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Photo of the Day: Street Art by RAE in Coney Island

Posted in art, Photography, tagged Brooklyn, Coney Island, Cyclone, graffiti, RAE, street art, urban art on May 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Street Art by RAE in Coney Island. April 16, 2011

On an April evening, this fantastic piece of street art by RAE popped up across the street from the Cyclone. When we went back the next day it was gone. Keep an eye out for more work by RAE and friends this summer in Coney Island!

Photo Album: Coney Island Reliefs by Deborah Masters

Posted in art, Photo Album, Photography, tagged Arts for Transit, Bruce Handy, Coney Island, Deborah Masters, MTA, Ocean Parkway, relief sculpture on April 29, 2011| 1 Comment »

Deborah Masters' Coney Island Reliefs on Ocean Parkway Viaduct. October 2, 2009. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

See Queen Mermaid, sideshow performers, sunbathers and Cyclone riders in cast concrete on the gateway to Coney Island! On Saturday, April 30th, MTA Arts for Transit is hosting an event from 2 to 5 pm to celebrate the completion of Deborah Masters’ Coney Island Reliefs at Ocean Parkway Viaduct. The station is on the Q line at Ocean Parkway and Brighton Beach Avenue. Masters was awarded the commission in 1992 and the piece was completed in 1994, but the viaduct needed repair before the concrete panels could be hung on its facade. The reliefs were in storage for 15 years!

Coney Island photographer Bruce Handy’s series of photos of the Ocean Parkway sculptures were taken when the installation began in 2009. “They look much nicer now with painted borders and the screw holes filled in,” says Bruce who plans to take a new series of photos this weekend.

UPDATE April 30…Here’s a link to Bruce Handy’s flickr slide show of the finished installation. Just beautiful!

Deborah Masters' Coney Island Reliefs on Ocean Parkway Viaduct. September 25, 2009. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

According to the MTA’s Arts for Transit page on the work…

Sculptor Deborah Masters created the Coney Island Reliefs in cast concrete. The 1260 sq. ft. of relief panels fit within existing recesses in the viaduct. Tinted a terracotta color to harmonize with the sandstone color of the Ocean Parkway viaduct, a massive structure that carries the subway across six lanes of traffic and an Olmstead parkway, the reliefs portray scenes from the history and legends of Coney Island, including Neptune, a mermaid, beach, boardwalk, and amusement park scenes. The designs are based upon photographs, drawings, and interviews by the artist with local residents and visitors to the famed amusement park.

Deborah Masters' Coney Island Reliefs on Ocean Parkway Viaduct. October 2, 2009. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

The original commission was for the inside of the subway station, but when the artist looked at the Viaduct surface, she noticed indentations she felt sure were intended for reliefs. She felt that the Olmsted Parkway, the widest old road to the beach, and the Art Deco Viaduct decorated with red, green, blue, yellow, and orange deco tiles from 1915 was intended by Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of landscape architecture, to be the “Gateway to Coney Island”. She proposed adding 1650 sq. ft. of reliefs about Coney Island to the viaduct.

Deborah Masters' Coney Island Reliefs on Ocean Parkway Viaduct. October 2, 2009. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

Photo Album: Whimsical Murals Blossom in Coney Island

Posted in art, Photography, tagged Bruce Handy, Coney Island, Ephameron, NO Longer Empty, OverUnder, Public Art, Veng on April 15, 2011| 4 Comments »

Coney Island Murals by No Longer Empty. April 14, 2011. Photo © Bruce Handy/Coney Island Photo Diary via flickr

Our view from Stillwell Terminal of Surf Avenue is changing again. On Thursday afternoon, we were riveted by a series of photos tweeted by “No Longer Empty” from Coney Island. Whimsical and sophisticated murals of faces, fish, water, beach-goers and divers were blossoming on Thor Equities blue construction fence. At the same time, Coney Island photographer Bruce Handy took a series of photos of the murals, which he posted on flickr.

NLE’s Facebook page explains, “Partnering with the Economic Development Corporation, No Longer Empty brought in OverUnder and Veng and Ephameron to brighten the streetscape in Coney Island.”

Based on the work at Ephameron’s website, she’s the woman contemplating her work in the above photo. The old-fashioned looking faces were painted by Veng, who says he borrows from techniques of the Northern Renaissance and looks to capture the feel of something made long ago. Sorry, We’re Clothed
appears to be OverUnder’s work. (Veng has since confirmed that our guess was correct!) There’s a piece about the artist on the blog Brooklyn Street Art which describes him as “an illustrator, painter, and text writer.”

We’re thrilled to see Art instead of “Post No Bills” on Thor’s fence. It’s a good solution to distract people’s attention from the construction fence and the empty lot where the century-old Henderson stood. But we have to wonder if Joe Sitt is paying the artists or reimbursing the City for the cost? Construction has been delayed on the site because the DOB “DISAPPROVED” the building plans as many as 16 times over the past six months. As we have noted many times, Sitt evicted amusement operators from Stillwell in 2007 to “allow the new development to proceed in a timely manner,” but has built NOTHING here except a failed flea market in 2009.

Last April, the Coney Island Development Corporation installed fence wraps advertising Coney’s attractions on the City’s then-empty parcels on the Boardwalk side of Stillwell. Since Thor Equities Stillwell lots had remained vacant, the CIDC got permission to install the wraps on Thor’s property as well. The advertising campaign did a good job of hiding what remained of Thor’s tent structures from 2009’s failed flea market. Empty No Longer’s murals will hide Thor’s newest empty lot.

Who is “No Longer Empty”? According to their website…

No Longer Empty (NLE) is a comprised of arts advocates, curators and artists who orchestrate public art exhibitions in vacated storefronts and properties in New York City. The non-profit organization was conceived as an artistic response to our present economic condition and to revitalize empty spaces and areas around the venues by bringing thoughtful, high-caliber art installations with accompanying programs to the public.

Locating art in unexpected places in the public domain suggests new models of community art that are different from major institutions and galleries. Committed to art as a positive component for community and cultural development, No Longer Empty conducts outreach into the community to contribute meaningfully and bolster the local businesses through the increased flow of visitors that these exhibitions attract and by arranging programs such as panel discussions, music and performance evenings, children’s workshops, artist conversations and more.

These exhibitions could not have happened without the vacant spaces being generously donated rent-free by the landlords. The exhibitions and art chosen or created are site specific in the sense that they reflect such issues as the former use or history of the site, the nature of the neighborhood and, of course, the specific features of the space. Both established and emerging artists have been selected for the exhibitions, benefiting our audiences with rich variety and discovery.

In regard to reflecting such issues as the former use or history of the site, there may be some ghosts that need to be appeased. ATZ recommends that NLE and the artists view historian Charles Denson’s video tribute to the Henderson Theater, the recently demolished vaudeville house that occupied the site for a century. How about a visual “tip of the hat” to Harpo Marx, who made his stage debut here as one of “The Four Nightingales” with his brothers Groucho, Lou and Gummo?