Parking Lot Art Sprouts In Newark: PHOTOS

NEWARK, NJ — A parking lot doesn’t have to be an eyesore… it can be a piece of art.

That’s the idea behind a new partnership between the J&L Parking Corporation (J&L) and the Newark Downtown District (NDD), who are teaming up in an effort to turn several downtown parking lot kiosks into “vibrant artistic creations that honor Newark’s jazz music traditions.”

The two organizations have partnered with Yendor Productions’ commissioned artists – Newark residents Burnett Grayson III and Steve Green - to paint murals on kiosks located across from the Prudential Center and near Newark City Hall, close to Penn Station.

The artwork will honor the city’s jazz musicians, whose most lustrous stars include names like Newark native Sarah Vaughan, Wayne Shorter and James Moody.

Organizers are calling it “the first of its kind in Newark” and claim that it will help residents and visitors “reimagine the role of a commercial parking lot within the greater urban landscape.”

“We have deep roots in Newark and came up with an initiative to challenge the notion that parking lots cannot actively engage the community,” J&L President José Lopez enthused.

“There is no better way to celebrate and recognize the creativity of our City than to commission local artists to help us beautify our spaces,” said Deputy Mayor Baye Adofo-Wilson, Director of Housing and Economic Development.

Photos: Anthony Alvarez

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