Challenge Successful.
We went to a very nice place in Astoria called Brick Cafe. Queens is an amazingly multi-cultural place, it's been dubbed 'the most culturally diverse 'hood in the world', so you can get any kind of food you want in Queens and apparently it's the best place to go for curries.
We had been told, and read in our books that there are two main neighbourhoods to see in Queens, Astoria and Jackson Heights. Both of which are known of being incredibly diverse. I thought the area of Astoria we were in felt like a nice, quiet version of Greenpoint in Brooklyn - it was lovely. I can't say I noticed a great deal of diversity, but we were right on the edge of Astoria anyway.
Before Astoria we went somewhere else. There's a photographer who sells his photos at the Union Square Artists Market, and he has an amazing photo of a yellow building that's absolutely covered in grafitti. I remember asking him where it was when I first moved here, but I don't remember what the answer was - and I've been trying to remember/find out since... well, we finally found it. It's in Queens and it's called the 5 Pointz Building...
It's an ever changing grafitti exhibition, and according to their website it's the grafitti mecca of the world. Artists from all over the place come to Queens and make their mark, some doing just little tags, some doing massive pieces. They're up for a certain amount of time and then get covered over by something new, or they get chipped off ready for some new pieces to be sprayed up...
It was fantastic. The whole place was covered, all the lamposts, the fire-hydrants, the wheely bins, all covered and it all felt like it was done in a respectful way - it was a designated area for artists to do their thing, so it didn't feel like vandalism, it just felt like being at Abbey Road where everyone signs the wall outside the studios...
As well as the main building being covered, the two streets down either side of the building were covered in tags too...
I have to say, I prefer grafitti when it's like the Kid Acne stuff in Sheffield, but it was amazing to see so many tags all in one place, and to see so many different styles too.
It was also interesting seeing the layers of paint being chipped away by people who worked there - I suppose layers upon layers of paint can't be good for the building.
It was a really amazing place to visit, and I'm sure that each time we go back it'll look different. It looked like there was a gallery too, so I think we'll go back and explore the place properly next time.
We had been told, and read in our books that there are two main neighbourhoods to see in Queens, Astoria and Jackson Heights. Both of which are known of being incredibly diverse. I thought the area of Astoria we were in felt like a nice, quiet version of Greenpoint in Brooklyn - it was lovely. I can't say I noticed a great deal of diversity, but we were right on the edge of Astoria anyway.
Before Astoria we went somewhere else. There's a photographer who sells his photos at the Union Square Artists Market, and he has an amazing photo of a yellow building that's absolutely covered in grafitti. I remember asking him where it was when I first moved here, but I don't remember what the answer was - and I've been trying to remember/find out since... well, we finally found it. It's in Queens and it's called the 5 Pointz Building...
It's an ever changing grafitti exhibition, and according to their website it's the grafitti mecca of the world. Artists from all over the place come to Queens and make their mark, some doing just little tags, some doing massive pieces. They're up for a certain amount of time and then get covered over by something new, or they get chipped off ready for some new pieces to be sprayed up...
It was fantastic. The whole place was covered, all the lamposts, the fire-hydrants, the wheely bins, all covered and it all felt like it was done in a respectful way - it was a designated area for artists to do their thing, so it didn't feel like vandalism, it just felt like being at Abbey Road where everyone signs the wall outside the studios...
As well as the main building being covered, the two streets down either side of the building were covered in tags too...
I have to say, I prefer grafitti when it's like the Kid Acne stuff in Sheffield, but it was amazing to see so many tags all in one place, and to see so many different styles too.
It was also interesting seeing the layers of paint being chipped away by people who worked there - I suppose layers upon layers of paint can't be good for the building.
It was a really amazing place to visit, and I'm sure that each time we go back it'll look different. It looked like there was a gallery too, so I think we'll go back and explore the place properly next time.
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