Flowers on the Sidewalk

Posted on: July 29th, 2008 at 9:45 am by
Despite the seemingly neverending “gold rush,” grimy street art still thrives in the East Village/LES. In fact, it’s now considered urban chic, and shamelessly whored for $300 jeans (i.e. John Varvatos). Vandalism in the name of aesthetics always sells. Especially in an uber-trendy area.

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[Bowery and Prince]


The community is probably all-too-familiar with these dripping flowers painted on our trash-ridden sidewalks. Indeed, there is even one tagged right outside my apartment. This led me on a local quest of sorts to seek out and photograph more slabs of concrete boasting the icon.

Initial research led me to believe that these floral motifs were the work of Michael De Feo [link], a downtown artist in the early nineties. But I was certainly weary of the results. So, in an effort to curb my confusion, I contacted De Feo directly. Here is what he said:

Hello,

Thanks for your email. The drip flowers are not mine…. it’s a very common misconception.
If memory serves me, I began seeing them probably around 2001 or so…. I began my flower project in 1992 or so….
Have a great day!

Cheers,
Michael De Feo


De Feo’s flower paste-ups eventually became a worldwide institution, and in 2006, NY Magazine [link] designated it reason number “124” to love the city (even though there were 123). Post a comment if you’ve seen any around town!

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