Spring Street Art Comes to New York City

Gazing Globes by artist Paula Hayes

When spring weather arrives to cities hit hard  by the winter's cold and snow, outdoor art installations sprout over night. New York City is blooming with spring flowers and public art exhibits, rewarding locals and tourists after an unusually brutal winter.

Madison Square Park in downtown NYC is home to an exhibit by artist Paula Hayes, Gazing Globes. This is Hayes' first outdoor art sculpture, and consists of 18 illuminated orbs filled with recycled objects from modern urban life.

Reminiscent of Christmas ornaments or snowglobes,  the clear globes merge memories of the city's winter streets filled with snow, sleet and ice dotted with street trash. Artist Hayes used:

vintage parts because technology moves at such a fast pace.  These play a role in the current landscape and how information is transmitted from one part of the globe to the next. I am making an illuminated landscape evocative of the designed landscape of Madison Square Park. Both are born of human imagination and technology.

~ Paula Hayes, artist

Gazing Globes in Madison Square Park

Gazing Globes in Madison Square Park

I'm invigorated by the burst of beautiful spring weather and public art sprouting up in cities and towns everywhere. What street art has popped up in your neighborhood?

à la prochaine,

Shirley

Street Art and Graffiti: Foreshadowed by Paris Advertising Art of Toulouse-Lautrec

A new exhibit at NYC's MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) showcases "The Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec: Prints and Posters." Henri Toulouse-Lautrec is remembered for his posters advertising the night life of dance halls, theaters and cafes in Paris' Montmarte district.

In the late 1800's Montmartre's bohemian and decadent night life attracted tourists and locals to a lifestyle flaunting alcohol, prostitutes and frequently drugs. As a handicapped artist needing to make a living, Toulouse-Lautrec was hired to make posters promoting the Montmartre lifestyle. His 'art' was scorned by many other artists, but his confidence from an aristocratic background and deteriorating health from alcoholism and birth defects left him few options to earn a living.

Ironically, today Henri Toulouse-Lautrec is renown for his advertisements depicting the people, places and moral decay of Montmartre.

Once considered a crime, graffiti art was quickly cleaned or painted over, and removed from buildings, buses, billboards and trains. Today street art is becoming increasingly popular and collectible. Urban artists such as Banksy and Zephyr are hailed as artists, rather than criminals, and their street art is preserved and showcased.

Reminiscent of Toulouse-Lautrec, street artists are being hired for graffiti advertising campaigns by companies including Miller beer, IBM and Domino's Pizza to target young, hip consumers.

I love the vibrant, energetic colors and shapes these artists bring to our world: while I never want private property defaced or destroyed, I welcome the art being easily available to the public. Take a look below at some street art from urban artists around the world, and see my Pinterest board for more examples of urban art.

à la prochaine,  

Shirley

              British urban artist Banksy 

                Mexican urban artist Neuzz

graffiti art on the High Line in NYC