"Making the JMZ lines more colorful, one wall, one gate, one space at a time." Is their tag line, and they aint lying.
The color is visible from the trains themselves, but more so, below the elevated line along Broadway (in Brooklyn) and its connecting streets. Aside from the Bushwick Collective, this "gallery" of murals and the like, were the only other legal collection in Brooklyn, until the Coney Art Walls began in 2015. It was founded by a group of local Brooklynites, mainly from Bushwick, with the hopes of providing collaborative beautifying efforts for both the artists and the community.
In an ever-gentrifying neighborhood, rife with advertising eyesores, it's a welcomed sight to have some aesthetically pleasing options. What started with a bunch of local artists (Jay Shells Dasic Fernandez, Fumero, Miss Zukie- to name a few) has now branched out to bring in and provide an urban canvas for artists from all over the globe (most recently Michel Velt, and Sonny Sundancer); there's even an elevated Invader mosaic (seen from the train), just passed the Marcy stop. And for the most part, each mural is respected and left untagged by local graffiti writers, which says a lot.
Next time you find yourself man-spreading and riding the JMZ lines into Brooklyn, go ahead and give up your seat(s), stand by the window, and take in the cities newest tapestries. read more