Last night, as I walked home from a yummy slow flow yoga class (or really as I floated home), in the rain I happened to look up and see this sign taped up to the window of an empty storefront, just above a dumpster.
It is not the thing I expect to see scrawled unto a piece of posterboard and taped up to an empty building in my Upper East Side neighborhood.
I lit up immediately, of course I had to stop and take a picture of it and share with the world via twitter. One of my friend’s tweeted back almost immediately that what I stumbled upon was actually the work of a famous New York artist, James De La Vega. I google searched him immediately. Sure enough, google images came up with many photos of “Become Your Dream” all over the city, many in chalk. Some say that he is “probably the most revered street artist in New York.”
Even cooler, he also travels across the country as a motivational speaker.
I am so so grateful to have taken the path home that I did last night, that I happened to look up when I did, and that James De La Vega is out in the world inspiring the masses with this simple, yet ultra powerful art statement.
Another example of the many ways that we all can make a difference in our own lives and in others.
Believe or not…this message has been a great encouragement for me since December 2008. I was struggling to come out from my comfort zone of my career life, thinking of moving to a next new step…but I couldn’t until the end of April in 2010 though. I still remember the night I found this message at a subway construction site on 2nd Ave & 72nd street for the first time. I certainly felt that Universe was telling me to go on with my dream. I took a picture of it, and kept it as a reminder. Then guess what? Very next day…the message followed me to a flower shop where I worked! Yes, another ” Become your dream ” was right in front of the shop…Boy, I was grateful to see it again!! I felt a guidance and love from Universe 🙂 Since then on, the message usually shows up when I need to take some actions toward my dream or when I have a doubt over what I’m pursuing for. You know, ego, fears, worries are sneaky… Anyways, this message is a super cool encouragement. I love them a lot. I appreciate the power of it a lot.
I uploaded some of them on my tumblr site. Enjoy! Here’s the link. http://www.tumblr.com/tumblelog/tinktastichana
oh, and a wine shop on the south west corner of 74th street & 1st Ave has a one of De La Vega’s art work in the window. Whenever I get back to the flower shop as a helper, I pass by the art and smile. Sweet 😉
Glad you love his work. I found one in Central Park a couple of weeks ago. Have fun finding more messages throughout the city!
Love & Gratitude,
Hana
James de la Vega, Graffitist What people don’t know about this guy is that he was evicted from his apt. He had a number of cats which he just tossed outside into the courtyard area that runs between the buildings … and they were outside fending for themselves for about 4 mths. I know … because I adopted 2 of them. Thankfully these poor dear little cats got lucky … and two of De La Vega’s neighbors took them to the vet .. had them fixed … and kept them until someone adopted them. I also understand from his neighbors that he was constantly yelling at the cats. How deep can he really run … if he was able to be so irresponsible as to toss these poor little babies out into the backyard to fend for themselves?! Karma … baby it catches up with you.