Climbing up on a roof during the sultry city summer can be liberating, and it turns out to be a prime place for painting too. Away from the cacophony of the sweaty streets, the breeze up here is a little cooler and stronger and aside from the occasional potted tomato plant or sun-tanning waitress, you are on your own. You may not own any personal real estate, but right now this is all yours, this sweeping urban vista of grand, glassy, grimy, gawdy, and gutted.
For years graffiti writers and Street Artists have sought these undiscovered spots as a kind of refuge, an urban backyard for hanging out and going big, often collaboratively. You could say that rooftop spots even have a certain lore, a place to tell stories about and revel in. In a hard-knock nasty city that sometimes seems to swallow people whole, on this rooftop with a view you can do a huge piece and feel like you are holding it all down. Not to mention the bragging rights you can claim for hitting a high profile location that grabs eyeballs and raises the stakes. As for the city dweller, the work, as ever, is subjectively reviled, ignored, or celebrated. No one can truthfully deny its affect on the character of the cityscape.
Here are some choice roof shots by photographer Jaime Rojo across New York, LA, Chicago, and Boston to give you a birds eye view of some art from on high.
Rime, Dceve, and Toper in Chinatown, Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Rime, Dceve, and Toper in Chinatown, Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
ROA on the water tower and Chris Stain and Billy Mode on the wall. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
News in DUMBO, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
JR in Hunts Point, The Bronx as part of Inside Out – A Global Art Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
JR in Hunts Point, The Bronx as part of Inside Out – A Global Art Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bare, Hert, Gable, Deth Kult, TVEE in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Rodeo, ILS, Bare, Hert, Gable, Deth Kult, TVEE in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Swoon. The Central Street Roof in Cambridge, MA. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Anarkia Boladona in Hunts Point, The Bronx. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sweet Toof in Bushwick, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Deeker, Armer, Lister and Judith Supine in Bushwick, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Various & Gould in Bushwick, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Shepard Fairey in Los Angeles, Arts Disctric for LA Freewalls Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jaz and Cern in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ludo in Chicago with Pawn Works Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
At Large, Nekst, Rusk in Williamsburg, Brookklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Take No Action, Hellbent, Sweet Toof in Willimsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Swampy in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tats Cru in Hunts Point, The Bronx. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Staino in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jeff Aerosol in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gaia in Chicago with Pawn Works Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Love Me, Screw Sacer in China Town, Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Veng, Royce Bannon, Werds in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Staino, Sefu and RTF at the High Line Park in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
I Spy in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact in The Lower East Side, Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
Faring Purth is taking this one lying down in Westville, New Haven Connecticut on a long wall with Marielle. The 150 x 12 foot figure featured in “As in the Light of Marielle” was just completed and f...
‘The Gag Law made me do it!,” says Street Art activist and social commentator Bill Posters as he talks about his new kiosk takeovers in Placa Espanya, Barcelona. The large black and white photographs ...
Whether it’s the sarcastic stickers from MAD Magazine for Snarlamint cigarettes, Wacky Package trading cards for Crust toothpaste, or that first Saturday Night Live ad for Loggs, the pantyhose for...
Innovative artist in the public sphere, Daniel Weissbach aka DTAGNO aka COST88 has charted new territory many times with his hand made experimentation that makes graffiti and street art search themse...
Two Rome-based architects/designers named Lorenzo Pagliara and Gianmaria Zonfrillo are our featured artists today as they bent perception with their new piece called Wireframe. In part two of our pub...