New Water Street Mural Sends Positive Message


(Photo by Josh Derr)

A collaboration by a group called 303 Collectives (named for the studio number at 135 Plymouth Street in Dumbo) painted the Water Street wall (between Jay and Pearl Streets) over the Memorial Day weekend. I spoke with Craig Anthony Miller (aka Cam) yesterday, who was kind enough to speak about how it got started and the images in the painting while traveling in his car. 303 artists include Cam, Demon 202, Tron, John Breiner and One 9 (who wasn’t there for the painting).

If you know Dumbo, you’ve seen Cam’s work on Pedro’s wall and on reBar’s wall, which has a recognizable stylized images of faces and animals. The Water Street wall started when Cam and Demon 202 contacted the wall owner, who ok’d the project. The theme is one of harmonizing artists of different styles with the 4 elephants representing each artist. The message that in life, there are obstacles and barriers that are lifted away to result in success.

The middle of the mural of two elephants passing eachother symbolize communication. These elephants bear the name of the artist, Demon 202 (cool way of incorporating words without looking like traditional graffiti. See an example of Demon’s prior piece (from artcrimes.com) that show this.) The elephant ears are like speakers. Cam’s elephants, to the left and right of Demon’s elephants have a Ganesh style to them; something Cam’s been into lately. The right one is a full body Ganesh and the left a partial one. Ganesh or Ganesha is a Hindu elephant deity of success and remover of obstacles.

The 2 angels represent guidance and protection from the barriers in life; the left one done by Tron and the right by Cam. The wolves in each corner (John Breiner) symbolize life’s surroundings and that we all need to be aware of the negatives lurking in the background. These images of life moving through a bamboo forest are brought together by the message that our interactions with eachother can create a community of harmony.

Speaking with Cam, you get the sense that he’s a spiritual and grounded soul who has artistic talent. Both Cam and John, who I spoke with, know and respect the history of the artwork on that wall and wanted to bring a similar note of ‘brightness and peacefulness’ to Dumbo. We look forward to more collaborations from these artists and they’re looking to do something for the 2009 D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival, which will take place on September 25-27, 2009.

Please comment below on your feedback on their work and your ‘interpretations’. You can see more of their work on craiganthonymiller.com and johnbreiner.blogspot.com.

Water St mural

{DumboNYC Flickr set of 303}
Previous Water St art:
{Concrete Alchemy Street Art Displays Their Talent on Water Street, 17May2008}
{Revok, Retna, Saber Live Wall Painting on Water Street, 06Aug2007}

47 Comment