lately. While I don’t buy the hype myself (but I’m willing to be convinced), it seems worth mentioning that he has a show of watercolors on now in Paris.
• Veng is showing now at Mighty Tanaka in Brooklyn.

Photos by Martha Cooper