Street Savvy’s Crown Heights Playhouse
Based in a basement, Street Savvy NYC and CLR Therapy, founded off a fantastical premise that wall art and wears coexist: using a combination of spray paint and acrylics, the team layers over preexisting objects such as shoes, mannequins, denim jackets, and furniture, sometimes stamped with a target symbol, always revealing their process through noted Basquiat and CY Twombly influence. Though you will find them parading their (surprisingly only somewhat) stiff pieces on the streets of SoHo, they have also recently collaborated with T by Alexander Wang x Shopbop, and Housing Works to produce in-house installations and look books, transforming strict spaces into a Pee-Wee worthy Playhouse. Currently, the work gets produced in Marcus Jahmal’s Crown Heights apartment, where a basketball hoop, fish tank and studio arrangement set the tone for an experimental playground: items reconfigured, walls repainted and croquis drawn, and the oversize flat-screen ignored. Stay tuned over the course of the next few months, as they practice pragmatism and move into a warehouse space to launch Knickerbocker Mfg. Co. to produce handmade quality head wear goods with D’Emploi.
What do you do?
I’m an artist.
How long have you lived in Brooklyn?
I was born and raised in Brooklyn.
What’s your favorite thing about this apartment?
My favorite thing about my house is the space to create. To make things bigger than me.
What’s your least favorite thing?
The noise my radiator makes at night.
What are the first three things you would save in a fire?
My American bulldog, Federico Fellini book, and my passport.
What’s your favorite room, and your favorite time of day?
My favorite room is my bedroom. A perfect getaway from the studio. And favorite time of day would be the morning since I have no curtains so the sun wakes me up every morning.
If you suddenly received a windfall of cash, what changes would you make?
I would build a studio shed in my backyard, and a hot tub.
If you could move the house/block/neighborhood to another city, which one would it be, and why?
California, only problem is I’d want to move it back in six months. Nothing like home.
