Connected at the Heart

"Become Your Dream." -- De La Vega

On my walk to clinic this morning, I passed a small mountain of trash on the curb in front of an apartment building. I usually pretend like garbage on the streets of Manhattan doesn't exist and powerwalk right past it, but today, I actually stopped to examine a dented white bin alongside the heap. There was a fishbowl drawn on it in thick blue marker, along with a fish, a few splashes, and the quote preceding this entry. I honestly can't remember if the piece was signed, but it didn't matter; I'd recognize that artist's work anywhere. (And if you're familiar with the sort of stuff I like to hang on my walls or my beloved "Sometimes the king is a woman" t-shirt, you'd recognize it too.) I've loved his art for years, and stumbling across a piece of it mere blocks from my building made my week.

Those fish are the calling card of James De La Vega, a New York artist who gained fame by covering blank walls, streets, sidewalks, benches, plywood, trash, construction partitions, and any other flat surface he could find with unmistakable quotes and images. Though De La Vega is a prolific artist with an insane amount of technical skill, he is most famous for his line drawings -- simple, quick little monochromatic doodles, usually accompanied by a few words of wisdom. He puts these all over the city for one reason: he wants people to think. He wants people to spot his work as they go about their lives, consider it for a few moments, and see the city, their peers, and themselves a little differently as a result. As someone who has devoted an entire blog to finding glimpses of beauty in everyday events, this is a cause especially dear to my heart.