Jeffrey Leder Gallery 2137 45th Rd. Long Island City, NY 11101 jeffrey@jeffreyledergallery.com
Photo of the day: MERELY THE BEGINNING! APRIL 5, 2014 – I am
incredibly proud and joyful to announce I am one of 11 artists asked to be a part of this important exhibit here in Long Island City, New York!! The Jeffrey Leder Gallery (2 blocks from PS1 MOMA) will open with a unique exhibition featuring 9 Graffiti Artists and 2 photographers. These artists have created art that explores their strong reactions to 5 Pointz being whitewashed overnight.
Contributing Artists: Auks, Cortes, Hans Von Rittern, Jerms, Meres One, Orestes Gonzalez, Poem, Shiro, See TF, Topaz, Zimad
Curated by Marie Cecile-Flageul
April 5 – June 8, 2014
Opening reception April 5, 6-9pm! Come join me – you’re invited!!
“Whitewash, is an answer to the violent act of G&M realty on November 19th, 2013 in Long Island City Queens. Overnight thousands of murals adorning the building known as 5 Pointz were destroyed. It‘s a story of pain, sadness, and anger at times and reflection – An epic of an art community and its home coming apart under the pressure of economical trends and waves of gentrification.
Bringing together a cluster of resident graffiti artists and two Queens photographers, the exhibition enables the artists to express their true feelings and thought process since loosing their work to a white layer of paint, and their home to the pressing demands of real estate development. For the first time since the whitewash we will witness how affected this collective is by being eclipsed from their 11 years home.
The works in Whitewash aspire to such: Laying feelings on canvas, and letting go of the pain, the show brings together artworks that can be interpreted as confession, lessons, or reflection but also aspirations and hopes.
Whitewash is an obvious requiem for 5 Pointz the building but also maybe the beginning of a rebirth of 5 Pointz the community and its true core: the people.“
Marie-Cecile Flageul
http://www.jeffreyledergallery.com/whitewash.php
March 26, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: "WHITEWASH", 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz destroyed, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 7 train, architecture, art destroyed 5 Pointz, Art exhibit, arts, Auks, Cortes, David Wolkoff, entertainment, G&M realty, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Jeffrey Leder Gallery, Jeffrey Leder Gallery 2137 45th Rd. Long Island City, Jerms, Jerry Wolkoff, Jonathan Meres Cohen, Long Island City, Long Island City Queens, Manhattan, Marie Cecile Flageul, Meres One, New York City, New York photo, November 19th 2013, Orestes Gonzalez, Photo of the day, photography, Poem, politics, PS1 MOMA, See TF, SHIRO, street art, Sunnyside, Topaz, Ursula Von Rittern, Zimad | Leave a comment
EXciting details to come tomorrow ! STAY TUNED . . .
March 25, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 7 train, architecture, arts, entertainment, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Jeffrey Leder Gallery 2137 45th Rd. Long Island City, Long Island City Queens, Manhattan, Marie Cecile Flageul, Meres One, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: HANS’ EXHIBIT ANNOUNCEMENT at GOLD COAST ARTS CENTER! – March 16, Sunday, 3-6pm. I will be one of the photographers on exhibit for the “Pho-to-graffs” show – celebrating images of Hip Hop, Graffiti and Urban Culture. I am most honored and very excited to be asked to be a part of this show! Please come and join me to celebrate my fellow artists, friends and me for this colorful explosion! I hope to see you there 🙂
The Gold Coast Arts Center is in Great Neck Long Island, just a 15 minute $22. round trip away from Manhattan by LIRR. Heck, it takes you longer to get to Brooklyn! COME JOIN US!
The exhibit runs from March 16 to April 27, 2014.
Directions
The Great Neck Arts Center is located in Great Neck at 113 Middle Neck Road. Our entrance is through the rear of the building in the northwest corner of the outdoor Maple Drive parking lot (see map). Please note – you cannot enter the Arts Center from Middle Neck Road – you must use the Maple Drive parking lot entrance.
If heading east on Long Island Expressway, take exit 33 and turn north on Lakeville Road. Crossing Northern Blvd. Lakeville Road becomes South Middle Neck Road, then Middle Neck Road. Continue into town, turn right at the 8th traffic light onto Maple Drive. Make your first left into the outdoor Maple Drive parking lot. Entrance to GNAC is in the northwest corner of the lot.
Parking
Pay parking is available in the Village of Great Neck Plaza parking outdoor lot on Maple Drive and in a covered garage across the street. Additional parking is available on the street (hourly and metered). http://www.greatneckplaza.net
Public Transit
The Great Neck Arts Center is served by Nassau County bus line N24 and is accessible from midtown Manhattan via the Long Island Railroad Port Washington Line. http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/lirr
COME SEE MY PHOTOS ON DISPLAY! ALL AVAILABLE FOR SALE.
February 25, 2014 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, arts, celebrating Graffiti, celebrating Hip Hop, celebrating Urban Culture, Gold Coast Arts Center, graffiti, Great Neck Arts Center, Great Neck Long Island, Hans Von Rittern, Hans Von Rittern photo exhibit, interaction with graffiti and hip hop, Jude Amsel, LIRR, Manhattan, March 16 Sunday 3-6pm, Meet and greet Hans Von Rittern, Middle Neck Road, New York City, New York photo, PHO-TO-GRAFFS, Photo of the day, photography, photography exhibit, Queens, street art, street photography | 2 Comments
The Shannon Pot, 14 years at 45-16 Davis Street/Jackson Avenue
Photo of the day: SHANNON POT AT 5 POINTZ SERVES IT’S LAST FROZEN DRINK – Friday January 3rd, 2014, was yet another nail in the coffin of what was a vibrant neighborhood block. After the destructive whitewashing of the art work at 5 Pointz by greedy owner Gerry Wolkoff, it was also the final night of the neighborhood hangout bar The Shannon Pot.
The New Years Eve balloons were still hung…
The bar
♫♪ “Who’s Zat Girl?” ♫♪
The extremely cold 10°F degree weather added to the morbid feeling in the air. Only a few of the die hard regulars showed up including Meres One and Marie Flageul to join co-owners Maureen and Salah for a final round of drinks. To my surprise, as I arrived I was greeted by water dripping down from the ceiling. The frigid temperatures had burst the pipes and was flooding the bar. The water had been shut off but it was still ‘raining’ inside the bar. The water from above had damaged the juke box with Meres’ disco favorites causing the sound to go from high to low every few seconds only adding to the eerie feel of the night.
Gin Sin shot $2.00
Final shots
So there we were, with our coats and jackets on in the cold bar and no water except for what was coming from the ceiling, which made for slippery dangerous last dance. Instead of dancing the walls were tagged, good times and future times were discussed as 14 years of Maureen’s and Salah’s ‘home’ were coming to an end. How to remove the wonderful old hand carved wood bar and all it’s contents were strategized. “They don’t do woodwork like this anymore” said Salah proudly. I looked behind the bar itself and at the ancient wall paper on the wall which seems to be of impressed plaster work painted gold. No one knows just the exact history of the bar but if these walls could talk, we would have 100 years of Long Island City history to tell. All the 5 Pointz events the had been held here, the celebrations of hip hop and street art add so much more history to this little Irish style pub. (My awesome surprise birthday was just celebrated here a few weeks ago.) Another beloved place gone in the era of mass destruction of New York’s past.
The loyal group
Maureen, Salah and friends
A final Shannon kiss
During the evening Marie stepped out for her usual cigarette, as she stood in front of the bar she observed a pigeon flying towards the building to seek refuge form the cold, and seconds before it could reach the building, it simply fell out of the sky succumbing to hypothermia. Marie’s mission was to rescue the bird. We got a box, lined it with tissue paper and gently placed it in the box. It did not even resist. We placed it in the back hoping it would warm up. (It was in desperate need of sleep as well.) Every so often we would check to see if Marie’s pigeon was reviving, it barely was, but towards the end of the night was fluffing itself up, a hopeful sign. As a final act of kindness, Meres and Marie took the pigeon to their garage to let it warm up and revive. Two days later it flew off to join the world again.
The last round
Giving Gerry the finger
A bitter cold ending . . .
Keep on burnin’
The man with a mission
Meres and Marie and all the fantastic 5 Pointz crew are greatly symbolized by our little pigeon – we may be down, but with a little help from our friends – we are not out. Maureen and Salah will reopen at a new nearby location at 21-59 44th Drive, off of 21st Street soon. 5 Pointz will rise again like a phoenix (or our pigeon) and with the creative force of the artists and minds behind Meres and Marie, look out for a brighter and bolder future for Pointz! !
Final exit – (with the pigeon).
MORE CELEBRATIONS TO COME !
January 9, 2014 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 21-59 44th Drive off of 21st Street, 45-46 Davis Street/Jackson Avenue, 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz crew, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 5 Pointz history, 5 Pointz white washed, 7 train, Anthony Spinchenzo, architecture, arts, Brooklyn, final round at Shannon Pot, Gerry Wolkoff, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Hans' 58th birthday, Hans' birthday grafitti, Jonathan Meres Cohen, keep on burnin', last photos of Shannon Pot, Long Island City history, Long Island City Queens, Manhattan, Marie Cecile Flageul, Marie Flageul, Maureen and Salah, Meres light bulb, Meres One, New York City, New York photo, phoenix rising out of the ashes, Photo of the day, photography, pigeon, pipes burst at Shannon Pot 5 Pointz, politics, Queens, Shannon Pot, Shannon Pot closes, Sunnyside, The Shannon Pot, Zat Girl | 2 Comments
5 Pointz Dec. 14, 2013
In the velvet darkness of the blackest night
Burning bright, there’s a guiding star
No matter what or who you are.
There’s a light over at the 5 Pointz Place
There’s a light burning in the artist’s space
There’s a light, light in the darkness of every artist’s life.
I can see the tags through the white, I can see through the hate
Just the same, there has got to be
Some place better here for you and me to create.
There’s a light over at the 5 Pointz Place
There’s a light burning in the artist’s space
There’s a light, light in the darkness of every artist’s life.
The darkness must go down the river of nightmares dreaming
Flow paint slow, let the colors and light again come streaming
Into our lives, into our lives.
There’s a light over at the 5 Pointz Place
There’s a light burning in the artist’s space
There’s a light, light in the darkness of every artist’s life.
December 17, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: "There's a Light over at the Frankenstein Place", 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz covered in white paint and snow, 5 Pointz International Graffiti Museum, 7 train, architecture, December 2013 snowstorm, Gerry Wolkoff, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Jonathan Meres Cohen, Long Island City, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, Queens, Rocky Horror lyrics, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Sunnyside | Leave a comment
5 Pointz International Graffiti Museum. December 14, 2013.
Photo of the day: I’M NOT DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS – With the horrific heartless vandalizing of the 5 Pointz international graffiti art museum by owner Gerry Wolkoff by smearing white paint over 1,000’s of pieces of incredible breath taking art, I thought it would be sadly ironic to photograph the remains of the museum in tonight’s first blizzard of the season. The loading dock has now been cordoned off with a tall chain link fence with mesh netting so you cannot ‘see’ through, god forbid scrooge let’s you have a glimpse. (I squeezed my camera through an opening in the gate). The two gates are kept closed with a big steel chain link and lock. As the wind whipped the snow around, the gates rattled back and forth with the only sound to be heard of the chain links and the lock rattling, eerily like that of a ghost in an old movie haunting his final resting place. It felt like a cold place of death as the wind howled, the chains rattled with not a sign of life except for the occasional rats wondering where all the food has gone. Perhaps the rats will find good company with the despicable owner Gerry Wolkoff since misery loves company.
I just stood there for about an hour and watched the snow envelope the now ghostly white building in a graveyard of snow. In this particular case, I am not dreaming of a white Christmas.
(More photos to follow.)
December 14, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz covered in white paint and snow, 5 Pointz in snow, 5 Pointz International Graffiti Museum, 7 train, art destroyed 5 Pointz, December 14 2013 New York snowstorm, Gerry Wolkoff, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas, Long Island City, Marie Flageul, Meres One, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, Queens, street art, Sunnyside, white paint 5 Pointz | Leave a comment
5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, Long Island City, Queens
Photo of the day: “NEVER FORGET” 5 POINTZ, COME JOIN US TODAY – We will still be there today! Saturday, November 23, 2013. Our tents will be there with Meres and Marie (curators and lead fighters) as well as the artists selling their works. We will not be white-washed away, we will always be here. The fight is NOT over. Come view the cruel hatefulness of the vandalism. The pettiness of the whitewashing.
5 Pointz will live on in one form or another, whether it is here or at another building. But it will especially live because of all of you, through your thousands of photos, stories and passions. If you have photographed the building in all it’s glory, photograph it now and tell the story of one of the greatest crimes against the art world. Let your friends and the world see what greedy, hateful, vindictive, fearful and cruel men the Wolkoff owners are. Spread the word.
I will see you there today with my dear friends from approx. noon till 4 or 5 pm.
45-46 Davis Street/Jackson Avenue, Long Island City.
#7 train – No trains between Queensboro Plaza and Times Sq-42 St.
Take N or Q train to Queensboro Plaza.
Take the free shuttle bus from Queensboro Place. Get off Court Street stop. Walk following the rail line towards 5 Pointz.
November 23, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 45-46 Davis Street/Jackson Avenue, 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz destroyed, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 5 Pointz support rally 11-23-13, 5 Pointz white washed, 7 train, arts, Court Street stop, David Wolkoff, Gerry Wolkoff, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Jonathan Meres Cohen, Long Island City, Manhattan, Marie Flageul, New York City, New York photo, November 23, Photo of the day, photography, Pointz Graffiti Museum, Queens, Queensboro Plaza, Saturday, subway, Sunnyside | Leave a comment
Karin Glietz-Rothsprack
Touching translation of an email from a German guest:
Dear Hans von Rittern,
On the occasion of a cruise with the AIDA BELLA/Harlem Spirituals, we visited New York, on Nov.2.2013 and we were lucky enough to take a city tour “Complete Brooklyn” with you as a city guide. My view of New York became changed by your affectionate and competent guidance. You led us to the graffiti museum at the end of the excursion. What a sight, a factory, in a dreary trade settlement, with miraculous pictures, in all different conceivable style kinds and colors. Enthusiastically I have taken photos so many pictures as possible and even have bought one more T-shirt. I have carried these photos home and have shared them, also the T-shirt has brought a lot of joys. Now I have found out on-line from “Der Spiegel” (Germany’s ‘Time’ magazine) that the pictures were destroyed by painting over them. This has made me very sad, and the many other people who love this art. We are outraged and feel with you and the many involved and the artists. We will preserve our photos as a treasure and provide for the fact that these pieces of art are shown over and over again, so live on. I embrace you and wish you a lot of strength and courage. With many dear greetings,
Karin Glietz-Rothsprack
From: karin.glietz@gmail.com To: hansvonrittern@aol.com Sent: 11/20/2013 6:23:53 A.M. Eastern Standard Time Subj: 5pointz
Lieber Hans von Rittern,
anlässlich einer Kreuzfahrt mit der AIDA BELLA, besuchten wir New York, am 12.11.2013 hatten wir das Glück eine Stadtrundfahrt
“Brooklyn komplett” mit Ihnen als Stadtführer zu unternehmen.
Meine Sicht auf New York wurde durch Ihre liebevolle und kompetente Führung eine andere.
Zum Ende der Exkursion führten Sie uns zum Graffiti Museum. Welch ein Anblick, eine Fabrik, in einer tristen Gewerbesiedlung, mit wunderbaren Bildern, in allen nur erdenklichen Stilarten und Farben.
Begeistert habe ich soviel Bilder-wie möglich- fotografiert und zum Abschluss noch ein T-Shirt gekauft.
Ich habe diese Fotos nach Hause getragen und weiter gegeben, ebenso das T-Shirt, welches sehr viel Freude bereitet hat.
Nun habe ich durch Spiegel Online erfahren, dass die Bilder durch das Übermalen zerstört wurden.
Das hat mich sehr traurig gemacht, mit mir viele andere Menschen, die diese Kunst lieben.
Wir sind empört und fühlen mit Ihnen und den vielen Engagierten und Künstlern.
Wir werden die Bilder- wie einen Schatz bewahren- und dafür sorgen, dass diese Kunstwerke immer wieder gezeigt werden, so weiterleben.
Ich umarme Sie und wünsche Ihnen viel Kraft und Mut.
Mit vielen lieben Grüßen
Karin Glietz-Rothsprack
November 21, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz destroyed, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 7 train, AIDA BELLA, architecture, arts, Der Spiegel, German tourism in New York, Germany reacts to 5 Pointz, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Harlem Spirituals Tours Brooklyn Tour, Karin Glietz-Rothsprack, Manhattan, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, photography, subway, Sunnyside, tourists react to 5 Pointz | Leave a comment
Photos of the day: MODERN DAY HITLER VANDALIZES ‘DEGENERATE ART’ AT 5 POINTZ:
5 POINTZ AFTER NOV. 2013
5 POINTZ BEFORE NOV. 2013
Tuesday November 19, 2013 is a day I will not long forget. It was a twist of events and cruel fate that brought many powers of good and evil together.
MARIE FLAGEUL
My dear friend and fellow tour guide Tom Orzo and I picked up 6 German tourist guests at the Queen Mary 2 at the Brooklyn piers for a 3 hour city tour. Normally Tom and I end our tour with a surprise visit to 5Pointz. Since we were coming from Brooklyn, Tom (doing the driving) insisted we make 5Pointz our first fateful stop. At 10:45 we were heading down Jackson Avenue when Tom kept calling out “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!”. I thought it was his over-reaction to a smaller building in front of the Graffiti Museum that was being torn down. My back was to the museum, I’m facing my German guests telling them how extraordinary a site they are about to see. Now I realize their faces seemed odd and puzzled, so I turn around to the shock of seeing men on high cranes slopping white paint all over the building, obliterating 12 years of spectacular intricate art. I quickly got out to see if I recognized anyone.
MERES’ VOW TO FIGHT
I ran back to the van and we sped to the main loading dock/entrance to the building. And there it was, a vandalized, obliterated work of art – 12+ years destroyed. I ripped open the door to the van and ran into the arms of curator Marie Flaguel and held her as tightly as I could. I cried deep from the gut. I couldn’t stop, I could not speak, I kept gasping for air. I was afraid to let go for fear of seeing Marie’s face. Finally I had to. “It’s all gone…” she said as tears streamed down her face. The owner Jerry Wolkoff, the same man who had asked the artists to paint the murals on his building, had hired non union thugs to destroy over 1,500 pieces of art outside and even throughout the entire inside of the building. Murals that would take your breath away now had erratic white brush strokes all over them. Oddly enough, the greater more powerful murals – had extra coats of white paint over them, it was deliberate, fearful, vindictive and hateful. How do you find words in a moment when you realize it was one of the greatest mass desecrations of art in the 21st Century. An art genocide.
One of the most haunting incredible unseen inside murals by Carlos “See TF” Game
As Marie was filling me in on what happened, one of my German guests, Andrea Pröscholdt-Krulich, ran over in tears. “Why?! Warum?!” she kept asking. She was quite shaken. You see – her son was a graffiti artist who had recently committed suicide. She had planned on this trip to New York to visit 5Pointz to pay homage to her son. She never thought that a ‘routine Manhattan city tour’ would have included our surprise visit here. Andrea and my guests were stunned at the amount of press around us and the unexplainable goings on. They looked on in wonderment – here they were in ‘free’ America’, in ‘progressive’ New York and they were watching Hitler-like tactics unfold before their stunned eyes. Some of my older guests were survivors of World War II. I had to get back on the coach and explain what was happening. Then I realized something. I was with a group of Germans, some of whom had been through a time in Germany when Hitler from 1936 to 1937 rounded up all “modern” art – “Entartete Kunst“ and declared it ‘degenerate’ and had it all destroyed. Over 5,000 works were seized, including 1,052 by Emil Nolde, 759 by Heckel, 639 by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and 508 by Max Beckman, as well as smaller numbers of works by such artists as Alexander Archipenko, Chagall, James Ensor, Matisse, Picasso and even Van Gogh. What Jerry Wolkoff did was no different!
5 POINTZ CANDLE VIGIL 11-18-13
LAST STAND AT 5 POINTZ 11-18-13
But we were not there to mourn the destruction of the museum, their clock was ticking and I was there paid to give a tour. We continued with our tour, but every time we came to a red light or got stuck in traffic, the conversation always went back to the disbelief of 5Pointz. We dropped off our guests and I headed to a candle light vigil that was held at 5pm.
GERMANY MOURNS WITH YOU ❤
The vigil’s atmosphere was like a tomb, what had been vibrant was dead. At night the ‘white” was even more ‘deadly’ and eerie. People kept coming, looking up in silent tearful disbelief and anger. Poster boards were taped onto the building for us to leave our messages. The purpose of the posters is – we will never ever again grace his walls with a single piece of art, line, scribble name or even a dot. Wolkoff had the audacity to claim he too cried. He claimed he had done this so the artist wouldn’t have had the pain of seeing their art work torn down over a period of months. This scumbag reasoning is because he was afraid of the momentum we were gaining. On last Sunday’s rally, when 5Pointz was packed, Marie and Meres (co-curators) had gathered over 1,000 signed petitions in ONE day, to have the building land marked and saved. The owner Wolkoff cleverly erased the value of the building. Let us also not forget, the approval of the two twin glass towers that he plans to build on the same spot were approved by the weasel of a lying two-faced councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, the lowest form of politician there is: big smiling child like innocent face, with his hand holding a knife behind his back, ready to strike for his financial gain. Wolkoff and Bramer – greed is the intoxicant but karma is the bitch.
FUCK YOU
So joining the ranks now of Picasso, Matisse and Van Gogh are artists Onur Dinc, Esteban Del Valle, Meres One, Spidertag, Kidlew, Kkade, Rubin, Aka Shiro, Veronique Barrilot, Contort, Jekl and Dyzer5, Bisco, Bishop203, Just One, Leias, Zeso, and Zimad, Lord Roc, Bisc1, one of my favorites Carlos “See TF” Game and so, so many, many more. Who is anyone to say they aren’t the next Keith Harring, Basquiat, or Matisse? It is a knife in the soul of a fading New York.
GHOSTS OF 5 POINTZ
Rest In Paint 5POINTZ
MARIE FLAGEUL – CANDEL LIGHT VIGIL
MERES’ ‘STAND HERE’
November 20, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 2013, 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz destroyed, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, 5 Pointz white washed, 7 train, Aka Shiro, Alexander Archipenko, and Zimad, Andrea Pröscholdt-Krulich, architecture, art genocide, arts, Basquiat, Bisc1, Bisco, Bishop203, candel light vigil 5 Pointz, Carlos "See TF" Game, celebrities, Chagall, Contort, Councilman Jimmy Van Brammer, Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Esteban Del Valle, Experiencing the destruction of 5 Pointz, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Heckel, Hitler degenerate art, inside 5 Pointz, Jackson Avenue, James Ensor, Jekl and Dyzer5, Jerry Wolkoff, Jonathan Meres Cohen, Just One, Keith Harring, Kidlew, Kkade, Leias, Long Island City Queens, Lord Roc, Manhattan, Marie Flageul, MARILYN Carlos "See TF" Game, Marilyn Monroe, Matisse, Max Beckman, Meres One, Meres Stand Here, Nazi Germany, New York City, New York photo, Onur Dinc, Photo of the day, photography, Picasso, politics, Queens, Rubin, See TF Marilyn, Spidertag, Sterling City Tours, street art, subway, Sunnyside, Tom Orzo, Tuesday November 19, Van Gogh, Veronique Barrilot, World War II Germany, Zeso | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: MY SPEECH TO SAVE 5 POINTZ DIRECTED AT COUNCILMEMBER JIMMY VAN BRAMMER AND DEVELOPERS – On Wednesday October 2, 2013 both sides in favor and against tearing down Graffiti & Mural museum 5 Pointz, gathered inside City Hall for a hearing by the NYCHA – The New York City Housing Authority. It’s basically a side show/dog and pony show with the real estate developers always claiming tearing something down is “for the good of the community.” The owner, Jerry Wolcoff wants to build twin mirror glass apartment towers for which he will receive $7 million. Now you know me – I do not go quietly! Here is my passionate speech directed in part at my Queens councilmember, who is Christine Quinn’s lap dog and Mayor Bloomberg’s pet – Jimmy Van Brammer – who has stated he does not believe the magnificent powerful graffiti and mural works at 5 Pointz is “art” – and therefore in favor of tearing the building down. (When embarrassingly trapped by the truth of his statement at the hearing he said: “Well….I said I don’t quite understand it.” After also admitting he has rarely ever visited the site in his district.
rendering-5 POINTZ WOLCOFF TOWERS
SPEECH:
My name is Hans Von Rittern, born raised in Queens, licensed tour guide of 8 years. I have been hired by Harlem Spirituals Tour company to take European tourists on a 5 hour tour of Brooklyn. They marvel at the view from Fulton Ferry and thank me, they love Park Slope bagels and Coney island puts a smile on their faces. The endpoint of the tour is supposed to be hipster Williamsburg. I chose not to do that and end my tour at 5 Pointz as a surprise. When I get back onto the bus, each and EVERY single time they burst out into spontaneous cheers and applause saying “THIS is highlight of the New York tour”! “THIS is New York!”
I take tourists on “art tours” of galleries and or museums. When they reach MOMA’s PS1 they are bored and unmoved by the art. I say “come with me” and lead them to 5 Pointz and I always have trouble getting them back into our vehicle. This is an untapped rich resource that needs imagination of design and investment, NOT a quick buck, another mirror glass box and then get the hell out of there as fast a possible.
There are 2 ways to make money: The quick bang fix and run – or, the wise investment – for perpetual monetary return on your investment of restoring the building and let the artists go hog wild on the interior. Hipsters will kill for a graffiti-ed loft, stores would love the unmatched ambience and above all, CHARGE FOR THE ADMISSION INTO THE BUILDING AS A FULLY FLEDGED MUSEUM.
Muralist VERONIQUE BARRILOT makes her (final?) statement
‘Not a museum because it’s not “art”’, as some politicians like my councilmember Jimmy Van Brammer will say?
May I remind you:
Toulouse L’autrec – was considered street art and torn off the walls, today his street posters are considered the finest examples of classic art.
Matisse – was dismissed as “scribble,”
Picasso – was considered a crackpot for putting a woman’s nose where her ear ought to be
Warhol– not taken seriously at all, soup cans as art?! Own one today and it’s worth millions.
Keith Haring – used to graffiti at my subway station, I watched him get arrested. Today he hangs in MOMA and the cathedral of St. John The Divine.
Basquiat – was looked down upon as wanna be street artist. His work is now in the major museums around the world.
Yes, I fully realize this is not what the building was intended to become, but it has, it has become bigger than what you realize.
So who are YOU – to say this is not “art” and therefore not worth saving and investing in?
I should think greed alone would take over and try to save it.
Don’t have your names forever associated with the destruction of this building so all of you can make a “fast buck” rather than a wise “invested buck.”
Look back, which one of you doesn’t wish they owned a Warhol soup can now?
Well – you have dozens of them, right here in front of you.
Just because it is relatively new art does not make it less relevant art.
Remember all the fools that said the same of Lautrec, Warhol, Haring and Basquiat.
Will you be the same short sighted fools?
Fellow tour guide Andy Sydor testifying in favor of 5 Pointz
Reporter Greg Mocker of WPIX11 Covered the hearing, I can be seen testifying saying : “Yes, I fully realize this is not what the building was intended to become, but it has, it has become bigger than what you realize.” Here is the video link http://pix11.com/2013/10/02/nyc-council-hears-plans-for-iconic-queens-grafitti-building/#axzz2gfgASpxA
5 POINTZ WEB SITE: http://5ptz.com/
October 3, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 7 train, architecture, arts, Basquiat, Brooklyn tour, City Hall 10-2-13 hearing, CLUE-LESS POLITICIANS, Coney Island, CORRUPT POLITICIANS, Councilman Jimmy Van Brammer, Councilwoman Christine Quinn, European tourists explore Brooklyn, fighting city hall, freedom to paint, Fulton Ferry Landing, German tourists explore New York, graffiti, Great artisits once dismissed as garbage, greed vs. art, Greg Mocker, Hans Von Rittern, Hans' Brooklyn tour, Harlem Spirituals Tours Brooklyn Tour, Jackson Avenue, Jerry Wolcoff, Jimmy Van Brammer, Keith Haring, Long Island City Queens, Manhattan, Matisse, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, mural art, New York City, New York City Housing Authority, New York photo, NYCHA, Photo of the day, photography, Picasso, Queens, Sterling City Tours, street art, Sunnyside, The New York City Housing Authority, Toulouse L’autrec, VERONIQUE BARRILLOT, Warhol, WHAT IS ART?, WPIX11 news | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: DESPITE THE GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN, THE FIGHT FOR LIBERTY CONTINUES BY MURALIST VERONIQUE BARRILLOT – Today the despicable Republicans have shut down the government. Tourists here in New York that have traveled half way around the world to go to Liberty Island are literally left out in the cold. The most upset are those who have crown visit tickets, those tickets have been ordered two to three months in advance and you arrive in New York = closed.
One of the places you can see Miss Liberty still fighting for her freedom is at the Graffiti Museum 5 Pointz on Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, right next to the 7 train Court Street Station. World famous 5 Pointz, as so many other treasures in New York, thanks to the greedy cancer that is the Bloomberg administration, is in great danger of being torn down in favor of twin mirror glass apartments.
5 Pointz, Jackson Avenue at Crane Street and Davis Street, the whole block, Long Island City, NY 11101, #7 train Court Street stop.
To make her (perhaps final) statement, French muralist Veronique Barrillot has been given permission to paint a giant mural directly on the Jackson Avenue side for all to see. It is the Statue of Liberty, grimacing as she holds a paint pallet and paint brushes. Veronique is finishing the mural today, so I will not reveal the full image of it yet. Veronique states: “The homage I would like to pay to 5 Pointz is that of our common heritage and of our faith in the future and in liberty.” As of this moment’s government shut down, that immediate ‘future’ looks grim. The longest government shut down was also the most recent, from Dec. 16, 1995, through Jan. 5, 1996. That’s 21 days. No Grand Canyon, no Yellowstone, no national zoos, no landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument – no Statue of Liberty.
Paint on Veronique, paint on ! Vive l’art!
October 1, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 5 Pointz, 7 train, 7 train Court Street Station, artist fights to save building, arts, Court Street Queens subway station, Court Street Station, Crane and Davis streets, Government shutdown, graffiti, grafitti art, Hans Von Rittern, Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Manhattan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, mural art, New York, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, political art, Queens, Statue of Liberty, Statue of Liberty arm, Statue of Liberty head, Statue of Liberty mural, street art, street artist, subway, VERONIQUE BARRILLOT | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE – Enjoy the Bette Midler lyrics ~
“Twisted”
My analyst told me that I was right out of my head.
The way he described it he said,
“You’d be better off dead than alive.”
I didn’t listen to his jive.
I knew all along he was all wrong,
and I knew that he thought I was crazy,
but you know I’m not. Oh, no.
My analyst told me that I was right out of my head.
He said I need treatment.
But I’m not that easily led.
He said I was the type that was most inclined
when out of his sight to be out of my mind.
And he thought I was nuts. No more if’s or and’s or but’s. Oh, no.
They say as a child I appeared a little bit wild with all my crazy ideas.
But I knew what was happenin’, I knew I was a genius.
What’s so strange when you know that you’re a wizard at three?
I said, “Baby, this is meant for me, me, me, me.”
I heard little children were supposed to sleep tight.
That’s why I drank a fifth of vodka one night.
My parent’s got frantic, didn’t know what to do.
But I had saw some crazy things before I came to.
Now, do you think I was crazy? I may have been only three but I was swingin’.
They all laughed at A. Graham Bell, they all laughed at Edison, and also at Einstein.
So why should I feel sorry if they just didn’t understand the reasoning and the logic that went on in my head.
I had a brain, it was insane. So I just let them laugh at me when I refused to ride on all those double-decker buses all because there was no driver on the top. Aaaaaaah.
“Did you ever hear a story like that in your life? Honey, that chick is bananas. Do you hear?
Bananas. Oh, waiter, bring me another banana dacquari, would ya?” Ba, ba, ba, ba! “Oh, here she comes again.” Badada, badada, badada. Wo!
My analyst told me that I was right out of my head.
But I said, “Doctor, I think that it’s you instead.
‘Cause I got a thing that’s so unique and new,
it proves that I got the last laugh on you. ‘Cause instead of one head, ooh, I got two.
And you know two heads are better than one.”
August 3, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 'two heads are better than one.', bald head, Bette Middle 'Twisted Lyrics', Bette Midler, coincidence, coincidental setting, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Long Island City Queens, man in door, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, porthole, Queens, street art | Leave a comment
As seen in Forest Hills, Queens
Photo of the day: YES I CAN!
can – slang
noun: bathroom, breasts, buttocks, toilet.
verb – transitive: To dismiss (“fire”) from a job. To stop speech, visible emotion, etc.
can
1 /kæn; unstressed kən/ Show Spelled [kan; unstressed kuh
n] Show IPA auxiliary verb and verb, present singular 1st person can, 2nd can or ( Archaic ) canst, 3rd can, present plural can; past singular 1st person could, 2nd could or ( Archaic ) couldst, 3rd could, past plural could. For auxiliary verb: imperative, infinitive, and participles lacking. For verb (Obsolete): imperative can; infinitive can; past participle could; present participle cun·ning.
auxiliary
verb
1.
to be able to; have the ability, power, or skill to: She can solve the problem easily, I’m sure.
2.
to know how to: He can play chess, although he’s not particularly good at it.
3.
to have the power or means to: A dictator can impose his
will on the people.
4.
to have the right or qualifications to: He can change whatever he wishes in the script.
5.
may; have permission to: Can I speak to you for a moment?
April 27, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: auxiliary verb, bathroom, breasts, buttocks, dictionary definition, Forest Hills, graffiti, Green Tea, Hans Von Rittern, large cans, New York City, Queens, slang, slang definition, street art, to be fired, toilet | 2 Comments
ART WITH ABANDON: Actually…art with an abandoned building; as seen in one of the side streets along the commercial piers waterfront in Brooklyn. It is a wonderful surprise as you walk through this dingy area. Note the brilliant artist’s Damon Ginandes’ clever use of color. The yellows match the yellow door of the building on the right and the blues match the color of the abandoned building.
January 10, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: abandoned building, architecture, arts, Brooklyn piers, Brooklyn waterfront, Damon Ginandes, graffiti, graffiti artist, Hans Von Rittern, illustration, New York City, Picasso like drawing, Queens | Leave a comment
DON’T WISH FOR IT, WORK FOR IT: I was rushing through Times Square when subliminally my mind caught this chair out of the corner of my eye. It belongs to one of the street vendors. I love the positive reinforcement, even when they are sitting down! It’s a great way to start the new year 🙂
January 4, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: creativity, don't wish for it - work for it, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Lisa-Marie BodyWork, Manhattan, motivational quote, New Years resolution, New Years wish, New York City, street vendors, Times Square | Leave a comment
MADONNA AND CHILD REST IN NEW YORK’S BOWERY: I came across a more unusual wall art or ‘graffiti’ in the gardens of St. Mark’s Church In The Bowery in the East Village of Manhattan. Madonna and Child seemingly resting along the wall of the church’s tranquil garden.
St. Mark’s Church is located at 131 East 10th Street, at the intersection of Stuyvesant Streets and 2nd Avenue. The Poetry Project hosts an annual New Year’s Day 11-hour reading that often features such downtown icons as musician Philip Glass and rock icon Patti Smith among its 100-plus participants. The property has been the site of continuous Christian worship for more than three and a half centuries; it is New York’s oldest site of continuous religious practice, and the church is the second-oldest church building in Manhattan after the Morris Jumel Mansion of 1766 in Harlem.
December 18, 2012 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: East Village, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Madonna and child, Manhattan, New York City, oldest building in New York, Patti Smith, Philip Glass, St. Mark's In The Bowery church, The Bowery, The Poetry Project, wall art | 5 Comments
NEW YORK AT YOUR FINGERTIPS: One of the great things about NYC at Christmastime are the wonderful Christmas Markets. Some of the biggest markets are located at Columbus Circle, Bryant Park and inside Grand Central Terminal. They try to focus on local and New York themed items. One of the most popular and interesting vendors at all of these locations is ‘Insiders1’, specializing in fine soft leather goods featuring iconic New York photographic images enhanced through a sophisticated art collage process by founder Sigal De-Mayo and then hand-printed on the finest leather to create a unique effect that is permanent and designed to age beautifully. Bags of all designs, wallets and all sorts of fun accessories. One of their most fabulous items that caught my eye are these New York graffiti gloves. (Think of it, if you give someone the finger, you will just merely be pointing the way!) Please come to these markets to shop and if you can’t visit us at this magic time of the year, then visit them on their web site http://insiders1.com/pages/about
December 13, 2012 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: Bryant Park, Christmas market, graffiti, Grand Central Terminal, Hans Von Rittern, Insiders1, leather accessories, leather bags, leather gloves, Manhattan, New York City, photography, Sigal De-Mayo | Leave a comment
JESUS IS KING AT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER: I am born and raised in this city. Walking past construction sites is a part of the fabric of life here. At first you gaze down into the big hole, then as the months pass, you start to gaze up as the construction rises in front of you. First the beams rise to the sky, then followed by the mortar and brick – nowadays that step is mostly skipped in favor of quickly just putting up sheets of glass.
Wooden walls or chain link fences keep us safely separated from the site. The temporary ‘wall’ surrounding the site becomes a form of city art. Posters advertising the latest show, cable TV shows, spiritualists, party, politician or artist. They get torn, sometimes artfully so or get glued or stapled over, layer by layer, a sort of record of time. That is usually collaged with a colorful array of graffiti, some of it the usual street gang type (kING63) or profound messages or rather naughty ones. But never have I looked up and have seen the graffiti on the building itself – and on top of that – a religious message.
At the World Trade Center construction site, along Church Street, as building #3 rises, look high up at the buildings cement core and you first think the spray paint markings in safety day glow orange would naturally be some sort of construction markings of distance or height. The answer is no. If you look closely, it is a message declaring “Jesus is King.”
I have never, ever seen a construction site graffitied by it’s workers much less religious graffiti. I am equally astounded it is allowed by the site – apparently so . . . Merry (early) Christmas 🙂
November 20, 2012 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: architecture, construction site, construction workers, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Jesus is King, Manhattan, New York City, religious message, spray paint, Trade Center #3, World Trade Center, WTC construction site | Leave a comment
“Life is a Cabaret Old Chum?”
This photo was taken by me at the Berlin Wall on the free side of occupied Berlin in 1983. It eerily evokes the 1972 Liza/Fosse film ‘Cabaret’ asking “Life is a Cabaret Old Chum?”. It was scrawled by Y.A.T. – Young Actor’s Theatre. There many Y.A.T’s in the USA, so I don’t know which branch wrote this, but it struck me so. I wanted to photograph as much of the graffiti on the free side as I could. Sadly the photos are all on film and I have no idea where they are. This one I had framed and remains on my wall in my office.
The memory of this photo I will not forget – at this section of the wall there was a low railing in front of the wall (on the free side), only about 2 feet tall. So I stepped over it, as many had obviously done to graffiti the wall. Directly on the ‘other side’ in East Berlin was a gun tower. As soon as I stepped over the railing to get a close-up photograph of this graffiti, the windows of the gun tower flew open, a machine gun was pointed at me and the East German solder yelled at me “Zurück!” to get back – on my free side!
When you have a machine gun pointed at you, no matter whether you are on the free or occupied side, you do as they say and I retreated.
I was terribly curious to see what was on the other side, like a child too short to see what’s on the other side of the neighbor’s fence. My family was visiting our relatives in Hamburg, and refused to come with me to West Berlin, since they did not want to see a city divided and warned me not to go to East Berlin since we had had relatives detained at the border – so I defiantly went on my own and crossed the border.
I was the only English speaking tourist on an all German speaking bus. When we got to Check Point Charlie, I seemed to fascinate the East German guards and they detained me. They took the film out of my camera, my extra rolls of film, my pen, my newspaper and anything to eat. After being asked a barrage of nonsensical questions I was allowed to rejoin (the now) disgruntled group. Our West German tour guide was told to get off the bus and an East German guide took over. As we crossed over the border it was literally like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz going from color to black and white. It automatically was bleak and gray. None of the buildings had been sufficiently repaired, many columns were still riddled with bullet holes. Buildings had rust on them everywhere, cement was crumbling, hardly any cars on the road, just rickety bicycles. Why there were even tours, and why the communists would want you to see this bleak existence is beyond me. But, as in a car accident on the road, we stop and look. I stopped, looked and stared.
Then I saw what was said to only be a rumor – people standing in long lines for a single orange. One orange. Photos were forbidden. It was a scene out of every war movie you have ever seen. Heads hung low, shivering, they waited for what was so abundant just a mile away. When we crossed back over to West Berlin, I saw East German soldiers carrying huge sacks of oranges back to the East side for the privileged few.
I am glad to this day I went, guns and all. It is a part of my German heritage. My great aunt was an opera singer, her sister a pianist in the Berlin State Opera, then located ‘in the east’. Did I dare tell them it was still riddled with bullet holes in 1983? I said nothing. The day the news broke of the fall of the wall, the euphoria and endless tears were an emotional outburst from my parents who had been through two world wars in that beautiful city.
I have two Berlins in my head. One is of a glorious flourishing opulent city of the roaring 1920’s and 1930’s recounted to me by my parents, the other is of a demolished smoldering heap, remnants of which I had now seen for myself. I am a proud American citizen, equally proud of his German ancestry. Let us always cherish our freedom. . . after all ladies und gentlemen, life IS just a cabaret! . . . isn’t it?
One of the gun towers
(Translation) “Russian – Go piss on yourself!”
November 9, 2012 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: "Cabaret", 1983, Berlin Wall, Bob Fosse, divided Germany, East Berlin, fall of the wall, graffiti, Hans Von Rittern, Liza Minnelli, tour, West Berlin, Y.A.T, Young Actor's Theatre | Leave a comment
“Life is a Cabaret Old Chum?”
NEW YORK CITY - IN THE WIT OF AN EYE 