Photos By Gail
“Let Go of Who You Were, to Become Who You Are.” — Frank Ape
This fun and inspiring mural can be found on the security gate at East Village Collective, a vintage clothing store located at 545 East 12th Street (Between A and B), East Village, NYC. The mural went up in April of 2018.
Photo By Gail
This great mural of Patti Smith by Brooklyn-based street artist Huetek recently had to be touched-up by the artist after it was badly tagged by a random dick bag. The pose is modeled after the famous series of images by Smith’s close friend and former lover, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe — which were used as Smith’s first press photos as well as the cover of her debut album, Horses. Originally painted in July of 2018, the mural is part of the East Village Walls project, and can be found outside of Julie’s Vintage Clothing Boutique at 84 East 2nd Street just west of First Avenue. Punk Lives!
Photos By Gail
I spotted this fabulous Jimi Hendrix mural as I was out for a post-snowstorm stroll through my East Village neighborhood one Saturday afternoon. The mural can be found on the security gate for Mikey Likes It, an ice cream shop located at 199 Avenue A. According to their website, Mikey Likes It is the world’s first Pop Culture-inspired premium ice cream brand! I’ll have to make a point to stop by for a cone during their regular business hours!
Photo By Gail
An added upside to taking a walk around the neighborhood on a holiday is that a lot of businesses are closed, so you get a chance to check out all of sweet street art on security gates that are rolled up much of the time. While I could not find a tag on this piece, which adorns the security gate for the Lucky Bar on Avenue B, it sure does look like a mohawk-sporting Punk Rocker version of Frank Ape, by the artist Brandon Sines.
Lucky Bar is located at 168 Avenue B, East Village, NYC.
All Photos By Gail
Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra continues to make the rounds in NYC, but this mural of Michael Jackson’s Face as both a child and an adult actually went up some time ago, in late August of 2018. I have walked by it a bunch of times and that orange food truck is always there, so it’s hard to get a clear shot.
Dead for nearly a decade at this point (as hard to believe as that is) Jackson continues to be a highly polarizing figure, especially in light of the just-aired HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, which most definitely lends considerable credence to the child abuse allegations of which Jackson was charged and then famously acquitted. It just makes me sad for everyone involved. I wonder how long it will be now before this mural is painted over.
The Michael Jackson Mural is painted on the side of an apartment building located at the Southeast corner First Avenue and East 11th Street in NYC.
All Photos By Gail
Jerkface is one of my favorite street artists for his use of popular, easily recognized cartoon characters in his sightly skewed cultural visions. This double-vision mural of Mickey Mouse went upon May of 2018 and it still looks pretty good!
While people will tell you that this piece is at Houston and Mott, you can see from the above photo that it is set quite far in on Mott Street, between Houston and Bleecker.
Photo By Gail
Flamingos stores sell vintage clothing by the pound! This one, with its awesome tropical-themed Pink Flamingo security gate mural, is located on New York City’s LES at 57 Stanton Street!
