I thought I’d bring some street art from New York City and New Jersey to you this spring and summer. This first post has pictures of New York Street art from the Lower East Side of the East Village. Every time I walk around there are always people around the First Avenue Park and lots of them are having their picture taken with the street art, or just taking pictures of it. Street Art really livens up the scenery outside and draws a lot of attention. The Huffington Post even mentioned that the popularity of street art assists in driving up real estate prices, since people currently feel that it is a colorful addition to a neighborhood. This means no more sneaking around to paint a mural like in the 1970’s or early 1980’s for street artists.  Artists are traveling the world to do murals and have their work recognized in various places. I think it is great that street art is more accepted and therefore available to be appreciated.

I was a bit annoyed to see that subway cars are now being used for ladies’ lingerie and underwear advertisements. It is a shame they took away all the street art on the subways and now are replacing some of it with these advertisements. New York Subways do have great art underground and I will go into some of that in another post. There are loads of stations with wonderful art and mixed in with this blog on urging you to rewind, reduce and recycle I like to share some other artistic things I enjoy with you.

Some of the pictures I had to take at a distance, one through a fence (the one of the woman that says Miss Behave). Some had no signatures, or at least not that I could easily see. I did find information online about several of the artists.

The Belgian artist Roa Metazoa, painted the lovely bird that is on the East Village mural on East 2^nd Street between the Bowery and 2^nd Avenue. The website http://streetartnyc.org/   has more information and pictures of his artwork. Apparently he has an exhibit at the Jonathan LeVine art gallery at 529 West 20^th Street in New York, NY. The exhibit runs through May 2^nd, 2015.

Mural by Roa Metazoa

The constructions bins for collecting waste from construction sites were decorated by a variety of street artists. There was a large one of these bins right behind the park on 1^st Avenue. Matthew Denton Burrows has a Master degree in Illustration from The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. He has a website at: http://dentonburrows.com/index.php/text/work

I was particularly intrigued by the lively pink Pidgindoll, which is a fashion icon created by a NY Illustrator, Joshua David McKenney. He has become a doll maker as well and his dolls have a lovely, classic look. On his website:www.pidgindoll.com/ he carries a line of his paper dolls, which I was pleased to see since paper dolls are not as popular as they once were when I was a child. He also creates a line of boudoir dolls, which was a popular item in the 1920’s. So McKenney has a flair for vintage classics.

NS/BC is a collaboration of illustration done by Nicole Salger and Chuck Berrett. They have a website at: http://nscb.tumblr.com

I really like the polar bear in the blue water.  I have no idea who painted in since they only put their initials.  The young lady peering down into her coffee cup is a mural I found further down in the Little Italy area of Manhattan.

The lovely statute of the lady holding a fish is in front of Urban Archaeology down in Tribeca, on the West Side, near where I usually go kayaking in the summer. I just wanted to insert that picture too for a bit of eclectic variety. Once summer arrives I will have stories of the kayaking on the river , which is free and one of my favorite things to do in NYC since I am a lady on a budget!!! In the event that you live here and are interested, or are visiting soon you can get all equipment needed from the NY Boat House for free as long as you can swim. They lend you the kayak and paddles, life jacket and as long as you sign a waiver and can swim you can go kayak in the river. I see a lot of wonderful sites walking around before and after kayaking and will share them with you this summer.

I hope you enjoy this post.  Also I imagine you are getting out and enjoying spring where ever you are.  It is a lovely time to get out and walk around, bike ride, hike and enjoy street art!

  All material & photos written taken by: © Marilyn Lavender, 2015.  “All Rights Reserved.”