Space Shuttle’s Last Mission

One of the coolest aircrafts of our generation has taken its last mission to its final resting place on the Intrepid here in NYC. My father & I were able to capture some photos as it travelled around Brooklyn. A couple were take from the Rockaways in Jamaica Bay, the others were taken along the promenade in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The initial launching of the the Space Shuttle program in the ealy 1980’s were an inspiration for this budding artist to draw countless number of spaceships as they shot off into the sky. Sad to see the program end.

-BK

A Magnetic NYC Skyline

W Hotel Hoboken Lobby

Artist: Ann Carrington

I’ve marveled at this mural that sits in the W Hotel Hoboken lobby for some time and finally remembered to take a photo of it while at an event in the hotel. From a first glance, you’d never notice that the mural is constructed out of thousands of household metal objects that stick magnetically to a huge slab of metal. Take a look at the closeup photo of the objects that make up the mural. It’s truly breathtaking in person and unfortunately my photo doesn’t do it much justice.  -Noelle Pistilli

Grab Some Chalk and Express Yourself on the Street!

Give people a pen, marker, spraypaint, and even chalk — and they’re going to want to scribble their quotes, sayings, lyrics, poems, slang, tags, curse words, ideas, feelings, thoughts, beliefs on the walls.  A child’s desire to scrawl all over white walls — to create something where there is nothing — is still inherently trapped in us as adults!  So the answer isn’t always to repress graffiti, but rather, EMBRACE it! And this chalkboard scaffolding does just that.  Talk about harmless graffiti – it’s not vandalism as it invites you to write, and it’s sure easy to erase.

3.8.12, 14th St./6th Ave., Manhattan – Interactive chalkboard scaffolding! A great idea for anyone passing by to draw whatever they want with the provided chalk. – Barbra Tolentino

The Colors of Coffee and Dessert

1/11 – Robert atop the Museum of Art and Design: REA celebrated the beginning of 2012 with fantastic views and great food including this dessert — cheesecake with pomegranate paired with sherbet. I approved this because the plate was so artfully balanced in composition and color…that is a lie. I approved it because it was delicious. – IR

And… AFTER.

1/27 – REA offices: A good cuppa coffee deserves a good look. I approved these because the colors and hand-crafted approach made me want to buy the coffee just to get the cup. – IR

Bob Dylan, Sidewalk Art

Found this in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on North 11th Street on Jan 16, 2012.  This guerrilla sidewalk art can be found here-n-there in Willamsburg, and I believe I found it elsewhere in the city as well.  I like it because of the dynamic freeform made by the drizzling while making an identifiable image.

A friend of mine has this Bob Dylan’s Scrapbook.  Although I’m not personally a fan of Dylan, I was flabbergasted by the design of this book.  I appreciated the extensive amount of assembly work required to put this whole thing together, and loved the concept and implementation.  I found it very engaging and tactile.  It also gave a sense of authenticity will all of the “scraps” looking like they were the originals that Bob Dylan might have handled himself back in the day. – MT

Cole Haan storefront

This storefront caught my eye as I was walking down 5^th Avenue. Using subway line symbols to spell out Cole Haan is a cute and clever way to add a touch of New York to the storefront.  In addition, the bright lights glowing behind the letters remind me of the City all lit up at night. – JW

The Beatles, a Giant Elephant in Union Square, and more…

RTR Bag & Co is all about eco-friendly bag design.  Here’s their storefront display using painted paper bags as a city… Talk about creative recycling! This reminds us of our earlier post about artist Gwyneth Leech, who draws over used coffee cups, transforming them into beautiful art pieces.

This is Miquel Barcelo’s giant 2008 sculpture, Elefandret, in Union Square.  The question remains: is the elephant upside down, or is he/she just talented at standing on his/her trunk?  artnowMAG writes: “To further communicate the gravity-defying feat beyond the surprisingly slim trunk and large body, Barceló imparts the mass and weight of the creature through the downward sag of the heavily wrinkled skin, the off-kilter positioning of the huge legs, and the complete overturning of the floppy ears. The highly textured surface of the elephant recalls the artist’s tactile paintings, in which he creates rich topographic, sculpted surfaces on canvas.”

The sculpture is featured by Marlborough Gallery and will be up until the end of May 2012.

Then we spotted perhaps what every 14 and 15-year-old girl in the 1960s would have loved to have in her room: life-sized cardboard cut-outs of Ringo, George, John, and Paul, at Capitol Records.

And finally, we liked Spoon Catering‘s logo design.  Located on West 20th St, the sign’s simplicity caught our eye.  More REA Approved shots to come next week.  Drop us a line if you have any ideas!

Mad Men or Minimalism?

1.25.12, Midtown Manhattan.

This is an ad for Mad Men. But for those of us who are not familiar with the TV show, these ads are downright ambiguous. Where’s the web site? No Twitter or Facebook mention? What’s it for? No more information even in tiny letters, it’s just a man falling and the date March 25th. In a world already over-saturated with images competing for our attention, these ads caught my eye for their pure minimalism. I think it’s gutsy for an advertiser to have no clear message or selling point. These ads plastered all over NYC kept me guessing until I finally researched them online. Apparently these ads are causing a stir in NYC for their resemblance to 9/11.

-Barbra Tolentino

REA Approves NYC in the Winter

Dozens of storefronts populate New York City’s streets, and they’re especially eye-catching in the winter season.  Everyone’s decked out for the holidays–and storefront design is an art.  Although the face above looks angry, we thought it was kinda cute anyway.

A mural spanning an entire wall brightened up our walk.

REA Approves the sleek look of this building, which reflects the sky and city around it.

We liked the stately elegance of this iron-wrought awning.

A fine touch to this storefront gives the effect of a light snowfall on the window. -JW & MT