Category — About New York

I don’t have a digital camera, so I had to draw what I saw on a piece of paper and take a picture with my iSight.  I am also not much of an artist, so the drawing is rudimentary at best.  Do forgive me.

What you see is a drawing of some graffiti I pass on one of the many routes I walk every day.  Someone spray-painted the words “Grandma loves Granpa” (Yes, they did leave the letter “D” out of Grandpa) onto the wall of a pedestrian foot-bridge.  I thought it was such a funny phrase with which to vandalize a wall; in fact, I don’t think the expression of such a lovely, long-lasting sentiment can rightly be called vandalism.  It should be called art.

The form of the letters is very feminine, and one thing I like about it is that when I pass it one way, I read “Grandma loves Granpa” and on my way home I read “Granpa loves Grandma.”  It goes both ways.

Firstly, I must apologize for the camera on my phone was being a bit ridiculous this weekend thus the image is a bit distorted, but I hope that you can still see what was so beautifully and intricately made on the floor.

I took this picture in Union Square. There was this artist who was creating a mural of sorts on the floor of this intricately woven flower. Now, you would think that he would use paint to create such definition and detail, but he used something so unexpected. This mural was created out of sand, colorful sand. That is so unbelievably different from anything I have ever seen in the city, but, then again, the city defines itself with people as artistic as this man. It’s not even regular colored sand which he used. He used sand that glittered and even glowed-in-the-dark. Talk about creativity. There was quite a crowd gathered around this masterpiece. Yes, I used the word masterpiece. Only in New York would you find people as progressively artistic as this man. He is willing for his art to be trampled on by people, to be rained on, to be skated on, to be sweeped with just for it to be seen. Most of New York artists put their original pieces in billboards and walls as a statement. You hardly see their work on the floor. That is why I thought this man’s work fit the whole “New York Vibe/Context.” Amongst all the other artists, especially in Union Square, he made his art, his beautiful flower, shine above the rest, especially on such a dreary weekend. It is also whimsical, strange and different, just like the heart of New York City. This unbelievable flower will most probably be gone by tomorrow, but the memory of it will still remain in all of his viewers’ minds.