Meandering through Washington Square Park, we came across artist Joe Mangrum, who ‘paints’ public spaces in New York with temporary brightly-coloured sand installations. Part of Joe’s philosophy is to encourage interactive use of public spaces. As he asserts: “When public space is privatised, free speech is curtailed”. Check out his website for pictures of his completed drawings in public spaces around New York. Incidently, Washington Square Park was the site of a major, and ultimately successful struggle by community activists in the 1950s, led by urbanist Jane Jacobs and Shirley Hayes, against the road expansion plans of ubercity planner Robert Moses.
Each painting takes between 8-12 hours (picture: Nike Romano)
Painting New York with Sand is the title of Joe Mangrum's new book
wow these are amazing – thanks for sharing this with us Andrew