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Feature by Dom Murphy :: Monday, July 28, 2003
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| Back in April 2003, Dom Murphy got himself over to New York City to peep the action. Here's what happened... |
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Amsterdam. Raining. Airport. 7 hour flight. Touchdown. New York. Holy shit... crazy place. Within minutes of stepping out of the cab in Manhatten I knew this was going to be a wild seven days.
Staying at the very cheap (but cheerful) Whitehouse hostel on the Bowery, my base was set. The Whitehouse is snuggly situated below SoHo and above Canal Street. When booking the hostel I didn't realise I'd be staying slap bang in the middle of the action. Within seconds of stepping out of the door I knew it was on. Posters, stickers and stencils of varying sizes and shapes were all vying for top wall space each crafted with a fine eye. I was surprised to see very little commercial activity - a pleasant surprise especially when compared with sister city, London. What really grabbed me was the quality and originality of the work I saw.
One paste up artist who I'd not heard of before getting to NYC was the incredible Swoon. Swoon's work consists of life size cut outs of people. The attention to detail on the figures is beyond incredible. The pieces are cut and carefully pasted onto the walls of the city. An event organised by the Wooster Collective got me in contact with Swoon and we hung out for the evening talking about how she creates her work (literally blood, sweat and tears!) and her latest project, Toy Shop Collective (link below).
The first Wooster 'show and tell' gathering was a night for local artists to get together and show some work. My Dad's Strip Club and the Vacuum Cleaner both presented an entertaining talk about their subversive performances and art pieces. I hope by now Wooster have hosted more of the events.
At the Wooster gathering were some StickerNation friends; Rep1 and The Flower Guy. Having recently met The Flower Guy in Amsterdam his friendly face was welcomed as I first stepped into the room. To meet Rep1 was a real surprise and an honour. Rep1 has been bigging up StickerNation since day one so it was great to finally meet the man. Conversation fell on hooking up for a sticker mission and several days later we found ourselves over in Queens at 5 Points (aka The Fun Factory) dropping some proper-propaganda.
A second hook up was made with Marc and Sara at the Wooster Collective for a tour around SoHo, sticker spotting. Meeting them on a very sunny Sunday (slightly hungover: thanks Adam, Drop Frame and GHava!) we headed out into SoHo to see what we could find. The Wooster crew are on it knowing all the spots filling me in on who does what and pointing out what was fresh up. My digi cam's batteries were working overtime.
Take a good look at what New York is up to. And if you can, yourself over there and experience the place first hand. Seven days wasn't long enough. Ever since I've been planning my return.......
(I didn't even mention the record shops.... wow!)
Big thanks to everyone who I hooked up with whilst there, your hospitality was incredible: Adam & Drop Frame. Wooster. Rep1. Flower Guy. Zinc. Swoon. GHava. Trudy and Tony. The nice man in the toy shop down in the Lower East Side. |
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| Further reading... |
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Wooster Collective
Based out of NYC. The Wooster is a daily read. |
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Swoon
More info on Swoon |
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Toy Shop Collective
Swoon's collaborative project |
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The Flower Guy
No introductions needed for this chap. |
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Rep1
Long time SN friend and artist. |
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Faile
Kings of New York |
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Drop Frame
Big shout to Adam and the crew. Brooklyn's in the house! |
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Graphic Havoc
Cool guys with the 'Ice' chains. |
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My Dad's Strip Club
Spoke at the Wooster talk. |
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The Vacuum Cleaner
Also spoke at the Wooster talk. |
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Extra Oomph
New York Diaries and thoughts. |
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