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Tucked discreetly between Chrystie Street and the Bowery, just off Rivington on the Lower East Side, Freeman Alley is easy to miss…until you see it, and then you cannot see anything else.
At just 150 feet long, this narrow dead-end lane is an array of color and commentary, with layered walls of graffiti and stickers. More than a passageway, Freeman Alley is a living gallery—raw, rotating, and resolutely democratic. It’s a visual archive of the city’s shifting moods: a place where past, present, and speculative futures coexist in spray paint and pasted paper.
While there is no official curator, the alley isn’t without order. Two informal stewards shape its flow: Zui orchestrates the back half, and THEALLEYRY guides the front.
Zui sees the alley artwork as ephemeral, “Just like in the spring when the cherry blossoms bloom for such a brief period,” he says, “you have to catch that moment before it disappears and the next flower takes the spotlight. The same thing happens in the alley—each opportunity makes space for new art to shine.”
The Present Day Freeman Scene
Last Sunday, the alley was a hive of activity, buzzing with artists and admirers. Here is a sampling of the artists who were painting and visiting the alley that one afternoon:
Kenji let us help with his latest piece!
“Freeman Alley is a space for people to express their creativity and meet new and interesting people from all around the world.”
Introduced to the alley by Zui, the Malaysian graffiti artist Kenji was painting his puppet Chaigo (aka his alter ego) on the wall to the right of the entrance to the Untitled Hotel. Hotel guests and diners from Freemans Restaurant paused to snap photos. Bowery Mission staff occasionally passed through the very door he was painting over. None of it broke his stride.
Jappy, an artist from the Philippines, stopped by to visit Kenji and commented, “Freeman allows people from all walks of life to experience street art—whether you’re a seasoned artist looking for a spot between projects or a kid just discovering the art form.” He continued, “It creates a bridge between artists and audiences.”
StickerMaul, also known as PhotoMaul, uses her weekend city walks to decompress and explore the street art scene. As she strolls, she puts up her own stickers and snaps pics. This Sunday, she stopped by the alley to check out new pieces and leave a sticker, but ended up sticking around to chat with Zui and friends.
Queen Jakee, Brooklyn Tee, Slasher, and Spot
(Left) Queen Jakee, (Center) Spot, (Right) Brooklyn Tee
Jakee, a street artist and the owner of All City Legends, an art supply and graffiti shop based in Harlem, showed up with four other artists/friends—Brooklyn Tee, Slasher, and Spot—to honor their late friend Diva. Each contributed a beautiful personal tribute and together their individual expressions formed a massive, striking collaborative mural in Diva’s memory.
Longtime graffiti writer and professional photographer documenting street, graffiti, and celebrity arts, Seize stopped by the alley to see his friends paint a tribute to artist Diva and to collect his amazingly cool piecebook (a black book filled with beautiful sketches and designs from other street artists).
The Future of Freeman
Originally an alley for stable access and drainage, the “Freeman” name is the subject of debate. Some historians believe it is named after Uzal Freeman, a 19th-century surveyor, while others trace it to the nearby Second African Burial Ground. In the 19th century, alleys such as Freeman were common throughout the tenement landscape, often doubling as service entrances or sites of more unsavory activities, shall we say.
Currently, more than half of the alley is covered with a construction roof to protect it from the new residential skyscraper rising to its east. Freeman Residences’ official address is 4 Freeman Alley, but its main entrance will be on Chrystie Street. At 17 stories tall, the building will tower above the rest of the low-rise neighborhood. The six penthouses will have exclusive access to the alley (the rest of the residents will use the Chrystie Street entrance), but the building’s first-floor commercial space has the potential to use the alley as its backyard.
In addition to the new residence opening onto the alley, the New Museum’s OMA Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas-designed addition will open this fall, adding 60,000 square feet of exhibition space, including their new restaurant Aesthetic Matters, which will have a door onto Freeman Alley.
The alley continues to evolve as new and old artists contribute to the wall every day, literally and metaphorically building on what was there before. Beyond the archaeological layers of artistic murals, new construction will bring not only new artists but many new visitors. The future of Freeman’s Alley is still unwritten, but that makes it a present worth savoring.
Next, check out Mapping Manhattan’s Private Streets
