Muralists seek to preserve the city’s murals

Photo credit: Chine Labbe

In El Barrio, wall painting is a lasting art form. The Spirit of East Harlem, at the southeast corner of East 104^th Street and Lexington Avenue, has been in the community for more than 30 years. An ode to the neighborhood’s day-to-day lifestyle, it covers the entire façade of a building and depicts local people playing chess, chatting and taking care of their children, among other activities. “It is one of the great landmark murals of New York City,” muralist Janet Braun-Reinitz said. “I don’t know if the world has mural masterpieces, but The Spirit of (East) Harlem comes close,” local artist Manuel Vega said.

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Tattoos and art meet in Harlem

By Zoe So

September 17, 2009

Peony tattoo by Andre Malcolm. Photo credit: Andre Malcolm

Black Ink ‘s storefront on Lenox Avenue, south of 113^th Street, does not look much like a tattoo parlor.  The sign of a faded cartoon pin-up girl with the word “Tattoos” stands below street level, barely visible from even a few stores away.   Flash – sheets of paper filled with small sample designs of roses, skulls, Chinese characters and other standard tattoo parlor fare – are absent from the walls, which have been painted to look like soft brown suede.  Instead, framed drawings by famous tattoo artists hang art gallery style in the lobby.

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Hunts Point Graffiti Artists Reach for Respect

Photo Credit: Ashlee Fairey

A strong September sun beat down on the tar roof of 940 Garrison Avenue. Drops of diligence dripped down the faces of TATS CRU on Sept. 15 as they painted graffiti murals on approved wall space above The Point, a Hunts Point community arts center in the south Bronx.

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By Chine Labbe
October 22, 2009