SOHO: South of Houston Street

Everyone always goes to Soho for one reason: SHOPPING. Go right into the middle of Soho and you’ll know right away. Numerous retail stores can be found in close proximity to each other. Need new jeans? Go to Soho. Need a flashy new coat? Go to Soho. That new Uniqlo that just opened up? Yeah, it’s in Soho. However, Soho used to be much different many years ago- at least according to Robert Kobayashi, who has an artwork gallery set up in the neighborhood. When Kobayashi moved into Soho, he said that “the neighborhood was quiet,” and that “the neighborhood used to be drug haven but is now artistic.” So exactly how and why is Soho now considered a neighborhood of art and fashion? Well, my group and I wondered the same thing, so with the question in mind, and the freezing winds beating against our faces, we embarked on our little quest of knowledge for the arts.

Before I talk about the art my group had encountered, I’d like to discuss graffiti and its legitimacy as art. There are people who believe that graffiti is pure vandalism. Then there are people who believe that graffiti is the art that personifies the urban culture. What each person believes is up to them, but for our review, one must bear with the latter. I am a strong believer that graffiti is art, and to anyone who thinks otherwise, I tell them to look up famous artist, Banksy who made his career off of graffiti. Anyway, as my group and I wandered almost aimlessly through Soho looking for art, we found graffiti everywhere. Buildings were obvious locations, but a closer look revealed countless tags and symbols on mail boxes and dividers among other locations. It was beautiful. It was apparent that a great amount of creativity was put into these works. Well at least a good amount of them. One of the major details we noticed about the graffiti was that they were mostly pictures rather than words. Graffiti artists in Soho seemed to gravitate towards meaningful and often times complex pictures.  Kobayashi mentioned this in our interview with him, and thinks that although it is different, it is definitely still exciting. Aside from the artful graffiti, store owners seemed to have even utilized graffiti as a form of advertisement!

More talk about art and graffiti in Soho can be found in the filmed interview of a very charming, eloquent young woman we found sitting on a bench. Here’s the link to the interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylLB_AwFCzI

Graffiti isn’t the only form of art around Soho. One of the first things that captured our attention as we walked into the neighborhood was the beautiful cast-iron buildings. These industrial looking buildings got their look from (you guessed it), construction during the industrial revolution. The interesting color contrasts and subtle architectural designs really stood out in comparison to the rest of New York city buildings. In fact, Soho is one of the most well-known areas to contain cast-iron buildings. As you delve deeper into Soho, you really start to feel like you’re walking back in time. The streets, some of them made of cobblestone, get narrower, and the buildings start looking more old fashioned. If you don’t want to lose that feeling, then don’t take a look at the stores at the base of those buildings. Then again, if you don’t look in the direction of the stores, you’ll probably get run over, or cause some kind of accident, so don’t take my advice. If you don’t think that the architecture is something to boast about, then ask the German family man we interviewed in Soho. The man we interviewed came from Germany to New York with his family, presumably on a vacation. When we asked him about what was artful in Soho, he could not stop talking about the buildings and how they had a 19th century feel to them. He claimed that the industrial buildings really set Soho apart from other areas such as midtown and even the cities he’s been to in Germany.

Here in the photo to the left, a stark difference can be made between the two buildings. The building on the left looks much more modern than the one on the right. Such is the result, our group believed to be, of the gentrification that occurred over the course of the past decades.

Finally, I’d like to talk about the one piece of artwork that really captured the attention of me and my group. This piece of artwork is quite peculiar in that it is… quite peculiar. There are several people, each with three eyes, donning a sort of body suit that superheros would wear. Everything from the clouds and planes and triangles have eyes, (one too many if I might add). The meaning of this piece is hard to grasp, and to be honest, is quite lost to me. However upon research, we have found that this picture was titled “The Ace” by Dimitri Drjuchin a.k.a. DIMA. This particular artist likes to incorporate his Russian roots, and influences in comics and spirituality, into his pieces. That can very well be seen in the picture. So why did I choose this picture? I chose this picture primarily because it was graffiti. That’s right, this hefty piece of work is in fact graffiti, drawn on some random wall on the corner of (streets which escape my memory). I believe that Graffiti greatly exemplifies the art culture in Soho, and that this particular one really had a lot to say for the neighborhood. The whole thing is bizarre and loaded with old symbolism reminiscent of religious Renaissance paintings… just like Soho (minus the whole reminiscent of religious Renaissance paintings thing). The people that frequent Soho are bizarre in the way that they’re so diverse and fashionable. As the woman we interviewed said, “Even the people can be considered as walking art.” The graffiti all over the buildings are definitely quite bizarre as well. Also, the old symbolism reminds me of the cast-iron buildings present within Soho. These buildings represent a time far back in our city’s history. They’re beautiful relics that still stand erect to this day. I hope that wasn’t too far a stretch of a comparison, but that’s what I came up with.
In the end, I enjoyed my little trip into Soho, as I’m sure my group mates did. Had I gone to Soho solely to shop, as most people usually do, I would have failed to notice the beautiful architecture and some of the cool graffiti. I think this neighborhood project really gave me so much more insight into the background of Soho and how it stands as a neighborhood instead of a fashion marketplace. For that, I am thankful, and I intend on visiting again to do a little more sightseeing and photography (and a little more shopping!)