Bushwick is like a rough little alien animal that looks ugly on the first sight. Many people wrinkle their foreheads and noses in disagreement, when looking at it as if it smelled bad. But if you look closer, your heart has to melt, because this little alien animal has the friendliest soul.
One of the first things you will fall in love with in Bushwick, is the rich street art scene. The walls of the industrial buildings are beautiful and fantasy stimulating. Just walk around! Probably the most lovable of all the pieces around is Bambi Mural on Jefferson and Wycoff. “Bambi is sexy! Bambi painted over the paper birds is adorable”, says everyone. Bambi is the joint work of OverUnder and his friends, Broken Crow and Paint Goggles.
Soon enough after you fall in love with Bambi, you can start playing the message game with OverUnder. Look for the folded papers or paper bird tags of OverUnder not only in Bushwick, but also all over Brooklyn and read what he has to say. OverUnder is one of the most philosophical street artists out there:
The best things are free.
The original as opposed to the copy.
Over your head, under your skin.
All walk vs Small talk.
And many, many more….
He has a strong voice and is not afraid to talk about the current affairs through his art on the walls. Shortly after the terrible natural disaster in Japan, OverUnder, with his friend No Touching Ground, made a large mural on Johnson Avenue called Helping Hand, where they urged the public to donate to Japan, even if it meant not being able to pay rent. Helping Hand struck the media strongly and proved that the power of street art is greater than just to making sad industrial buildings pretty.
OverUnder loves to collaborate and create surprising joint work with his peers. Lately, he made a whole bunch of murals with his buddies from Robots Will Kill, a collective that he recently became a part of.
There is certainly something serene about watching OverUnder spray paint on a wall somewhere deep in industrial Bushwick. OverUnder protests when I take photos of him riding around on a tall bike, because that’s too circusy according to him. I have to laugh. Many people stop by to take a snap shot of the newest addition to the Bushwick street art. OverUnder smiles friendly and exchanges a couple of words with a photographic bystander. His buddy Veng is sitting on a curb on the other side of the road, watching him doing the final touches on the wall. OverUnder’s girlfriend comes by just before the sun starts to set, and we’re all laughing when OverUnder misspells his own tag at the end of the day.
Read OverUnder’s blog here.