Nevermind PS1, 5 Pointz Is Where The Party Is At

A sunny, cool (81° high) Saturday in NYC has to be spent outdoors, so I decided to check out MoMA's PS1 Warm Up.  PS1 is a school turned art gallery outdoor concert space in Long Island City.  As much as I hate paying for things, I figured the $15 admission fee would be worth live DJ sets, mind blowing architectural installations and inspiring artwork.  I was soooooo wrong.  I arrived around 2 pm when the doors opened and as I stepped inside the PS1 grounds, I immediately felt underwhelmed.  Hoping the children's playground landscape was just a facade, I wandered into the four story building to explore the galleries.

Holy crap did I feel empty, uninspired and sad by the repetitive theme of naked old ladies, obscene sexual photos and boring videos.  There were a few pieces I liked, such as the bold black quotes scattered across the halls, a Gay pride video installation, color-saturated nature photographs, a silkscreened mirror of a lady's face with a 'T' near her eye and Ishmael Randall Weeks' 3-D mountain range made from stacks of Architectural Digests.  The rest of the art felt like it was trying to be visually hip and did not stir me intellectually or emotionally.  It left me thinking 'What the hell?'

The vibe of PS1 was very 'scene' and dull.  No one was into to the slowmo dubstep spun by Babe Rainbow, instead everyone looked bored puffing on their cigarettes.  I could not take it and decided to leave at 3:30 while the place was starting to get crowded.  

Outside of PS1 (phew, relieved), I grabbed a $4 lamb gyro from the halal cart and headed across the street to explore a graffiti-covered building.  THIS WAS THE BEST DECISION EVER, as I was instantly inspired by the writers tagging the building, volume of graffiti and... get ready for this... my first B BOY BATTLE!
HOLY MOLY, I cannot believe our timing.  As we walked around the perimeter of the abandoned factory, now runned by 5 Pointz, we ended up in the back parking lot where a live B Boy battle was happening straight on the asphalt or "black top" with B boys from Switzerland, France and Belgium.  This thing was nuts.  Hip Hop was blaring in the background as everyone formed a circle around the breakers.  My $15 was TOTALLY worth it now.

I ended up staying at the event for two hours until the B boy winner was announced, it was B Boy Crazy from Switzerland (the guy in red bandana, shirt and shoes).  Below are photos of the awesome graffiti and videos I captured of the b boys.  Seriously this event was dope.

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