Art Frames Life

I was honored to display this piece at the Salmagundi Club’s City Spots Exhibit in 2025.

I was out walking through my West Village neighborhood before work one morning, scouting Art Deco locations for my Karen’s Quirky New York column, Decadent Deco.

This mural on West 14th Street might be the opposite of deco, but I was in the zone, appreciating the city’s beauty, and it really struck me. Especially with the HVAC unit parked on the street similarly covered with graffiti!

What’s even better is that the people who live in the neighborhood recognize and love this mural, so seeing the picture makes them happy. That makes me happy.

Os Gemeos Murals

Graffiti Street tells the story of the mural. Brazilian twin brothers, graffiti and street artists Os Gemeos (Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo), painted this mural (actually a double mural) in 2017 to celebrate the ’80s hip hop scene.

I’ll need to go back to check out the facing wall! Together they pay homage to the breaking battles between b-boys and b-girls, including Rock Steady Crew member Frosty Freeze. The twin murals took nearly a month to paint! This was an authorized art project by world-renowned artists, and they used two cranes to complete the ground-to-sky murals.

Os Gemeos have painted all over the world and are renowned for their style of Brazilian street art. Two previous artworks they created on the Lower East Side have been covered up, so the neighborhood rejoiced when they were commissioned for this artwork.

Os Gemeos had a solo exhibition at the Lehmann Maupin gallery in New York last summer, and also a full-floor museum survey called Endless Story at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum. Endless Story started in September 2024 and runs until August 3, 2025. This New York Times article describes their work and the exhibitions in more detail.

567 Framing

Although I cropped part of the storefront out of the picture, a framing shop called 567 Framing was part of the scene. Naturally I took the photo there to be framed in the striking orange frame shown above. It was the right thing to do when art is framing life! The man who helped me, Jack, was friendly enough, but I prefer my regular guy, Mahabub at Excel Art & Custom Framing at 489 Sixth Avenue, near West 12th Street.

Pratt Institute

The Pratt Institute’s Manhattan Gallery banner was also partly in the shot. The institute is highly renowned for their art and design departments. It’s all so arty!