Archive for October 1st, 2013
seven lands
Come on Queensicans, we can do better.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Illegal dumping is the native art form of Queens. One has presented ample evidence to back up this bold assertion, over the years at this, your Newtown Pentacle. Saying that, what I recently witnessed along Northern Blvd. was simply a degenerate bastardization of this Queensylvanian mode of self expression. C’mon, no broken cabinetry or busted 1999 vintage computer monitors? Where are the piles of tires? What kind of “Long Island City Art Installation” was this?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This pavement midden was encountered nearby the 36th street R/M station, and I would prefer to think of it as art. The work was composed of a heterogenous collection of paper and plastic simulacra. It looked a great deal like litter, which might have been the intent of the artist. If so, the illusion was achieved and my disbelief was positively suspended. The composition left me flat, however, with its banal and well rehearsed commentary on the post industrial urban milieu.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I was a young narrator, not yet humble but instead filled with the vainglories of youthful ambition, an enormous act of social engineering was perpetrated upon my peer group by the government. Woodsie the Owl always reminded one to “give a hoot and don’t pollute” and use proper receptacles for trash, with an impression made that disobeyance of said missive would end all life upon the Earth. This sort of environmentally friendly messaging has been absent for quite some time, and is a curricula which has not been offered to subsequent generations, as evinced by the bold compositions offered by these street artists in Queens.
Upcoming Tours
Saturday – October 19, 2013
The Insalubrious Valley of the Newtown Creek with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale soon.
Sunday- October 20th, 2013
The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek with Brooklyn Brainery- tickets on sale now
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The Newtown Pentacle 