The Mysterious Paintings Popping Up in Doorways All Over New York, Explained
It's kind of a joke that New Yorkers, even with so much to look up at, never look up. Like urbanites everywhere, they can assume that in their neighborhoods, they've either seen it, or they don't need to. A collective called the Free Art Society knows this, and for the next two months will be turning the East Village into a puzzle of art and exploration.
The 13 Portals project is a story that unfolds in the form of mural "doorways" appearing throughout the neighborhood each weekend from July through October, each with a QR code that leads to a riddle, clue, or mini-adventure to complete in order to "pass through" to the next portal. Participants receive email messages as the scheme progresses, and are in pursuit of one of 64 keys that provide entry to an experience that will resolve the whole mysterious allegory. What could await those who make it through the last portal? A puppet show? Pagan tea party? A gallery opening with wine and prints for sale? Considering that one Free Art Society event concluded at the top of the Williamsburg Bridge, with 30 people in a steel chamber worthy of a superhero's (or super villain's) lair, it will probably be otherwise.
Galleries aren't really their venue in any case. Founder Nicolina Johnson, 31, has always put her work in the public realm, painting murals on funiculars in Chile and mototaxis in India, as well as orchestrating events like guerrilla Mad Hatter Tea Parties in public parks or an "art explosion" of installations along a two-block stretch at 5 a.m. as a surprise for emerging commuters. And this past winter she wrapped up Flutuarte, her most ambitious collaboration to date, which attracted over 60 artists from around the world to paint the rooftops of 58 fishing boats in the Quadrado da Urca, an historic harbor in Rio de Janeiro. Hers is a wholesome brand of subversion, fitting for her role as resident artist of the Lower East Side Girls Club. Ms. Johnson, known professionally as Nicolina, cites the international collective's mission, which is simple in concept but often complex in action — "to explore the degree to which art in public places can affect the community that owns it."