Coverage of the Wooster On Spring project in NYC- Part I
    PART I of a three part series on Wooster Collective's big street art show that's going down in NYC.

by Jesse Pollock
Photos: David Gonzalez

    If you have ever been in New York's Little Italy, chances are you probably walked by the former horse stable on 11 Spring Street. The outside wall has long accumulated layer upon layer of graffiti and posters, earning it a worldwide reputation among muralist and street artists. After 2 property sales starting with the building's eccentric long-time owner, it's being torn down and replaced with condos. Luckily, The Wooster Collective stepped and negotiated with the building's Project construcion manager to have one final art event. A sort 'closing reception' as it were. Wooster Collective said that more than twenty artists are flying in from all over the world, and they are painting the interior of the building top to bottom with new pieces. Artists involved in the show include: D*Face, Shepard Fairey, Judith Supine, Maya Hayuk, WK, Above, Blek Le Rat, JACE, Bo and Microbo, Lister, Prune, JR, RIPO, Thundercut, Skewville, Elboe-Toe, Jasmine Zimmerman, You Are Beautiful, Dan Witz, Rekal, Gore-B, FAILE, The London Police and many other special guests. The building will be open to the public from December 15, 16 and 17 for those three days only. Sadly, at the end of the project, all of the art will be removed from inside the building, and the exterior walls will be completely buffed. Wooster Collective pointed out that cleaning the exterior was inevitable, and that it's generous of the new owners to give the space over to the art before that happens. This type of thing has a grand tradition of happening in Europe and other parts of the world, but very rarely in America (let alone downtown New York). This is definitely one of the greatest things that we have heard happen in quite some time and an enormous amount of respect has to go to the Wooster Collective for making it happen

New York artist David Gonzalez has been covering the progress for us and sent over these recent images of the project. A lot of the artists working inside would like to facilitate a certain amount of surprise, so Wooster Collective has asked that people not post any images of the artwork until after the opening. Check back after the December 15th opening date for more Spring Street updates and if you think you have some great shots of the event you can send them to jesse(at)fecalface.com

More information on The Spring Street Project can be found here:

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/09/27/breaking_11_spring_street_going_condo.php
http://www.thevillager.com/villager_184/beforecondosanart.html
http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/11/10/11_spring_stree.php {moscomment}

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