Let's Paint The Town Brooklyn
 A column and illustrations by Ryn Gargulinski
Ryn's Archives: Deck
the City Halls, An Autumnal Walk Through Brooklyn,
Brooklyn Collects, With Hopes of Candied Apples and A Cyclone Ride,
Ground Hog Day, Order in Brooklyn Court, Dear Mom, Merry Season's Greetings from Brooklyn, Brooklyn Votes,
Spooky Stuff: A Brooklyn Halloween, Rotting Fruit Store, Summer Time in Brooklyn, Graduating from Brooklyn College, Biking in Brooklyn, Nature
Calls, Brooklyn Answers, Why I live in Bensonhurst,
Bill Bradley in Sunset Park, New Cat, Brunch with
Mom
 Forget the run-of-the-mill red.
Think tangerine orange, pulsing pink and zipadee-do-da blue. I am talking
about painting the town. Now that the winter doldrums have gnawed their stubby teeth
into our bones, we may be felled by that post-brouhaha depression. Besides buying one of
those artificial sunlamps, what can we do?
The solution came to me at the Orange Bear, a bar down on Murray Street near City Hall
where I was invited to paint on their walls. The bartender himself is an artist and
he makes sure the interior is decorated by an array of artwork. Since creating that
display on a bar wall made me feel so wonderful, I figured why not do all of New York
City, starting with my home turf of Brooklyn.
We can start with some of the most obvious decorating improvements. Since I just
found out -- much to my delight -- that there is place called  Pineapple Street in Brooklyn
Heights, we can start with new street signs. These signs would be illustrated, of
course, and include place names such as Cranberry Street, Parrot Place and Bliss
Terrace. Places named after notables could carry their caricatures or something they
are most known for. I am already imagining 18th Avenue's stretch of Christoforo
Colombo Blvd with a giant Pinta sailing in the breeze.
We could also be really corny and pick themes that apply to different areas of the
borough. For the painfully obvious "Yellow Brick Road" we could slather
gold paint all up and down Kings Highway, which I heard was the  first thoroughfare through
this great borough, running from one end to the other (well, almost). It is also
where the British marched right before they almost slaughtered America during the
revolution.
Borough Hall, complete with newly-installed President Marty Markowitz, could be painted a
bright lime green, in honor of a fresh start. Picture a hue which invokes the
cascading aroma of a dewy spring morning or Palmolive dishwashing liquid. If lime
green would be too distracting so close to the court buildings, President Markowitz could
run a contest as to how the building and its surrounding area should be revamped, with the
winner getting 200 gallons of free paint from Benjamin Moore.
We have to do something with the Coney Island Boardwalk. I am elated to hear a
separate "bike boardwalk" is being proposed, but while we are waiting we have
some work to do. The first thought that comes to mind is painting the whole stretch
a sky blue, so it blends in with the ocean, the atmosphere and the clouds. This,
however, may prove too confusing since people already have a hard time paying attention to
where they are going while walking the walk (hence the separate bike path proposal).
Speaking of clouds, the overhead el above New Utrecht Avenue, which happens to be one of
my usual routes through the world, could really use some sprucing up. A nice cloud
theme might be dandy, adding a little spark to an otherwise bland stretch of earth.
This proposal, however, may be a little far-fetched. Not because of the cloud theme
but because it has taken them roughly three years to even make some kind of painting
progress on the el line -- and that is only along the 86th Street stretch encompassing
roughly three stops. That section of subway went from orange to a hideous rust color
that looked worse than auto primer, to a nice, deep teal -- but only in certain sections,
as if the workers painting it were doing just enough until their first coffee break.
That would be fine, except it seems they never came back after their java.
Other miscellany that come to mind is glitter paint for sections of Bensonhurst.
This would provide a kind of "remember when" feel back to the disco days
of the 1970s. We could also add a little zip to Brooklyn with graffiti.
Yes, graffiti is an art form. I am not referring to the sprawling illegibles you see
vomited on building sides so high up you wonder how anyone climbed up there, but graffiti
in its heyday. For prime examples of this type, check out the book "Subway
Art." This collection chronicles some major talents that used the subways as
their canvas, some of the most interesting artists I ever did see.
Some of the graffiti-type art sticks around today in the form of memorial murals on
playgrounds. Although they are usually quite artistic, it's disappointing they
always seem to be in response to a death. We should have more murals
commemorating happy events -- like births, marriages, divorces, promotions and when
someone gets a new cat.
Finally, we have to remember one important thing that should dapple our landscape if we
plan all these artistic improvements -- signs that proclaim "Wet Paint."____
Tuesday Feb. 19 2002 @ 7
p.m.
Ryn will be performing Tuesday
evening at the Orange Bear, 47 Murray Street. 2/3 of the band The Nerve! will be
backing up Ryn's poems w/ original music.
Visit Ryn's website, ryngargulinski.com.
Aside from her monthly 12gauge columns and articles, Ryn Gargulinski hosts a reading
series on the Second Sunday of every month @ 1 p.m.
CRANBERRY CAFE
9506 4th Avenue
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY
R train to 95th Street
Join Poet to Poet
with host Ryn Gargulinski
for an afternoon of poetry, prose and performance.
$3 min., $3 donation |
|
|
|
Back
to the top
Post your comments to the Metropolitan Bulletin Board
Home Poetry Fiction Gallery
People Arts Books
Metropolitan Out-of-bounds 9.11 Memorial Events Multimedia Submissions Search
Bulletin Board News Services Author List A - Z Archives
Classifieds Contact Staff Links Legal Statements
|
