picking cichorium

As I was walking to pick up my laundry this afternoon,  I spotted the famous Mosaic Man fixing up the details on one of the lampposts of the Mosaic Trail. Surely I stopped to chat.

The celebrity is vivacious and very friendly: dozens stopped to say hi in the 10 mins that I spent around him, and he did not snob one person. Barely moving (he is waiting to get a hip replacement and is in a lot of pain), but continuing to scrape the mix of human slobber and gum off the sidewalk right next to the lamppost, Jim told me that he is trying to raise $200,000 to hire artists as aids. His goal is to complete the trail and fix the mosaics that need a healing touch. To find more about what Jim is trying to accomplish, check out EmpowerJimPower.com.

As for me, I am a believer in East Village and its local quirks. It is Jim and people like him that make the Village what it is, and it would suck if they disappeared.

Astor Place, NYC

Manhattan from New Jersey

Far Rockaway beach in Queens, NY

i should begin in the beginning. at first there was fish.

then there was elmo, mom, sheep and what not. every time i waited for a seat at Mogador, i would check out the window of the De La Vega‘s shop. slowly checking out has become more systematic: i now take a stroll along St. Mark’s every Sat or Sun morning to see what’s new.

reading up on this young artist has revealed that his genius is not appreciated by the NYPD. i have nothing to say to this, but to remember my own encounter with NYPD, when i almost got arrested for sitting in a park late at night, talking about politics and economics with two friends. heh, NYPD and the law do not seem to have a sense of humor.

James De La Vega’s popularity is not only with the local police. if you walk thru east village or east harlem paying attention to what is around, you will be blown away how many businesses get this man to decorate their furniture, exteriors and what not.

I should have posted this entry while Filthy was still up

The original:

Pablo Picasso. Guernica.  1937. Oil on canvas. 349 × 776 cm. Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid

East Village remix:

Must look up the artist. Filthy,vile. 2008. Spraypaint on brick. Around  200 x 200 cm. Outside of Mars Bar.

I found out about Eliasson’s installation on the East River, The New York Waterfalls, from NYT. I surely deemed the project interesting, but did not read up on it due to the lack of time. Several days ago, I rode in a cab with a friend, saw The Waterfalls, and started babbling away about public art, telling the engineer type about the Running Fence of Christo and Jeanne Claude. “Nah, but how does it work and how much electricity are they wasting on it?” – he asked the questions that naturally popped up in his head. Well, the website dedicated to the project does tell us how the waterfalls were installed, how they work, but keeps quiet about the energy consumption. Apparently, the answer is “A LOT” since the project is reported to be the second most expensive in the city’s history. Whether a part of the money does come from the city’s budget, or all of it is from the Public Art Fund and other organizations, let us rejoice for the minor spending boost, since the economic stimulus package does not seem to be doing its job. According to The Economist, apparently the “consumers are planning to spend only somewhere between 20% and 40% of the rebate. The rest will go towards paying down debt or into savings accounts” (“Stimulus and Shopping,” The Economist, May 29th, 2008).

Jokes aside, I recommend to see the four beasts driving on the FDR or riding the Q train. I will spare you of the blackberry pictures of the project, since it is best seen live or on the pictures by the pros.