Georgia Ossorguine is a high school student and summer intern for Art in Odd Places.  While on her school break, Georgia has been out exploring art all across the borough of Manhattan and reporting back to AiOP what she had seen.  Below, Georgia discusses an installation that took place in the East Village at the St. Mark’s in-the-Bowery church, which dealt with gun violence, as well as a plaque installation for Jean Michel Basquiat at his old residence and studio in NoHo.

Vigil:

Gun Violence Awareness Month installation.  Photo courtesy of Lara Zarum/The Village Voice.

During the month of June at the St. Mark’s in-the-Bowery church in downtown Manhattan, young victims of gun violence are being honored to support Gun Violence Awareness Month. Each orange t-shirt set up in the yard outside of the church represents one New York citizen under the age of 21 who lost their life to gun violence in 2015. According to the church’s Facebook page, the project is, “Our witness to ‪#‎GunViolenceAwarenessMonth to raise awareness of needless and senseless gun violence in New York communities, and find solutions to make those communities safer. “ The piece is available to the public to pay their respects and to reflect on the impact of Gun violence on the New York community. This project follows the vigil at St. Mark’s church to honor the victims of the attacks in Orlando, Florida at Pulse Nightclub. More t-shirts were added after the tragedy in Orlando to represent those lives lost. This project comes along with the many other art pieces that occur at the St. Marks Church performance space, which raise awareness for many different causes, such as the vigil for the Orlando victims on June 29th, co sponsored by the Danspace Project, The Poetry Project, the New York Theatre Ballet, and the St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery, with performances by Ricardo Maldonado, Julia Guez, Ballez (Artistic Director, Katie Pyle), Jeannine Otis, New York Theatre Ballet, and more.

Jean-Michel Basquiat Plaque:

Jean-Michel Basquiat plaque.  Photo courtesy of Hyperallergic.

A true legend of the art world finally has a permanent mark on his former home in New York. Thanks to the efforts of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the artistic genius of Jean-Michel Basquiat will be forever honored at his former studio in NoHo. The building itself is littered with graffiti and street art honoring the late artist. The tributes and messages for Basquiat are now joined by a plaque on the building’s front, which pays tribute to his life of artistic achievement. On Wednesday July 13, a crowd of inspired lovers of Basquiat, joined by curious onlookers, gathered outside the former home and studio at 57 Great Jones Street to unveil the monumental plaque. The event included performances and speeches by Phil Hartman, owner of Two Boots Pizza, Michael Holman, artist, director, writer and producer, Ayanna Jessica Legros, co-founder of Still Fly @ 55, an event in March honoring the art and life of Basquiat on his would be 55th birthday, Chauvet Bishop, co-founder of Still Fly and a poet, and Greg Masters, a New York Based poet.