By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Graffiti artists will attempt to reclaim part of New York's urban landscape during a brand-new festival this weekend.
More than 30 artists will share their vibrant, often politically-charged murals at the now-defunct Donnell Library Center at 20 W. 53rd St. for "PANTHEON: A history of art from the streets of New York City, a retrospective street art exhibition," starting Saturday.
The exhibit examines the growing world of street art and celebrates its past with a historical timeline of the genre and its artists, curators said while setting up the space Friday afternoon.
"It's incredible, we're creating a museum-level exhibit," said a downtown artist who calls himself "Infinity" as he contemplated the irony of framing street murals and hanging them on walls for scheduled perusal.
"Still, it's like an animal in a zoo," he added. "But that's the cool thing about the show."
Infinity, who prefers not to disclose his name or exact location because of prior arrests due to his guerrilla-like street work, has been creating underground art for the past 30 years. For this exhibit, he said he was contributing pieces that deal largely in symbolism and include lines of his own poetry.
Other celebrated street artists will share their psychedelic murals, large portraits, and cartoon-like drawings. Some are being created specifically for the event, but others date back to the early '80s and '90s, when they first appeared in neighborhoods like the Lower East Side and Greenwich Village.
Guests will be handed a 300-page catalogue that includes photography, artwork and the personal history of each participating artist.
"The catalogue blossomed into this amazing single piece of collaboration," curator Joyce Manalo said. "It's really like an insider's access."
It will also help explain some of the conflicts that street artists have overcome, both between artists with conflicting visions and artists and law enforcement, she said, citing the divide between artists who are into street art for aesthetic reasons versus those who seek to instigate political action, and tensions between taggers and police.
Although the definition of "street art" covers an almost impossibly wide range of styles, the artists that are appearing in the PANTHEON festival share basic goals that fuel their participation in the art form, according to infinity.
"We're all communicating to each other with a bunch of signals through our art," he said. "Artists are trying to create a cultural level dialogue. We want to connect, say 'here I am.'"
"PANTHEON: A history of art from the streets of New York City" will run at the Donnell Library Center at 20 W. 53rd from April 2 to 17, 2011.
