Street art is extremely under-appreciated in our world today. Often times it’s looked at in a negative light and people do not view it as art. A lot of street art that I’ve come across in the past is somewhat small and understated, and while this can be good, I rarely see street art as intense and bright as the piece of artwork I came across in Jersey City.
My sister lives in Jersey City so I go there extremely often, and whenever I go I come across this work of art and stand there in awe. The mural as a whole is so vibrant and beautiful, and it’s not often that I see buildings painted completely from top to bottom. Jersey City is slowly becoming an up-and-coming place, but there are still some areas where it is somewhat plain and the location of this building is one of those places. Since the surrounding buildings and streets are plain, this particular building and its vibrant colors stand out even more. It gives the area a contemporary and artsy feeling.
This mural was created about a year ago and it was done by an artist who calls herself Blair Urban. She has a website where she posts pictures of her artwork, murals, and designs, however there are no words attached to the pictures, so it leaves her artwork open to interpretation. She put her signature and her website name on one corner of the mural so people can see who did it. Her medium was spray paint, and since the mural is relatively new, the paint is still extremely vibrant and the colors attract your eye as soon as you go near it. The building has the words “Lafayette Rising” on it and whenever I come across it I can never figure out why it says that, but the words are extremely subtle and my eye is always drawn to the background of it.
The mural encompasses many different images including trees, the statue of liberty, a sunset, an image of a city skyline along a waterfront, and images of buildings. I think Blair Urban is trying to incorporate all of the wonderful things about the New York/Jersey City area into one piece. It seems to me that she is trying to show that sometimes people forget that cities can consist of natural beauties like trees, sunsets, and bodies of water yet still have many buildings and architecture. All of these images are connected together on her mural and are composed in a beautiful, flow-like manner. The sides of the building are painted in cooler tones and the middle edge of the building consists of vibrant warm colors, allowing the viewer to really see the shape of the building.
Since this mural is so large and well painted I think it will last years. It has already been somewhat of a public attraction because people notice and take pictures of it whenever they walk by, and it will only become more popular from here. The design is so strong that sometimes I forget it’s a building and I see it as a mural/piece of artwork before seeing it as a building. This is a piece of public art that only adds to the environment it’s in and it actually has the ability of lifting people’s spirits when they come across it because of the positive vibe it gives off.
By: Annalissa Thomas
