Wheatpaste Art in Freeman Alley, NYC

Every now and again people ask me how I find my street art. First off, of course, I do research online. But the problem with street art is that it’s ephemeral and can be very fragile and short-lived. Some pieces last years and others last a day or less. Online research will only point me in a direction.

However, after a couple years of street art hunting I’ve learned that where there is one piece, chances are very good there are others. So once I have a direction, street, neighborhood or what have you, I just wander around and see what there is to see. And no matter what I might have seen online, I always find pieces I’ve never seen documented anywhere else.

Wheatpaste Art by Who is Dirk – Freeman Alley, NYC

Freeman alley is down in the Bowery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It’s a dead end alley off of Rivington Street and it was included in an old list of places to find good street art in New York City. This is a great post about some of the history of the alley and you can see old pictures of previous art pieces. When I went yesterday, there were far fewer murals and many more pieces of wheatpaste art.

Wheatpaste art by Inmmezzure – Freeman Alley, NYC

It’s a particular joy of mine to take pictures of art pieces that may be gone by the time I post the pictures. Of all the street art forms, wheatpaste art is the most fleeting. It’s paper and paste. One good rain storm and it’s history. Perhaps its temporary nature is what makes it a good medium for political statements

Wheatpaste art by Andrea Cook – Freeman Alley, NYC

And serious artistry

Wheatpaste art in Freeman Alley, NYC

These pieces won’t last long. All the more reason to appreciate them before they’re gone.