art on the street

(Pic #1) Unexpected treasure in a valley alley. Discarded wood and laminate.

They are those almost-accidental spaces between buildings — invisibly supporting the rest of the urban landscape. Backstreet alleys. Not quite streets, but still a means of passage. Often hotspots for crime, and more often than not, packed with heaps of trash and debris.

(Pic #2) Am I the only one who stopped to shoot this?

But if you take the time to look, you just might discover backstreets and alleys provide extraordinary opportunities for found art. I stumbled upon the funky warped wooden “sculpture” as I exited the back door of my favorite deli in Woodland Hills. (Pics #1 + #2, above)

I got lost in the backstreets of London, and snapped a quick shot of this garbage can and its discarded adornments. (Pic #3, below)

And my photographer friend Stephanie Sydney nabbed this exquisite image of a store window in a back alley on La Brea in West Hollywood. (Pic #4, below) It’s one of my favorites, and it now hangs in larger-than-life size in the halls of Fortune 500 companies in New York.

It’s always worth stopping for the shot.

(Pic #4) LaBrea Alley. Photograph by Stephanie Sydney.

(Pic #5) Santa Barbara alleyway off State Street.

(Pic #1) London: Art in the alley

“Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it–creative observation–creative viewing.” –William S. Burroughs

Art is everywhere—if you’re open to it. This week, I have the opportunity to explore the theory further—in Northern Russia, and the UK. My head won’t stop spinning over the onslaught of images bombarding me, not only inside the hallowed halls of historic institutions, but virtually everywhere on the street.

(Pic #2) Edge of London: Abstraction on the streets

I have 24 hours in London before flying to St. Petersburg and the minute I leave the Northolt Jet Centre I’m assaulted by an explosion of abstractions. I couldn’t resist documenting some of them. These funky street level bridge panels (Pic #2 left) were diazepam begging me to make them famous.

On my walk over to the Tate Modern, I take a short cut through Blackfriars Road, and slip into an alley to find this (Pic #1 top) quirky old basket by a gorgeous red wall with cerulean blue doors.

(Pic #3) London: Pacs in the Park

Then, across from Buckingham Palace, in Green Park, I discover a few of the 258 elaborately painted pacaderms–public art benefiting endangered Asian elephants and their habitat–sponsored by elephantfamily.org.

Finally, I spot some new construction, adjacent to the Tate Modern that mystified me. (Pic # 4 – below) Those massive crossbars that stretch across and block the windows on both sides of the structure, are apparently intended to be architecturally “decorative.” That cracked up one of the workmen, who told me the new owners of these exclusive 750K condos are investing in “rooms without a view.”

(Pic #4) London: Rooms without a view

Art In The Alley

London Art: Inside and Out (Part 1)