Welling Court 2015
“Celebrating the Streets, Solidarity, Community, and Culture!” Eager to spruce up his Welling Court neighborhood, Jonathan Ellis initially connected with Ad Hoc Art in 2009. Now in its 6th year, the Welling Court Mural Project connects legendary old school writers with new school street muralists creating New York City’s best hidden gem. The project now contains over 100 walls spreading the span of about 8 blocks.
John Carr is a working UX designer and senior engineer. He hasn’t been bombing in years but his street sense is still intact. He has painted at Welling Court for the past four years and has one of the first sites you pass when walking from the Subway. His iconic Marilyn Monroe piece turned out great. Check out his site.
JC wall located on 14th st. Queens for Welling Court
Now James aka See One had the most iconic wall of last year’s project (see our post here) with his giant eagle. This year not to be outdone he brought the six tentacled octopus. See is taking his craft to a whole new level with this imagery but has kept his classic shard details. The way this piece all flows together makes it one of our favorites of this year’s project. Also seen below is Hellbent fresh off his work for Ralph Lauren was just starting his mural when we passed by. Hellbent most known for his stenciled textures was caught in action.
See One and Hellbent for Welling Court 2015
Epic Uno has been on an adventure this past year with getting married and his best friend passing. He told us that Welling was his first painting project in almost a year. We were glad to catch up with him and to hear his stories on life. He told us that there is no hidden message behind his pieces, simply a love of painting and he hopes to bring this happiness to those that view it. We also enjoyed his one of a kind t-shirt, “Stay Humble, Stay up, stay excited.” We were glad to catch Epic in Action.
Epic Uno drawing his outline for Welling Court 2015
No Welling Court would be complete without the work of Cernesto. Creating a new piece out of his wall from last year, Cernesto added some new elements to an already incredible wall. Cern’s classic elephants and cats get our attention hiding in the background as the female figure looms overhead. Cern’s passion is ever-present in his color and tone. Also, Mr. Cern has a wonderful solo show coming up this Saturday entitled “Vertical Archipelago” June 20th from 3 p.m. – 12 a.m. Please come out and show love. For more on the show check out our preview.
Cern at work for Welling Court 2015
Marc aka Cram Concepts is a NY based graphic designer and all around bad ass artist. Coming out of Shaolin (Staten Island), Cram has been doing graff for over 20 years. For Cram’s first Welling Court wall, Cram teamed up with fellow Staten Island artist Kwue Molly to produce this incredible masterpiece. These artists use their classic graffiti sense to create beautiful stylized letters and classic graffiti characters. For more on Cram check out his page and for Kwue see here. Cram is available for private lessons. If interested, please email us.
Cram Concepts at work on his collaboration with Kwue Molly
When she is not braiding people’s hair and chilling in Harlem, Kristy aka @Dgaleart is a clever painter with a nice use of color. She is involved in the new HART House: community art space, home of the Harlem Art collective and backpackers hostel. Its a great way to develop the arts in Harlem and build community. For more on the space check out HART House.
Kristy Mccarthy @dgaleart for Welling Court 2015
Icy and Sot from Tehran Iran continue to produce the best political pieces in the NYC street scene. Their new work entitled “The American Dream” takes the cake of this year’s festival. The piece, a commentary on American Corporate culture, a multi-layered stencil of an old women holding a Starbucks cup and an American flag towering over the NYC skyline is the most outright political piece at the collective. The brothers have used their stenciled talents for good before and we think its a breath of fresh air in a sometimes happy go lucky street scene. Icy and Sot are also part of this upcoming documentary.
“The American Dream” by ICY and SOT for Welling Court 2015
Now just when we thought that Welling Court could not get any better, Meresone and Marie of 5 Pointz fame put together this “gentrification wall.” Highlighting works by six artists each part of the wall focused on a piece of NYC history now lost. We caught Meres finishing touches on his tribute to the graffiti mecca known as Five Pointz. Five Pointz has been in the news lately because the artists involved in the project are trying to recoup the damages from the landlord of the building. For more on that story check out this article.
Meres One finishing his 5 Pointz Tribute at Welling Court 2015
After over 150 walls and almost as many artists, it is safe to say that Welling Court was a success. The project is open to the public 24/365 and can be found off 30th Ave and 12th st. in Queens. Thank you to everyone who came out and supported the project and can’t wait for next year.