"Become Your Dream"

You can't walk down the streets of New York City without coming across a sidewalk chalk drawing, whose intention is to send out a social message of some sort, on one street or another. James De La Vega and his murals, which punctuate much of the city, particularly the Upper East Side and East Harlem, go wherever you go. De La Vega is a 32-year old artist who lives in Spanish Harlem and sports an idealistic gallery on St. Mark's Place, with the adage "Become Your Dream" plastered on the front of the store. 

I first spotted De La Vega's work, which many consider graffiti, while in elementary school in Manhattan. We would walk down 86th and Lex clad in light blue jumpsuits and white button-downs in the fall and spring and dark grey jumpsuits and blue button-downs in the winter, counting how many De La Vega images we could find. Once you walked a little further uptown, the drawings became more and more symbolic of the gentrification of East Harlem, and he wrote things like, "Don't think we haven't noticed the 96th Street border moving north." 

Though much of his work has caused trouble for De La Vega, including charges of vandalism, I have to admit that I enjoy his drawings and couldn't imagine my lower, middle, and upper school education without seeing De La Vega's artwork lining the Upper East Side. Definitely head to 1st Avenue and Avenue A next time you're in the city for some words of wisdom. And De La Vega doesn't whisper words of wisdom, either. His work screams them.