I’ve taken pictures of street art and graffiti from all over the world, but I’ve yet to really explore the beautiful urban art in my own backyard.  Every time I walk around the city and see something interesting, I find myself without my trusty camera. Since I was stuck in the city last weekend,  I made it a point to go walking from the Lower East Side  to Soho,  a few areas known for its street art.

New York is quite famous for their street art, making the city an attractive canvas for artists from around the world.  One of the well-known areas with a high concentration of street art is Little Italy because of the Little Italy Street Art (L.I.S.A) project.  Between Canal and Grand Street, there are many small and large murals created with the support of local businesses.

This is taken from the famous Houston Bowery wall.  The mural on the wall is constantly changing, taken over by different artists every few months and molded into their vision.

Art is also not confined to walls, they also help brighten up water towers and doors around the city.

They are even found on more mobile canvases like vans, trucks, and shipping containers. At the corner of 1st and 1st, there are a few containers left behind from prior construction work.  The Centre-fuge Public Art Project transformed these trailers into interesting pieces of arts.

One of the reason I fell in love with urban art is the surprise factor.  There is no fixed location, they are often not where you expect them to be, kind of like art in the “wild” if you will.  You can walk around for half an hour without seeing anything and then bam, you look up and there is an explosion of colors.  Or you wander down a small alleyway and you’re met with the most beautiful artwork.  It’s there for everyone to find, but you have to be patient, persistent, and alert. There are many different graffiti tours offered around the city, but if you prefer to go alone like me, you can definitely look up a few of the pieces and try to find the location.

After walking around for 4 hours, I barely covered the area. There are still so many more to see, so this will have to be a regular series in the future.  Comment and let me know your favorite location to find street art in New York.