5 Pointz is right across the street from PS1. You can see it from the windows of the #7 train as it twists through Long Island City. I may have been vaguely aware of it before but stumbling across it during a gray lunchtime walk produced a sense of delighted discovery. Who knew where all the subway graffiti artists had gone?
How amazing it it that these artists work only with spray cans?
Aerosol is King, baby!
Even the free parkers contribute some candy color to the kaleidoscopic scene beneath the elevated subway tracks.
The diversity of work is astonishing. From the cartoonish . . .
to the bawdy . . .
to the socially conscious portraits of African-American artists . . .
to the simply incredible. I'm no critic, but I think Pablo might have given this spray artist the thumbs up:
On the day I took these photos, an older artist was in residence.
I don't remember too many field trips as cool--or as truly multicultural--as this one. Go teach (and fuck those ratings based on test scores)!
