Like No Other Place: Adventures in Street Art

As soon as I saw this storefront on Greenpoint Avenue in, surprise, Greenpoint, I knew I had to check it out. Whether it was the oldschool boombox, oldschool sneakers, cool t-shirts, or even just the lettering on the window, something drew me off my bike and into the store, called Alpha Beta. I was greeted by a cute, friendly girl (whose name obviously alludes me as that's my style) who willingly answered my questions about the art, clothing, musical equipment in the corner, cans of spray paint locked in metal cages, and the two adorable pit bulls that lapped the sweat from my mesh short-adorned legs. The art consisted of cool posters and some paintings, and the clothing was cool t-shirts designed by prominent street artists (I recognized one such artists' work from pictures of 5 Pointz, the graffiti Mecca of NYC. Yes, I felt pretty cool telling her that!). There were also spray painted hats, out-of-production old sneakers, and more old school boomboxes also adorning the walls. When I asked about the amplifiers and keyboards, she informed me that there was an indoor/outdoor back section that holds music and art events where bands play and graffiti artists paint. The mural-sized graffiti works hanging in the back start around $12,000...

Yes, that's right, $12,000. While I agree that this price is far too high even for a really cool piece of graffiti art from an influential street artist, I feel it's a good sign that graffiti and other forms of street art have gained more mainstream acceptance as legitimate forms of cultural communication. When I worked my google magic on this store, I found articles written shortly after the store's inception early this summer about a local councilman with a hard-on for squelching graffiti who was making a stink about the store encouraging vandalism. He made a valid point in saying there's not enough legal graffiti for the store to make a profit, so the store would mostly be profiting from crime.

However, street art is a 'crime' that the people have embraced and expanded. Yes, a lot of graffiti is just the simple, illegible 'tagging' with a black marker that no one can make any sense of and can be an eyesore. But more and more, I'm seeing a resurgence of visually appealing, sometimes thought-provoking art that enhances a neighborhood rather than tainting its image. Gone are the days where graffiti in NYC equaled gangs, hoodlums, and assorted low-lifes and hooligans. Now the 'criminals' are young artists who post pictures of their street art on their Flickr account for the world to see. Hell, the Tate Modern commissioned graffiti artists to paint the outside of the building. Lets not let uptight, unaware politicians stop NYC from being a premier destination for the best street artists in the world to do their work.

Here are some photos of graffiti and/or outdoor art that caught my eye after I left Alpha Beta and rode around Williamsburg.