Reading the Streets: Indie184 mural
Indie184, New York City, Photo by via Indie184.com
NEW YORK – Once I saw Magda Love’s My Head is a Jungle x2, I couldn’t stop looking for more women on walls. Perhaps I’m looking for a side order of guidance with my murals? My search was rewarded with Indie184’s mural on Orchard Street, above Broome.
Like in Love’s Brooklyn piece, two women (who could be the same person), stand back to back. Each woman is wearing her hair in a low bun, rendered in black and white, except for bright pink lipstick and red clip-on earrings. The woman on the left is against a powder blue background, the one on a right in front of pink one. The brief pop of color makes you focus on her black and white features even more. Both women have epic eyebrows – shapely as gothic arches, and trailing off in dots that look like gems.
Indie184, New York City, Photo by Ilana Novick.
As if the brows weren’t enough, there’s the eye makeup. A generation of fashion magazines try to convince women of the power of concepts like “second day hair” and the “smoky eye,” the kind of effortless but not really looks that make most of us look like we hired a stoned toddler as a makeup artist; these women make it look mysterious and sexy, full of old Hollywood glamour.
Indie184, New York City, Photo by Ilana Novick.
Unlike in the Brooklyn mural, these two are not connected by a pink brain but by twin lightning (thunder?) bolts, one green and one orange. Underneath the picture are the words “full force,” full in blue, force rendered in red and yellow bubble letters. These women are indeed a force; their eyeliner alone holds secrets one could spend years deciphering. They could be a superhero team. When the bolts go off, I bet they can fight crime, slay dragons, and maybe even take over the world, or at least Orchard Street.
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By ILANA NOVICK
