Imagine an outdoor museum of street art, open and free to visitors. That is exactly what the creators of the Coney Island Art Walls at Brooklyn’s Coney Island have envisioned. For the second year, an otherwise empty concrete lot has been transformed into a host for a variety of murals. Many of the murals draw inspiration from Coney Island-related themes, such as carnival side shows, amusement parks, and mermaids, but there are many other themes as well.
Each mural has special lighting for evening viewing, and, similar to a traditional museum, each mural has a name plate identifying the artist. For those who don’t regularly follow street artists, the name plates are especially nice, as many street artists do not sign their work.
Here are some photos of my favorite murals from this year’s Coney Island Art Walls.
There are a couple of really interesting 3-dimensional works.
There’s even this poem by Jessica Diamond:
Coney Island Art Walls offers more than street art – there’s also a “food court” of sorts, with several dining options. Each vendor is set up in a converted shipping container, and there is plenty of seating available.
For those who want to revisit their childhood, the Coney Island Art Walls is also host to the open-air Dreamland Roller Rink, which holds two open skating sessions on Sundays (4-7 pm, and 7-10 pm). The theme is roller disco, and skaters are encouraged to dress in clothing from the 70’s and 80’s. Imagine roller skating in the shadows of great street art! As you can tell from the photos above, there’s plenty of other activities nearby as well, including amusement parks and the beach.
To get to the Coney Island Art Walls, take the D, F, N, or Q trains to the Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue station. (While you’re at the station, take a look at the art onsite, which I’ve previously written about here.) Walk down Stillwell Avenue past Nathan’s Hot Dogs towards the beach. You will spot the Coney Island Art Walls after you’ve walked about a block.
Finding NYC 
I love this! Truly vibrant.
they’re fantastic. Love the swimmers.
I loved the swimmers too!
Some great art and the shipping container food court fits right in. I think the works by Gaia and The London Police are my favourite.
Thank god or goddess you did this post! I had heard about it but it is hard to find images on the internet. I am familiar with many of the artists but have discovered some news ones.
I’ve got more photos than I put in this post as well. Eventually, I will get them all up on Instagram! The problem with taking photos with a camera, unfortunately.
I’m a fan of meals / street art, and Ithis is a feast for a fan – all so different. But not permanent: is this a pity or not? Can’t make up my mind.
Try “murals” – although I’m not averse to meals either.
I loved the diversity of these murals as well – part of me is sad when I see artists paint over their old murals, but they seem to take it for granted that their art will be temporary. It’s exciting to see what comes next.
I so wanna visit this summer to see the art walls! So many of my favourite artists: Aiko, Tristan Eaton, Stephen Powers…
Have you seen the Stephen Powers exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum? It’s really great! I actually included one photo from that exhibition in this post (it’s the very first photo): https://findingnyc.com/2015/11/28/brooklyn-museum-coney-island/.
I saw it in May! Loved it!
These are wonderful. Thanks for sharing! Makes me want to get on a plane to see them.
These are great! Did you get to check out the Freak Show while you were there?? So good.
Not this time, but definitely plan to see it next time I’m there!
What a great use of space. Each one is so unique and creative. I had hoped to get to Coney Island on my last trip to Brooklyn but didn’t make it due to time constraints. Now I have even more incentive to get there!
Great fun and a lot of work! Love the divers 🙂
This sounds (and looks) like heaven to me – and the cherry on top is the roller-skating. If I put some again on I’d never take them off!
This looks awesome! Love the murals!
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Love these. My favourite is the first one with the sailor carrying the girl. This is how I think of Coney Island and it is a bit like Southsea round our way.
Very nice art. We have missed this visiting NYC. Instead we checked out the graffiti in Brooklyn but it was not like this. Nice post!
Thank you! There’s a lot of great street art throughout Brooklyn, as well as in other boroughs. I think the neighborhood the art is in creates a different atmosphere for each area, and leads to art that is different from location to location.
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Murals of Coney Island, do paint the Picture of Fantasy, quite well.
really cool!!