There are some festivals that happen in New York you always wonder if they might up and close on you (Lady Bunny and Wigstock are still missed). So it’s excellent that the HOWL! Festival–the annual tribute to Allen Ginsberg and counterculture–continues in the East Village.

Each year the festival hangs up canvas over the gates of Tompkins Square Park inviting anyone to contribute a painting. It’s called Art Around the Park, and much of the work that goes up is as good as what you might find in a gallery (some artists seek to sell their work; others are anonymous and first grab wins once the festival is over).

Above to the right was a favorite of mine, by artist Izuo Watanabe, aka Izu, whose other giant face works can be viewed on Flickr, or on his website.

Finally, the last few weeks of testing the Samsung Memoir–what is supposed to be the best camera phone on the market–is coming to an end.  Previous forays include a beach vacation on Fire Island (Grade: B); poet Eileen Myles reading at Blue Stockings (Grade: F);  the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival (Grade: C); and its use as a spy camera (Grade: D-).

The shots below were all taken with Samsung Memoir, and it did a phenomenal job.

SAMSUNG MEMOIR CAMERA HOWL! TEST GRADE:  A

Michael Jackson

Artist David Greene–who has painted a series of public reproductions of iconic celebrity portraits–contributes his Jackson Five-era Michael Jackson.

Bloomdog Billionaire

Artist:  Krezell

Ben Dover

Artists:  Nora King and Lee Dawson (who seem to have come out of the Global Girls Art Workshop)

Anti-CIA

Artist:  Unknown (pictured)

Miscellaneous

Artist: Anonymous

Perfection or reality

Artists:  Sabel Salazar and Jeffrey Lux (click on photo to see contact information)

Politics of the LES

Artist: LV 2009 – I loved this!  I wish I could use it on Wikipedia.

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