Want a dose of the local Holiday Spirit? 19 Wyckoff Avenue, a branch of Bushwick’s Five Points, was crawling with some of the world’s finest street artists on Saturday, all dedicated to depicting their Winter Solstice favorites. Danielle Mastrion, the local artist responsible for the two-story mural of Biggie Smalls on the Five Points, sprayed Chevy Chase’s face upon one wall, his dubious face bedecked with Santa’s sombrero.
Icy and Sot, two sprayers that hail from Iran, outlined a more Eastern interpretation of the holiday spirit. In their rendering, Santa’s hat sits upon the head of a child in meditation.
GILF, another female artist (and no, her alias has nothing to do with any American Pie reference), scaled a precariously adjusted ladder, a snowflake stencil in hand. LNA nonchalantly held the rickety stair for her with his right hand, a cigarette in his left, and a smile on his face. The Zimad, his two-dimensional snowman complete, laughed and joked with all the other artists cavorting in this concerted effort.
Joe Ficalora, as jolly as St. Nick himself, jostled up to us, arms full of spray can goodies fresh from the elves at Home Depot. This holiday mural was his doing, and he shook hands, and jabbed ribs with his jovial familiarity (though there were no reindeer trailing him, I checked).
Of course, the Five Points holiday mural on Wyckoff was not the only project up Joe’s sleeve. There will also be a Bushwick block party when the weather gets warmer, and Joe’s eyes wander to the Triangle, the outdoor venue of the Points, and site of Bushwick’s first block party.
