/ / / Phile

Here’s a selection of street art from the writers around Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY. We’ve been spending our New Years in the city and reckon New York may be our new favourite place to vibe and lose ourselves.

Of course, its difficult to judge from just two weeks here, having not lived through its fluctuating hey days – but whatever buzz the place has been purported to have has not gone away. The sheer diversity of the city is overwhelming – from the tall, clean lines of the Financial district to the industrial re-use and recycle of Brooklyn, to Little Italy, quaint Greenwich Village, or the fluorescence of Times Square, it’s hard not to be stimulated here.

These shots are from the vicinity of McKibbin Street, home to large, industiral style residential spaces. Constructed in 1936, the buildings on McKibbin served as factory space manufacturing various textiles and garments until 1998, when it was converted into loft dwellings. For the most part, the McKibbin area and Morgan stop are now seen as some kinds of centres of bohemian life in the Bushwick area, as raw and desolate as it is buzzing with activity – as The New York Times commented, ‘this could have been Greenwich Village 60 years ago, or SoHo 30 years ago, or the East Village in the 1990s.’

So what is outwardly visible of this microcosm of young artists and musicians? Here’s some:

Artist: Dain

Artist: Mike Marcus

There’s some more NY shots in our Flickr feed, click there in the right hand side.

This last photograph is of work by Mike Marcus. We recognise him from his tall pieces in Shoreditch, East London and Camden. Mike is a 34 year old artist and photographer, born in London and now living between the UK and Tel Aviv, Israel. He has previously worked as a commercial artist for the likes of Coca Cola, L’Oreal and Orange. More recently he’s been involved in political art on the streets of Tel Aviv, and has been labelled by TimeOut Magazine and Economist.com as Israel’s answer to Banksy.

Want more? Off Manhattan have posted some excellent pieces (we tried not to post the same, see??) – their walking tour is worth a check.

Stay tuned for more NY.