When the revered graffiti holy place named 5Pointz in Queens, New York was buffed and slated officially for demolition last fall the collective response of the graffiti / Street Art fan base and community was horror and lament. Nonetheless, community persists, and art in the streets is stronger than ever in many cities, including right here in Queens which has played host to an ever growing grassroots exhibition on the walls for five years called Welling Court.
Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Imagined and produced by two advocates of creativity in the public sphere and run on a shoe-string budget, Welling Court is a series of 100+ walls throughout this largely working class neighborhood that feels like it perhaps has been overlooked by the rest of the city. With a mix of some of New York’s newest immigrants and families, the modest residential/light manufacturing neighborhood has had a eye-jolting injection of spirit and free art every summer since 2009.
Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
We look forward to this annual event for a number of reasons, among them: the unpretentious spirit of community creativity at work as tens of artist straddle ladders and stepstools side by side painting walls, the friendly inquisitive neighbors who hang out and discuss the art and prepare a variety of foods to share on folding tables in the middle of the street, and the unbridled enthusiasm of the kids who race through the neighborhood on foot, bicycle, scooter, even grocery cart.
Unsponsored by brands and run by community elbow grease, Welling Court brings lots of Street Art / graffiti / public art enthusiasts and almost no police presence or crime for that matter. Breaking their own record this June at 127 painted walls, organizers Garrison and Alison Buxton help hook up the opportunity and artists are happy to take advantage of it. Here is just a relatively small selection of images taken by photographer Jaime Rojo at Welling Court 2014.
Fresh from graduation and walking in front of a RHAK gate. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Joe Iurato and Rubin collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
R.Robots (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sub (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Kaffeine at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Kaffeine (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Toofly (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cern (photo © Jaime Rojo)
LMNOPI at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
MRC (photo © Jaime Rojo)
John Ahearn temporary installation with a Dennis McNett wheat paste from last year as a background. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
John Ahearn working on the details of the live casting he did of Roger Smith. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
John Ahearn. More to be done with this Roger Smith piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pyramid Oracle at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Greeg Lamarche, Wane and Trap (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Not Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cekis (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cake and Ryan Seslow collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bishop203 with an old Flying Fortress in the middle gate. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ellis G, Joseph Meloy and Abe Lincoln collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Esteban Del Valle (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Alice Mizrachi (photo © Jaime Rojo)
PRVRT (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gregg Lamarche (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Damien Mitchell at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Damien Mitchell (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Christopher Cardinale (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Fun! Fun! Fun! (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
This article was also published on The Huffington Post
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
A quick shout out to the new collaged gender fuckery Judith Supine uses that openly plays with the man. The Marlboro man that is; the ubiquitous cowboy that appeared in advertisements for thirty-five...
A current survey today from the streets in Copenhagen thanks to a couple of BSA fans and friends who share with readers their recent finds in one of the world’s happiest places, according to the 2018 ...
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. The media is beating the war drums again. Where are we being led this time? Truckers protesting vaccine and mask mandates at the border with US|Canada are...
Graffiti South Africa by Cale Waddacor. (photo of book cover © Jaime Rojo) A big hardcover from South Africa arrived in the mail recently and we wanted to share it with you because we think you'll ...
As we draw closer to the new year we’ve asked a very special guest every day to take a moment to reflect on 2017 and to tell us about one photograph that best captures the year for them. It’s ...