Urban Art: Street Koi

Recently I was up in San Francisco and happened to look down. There on the sidewalk was a school of peaceful koi goldfish gliding and swirling across the sidewalk at the northeast corner of Church and Cesar Chavez in Noe Valley. The funny thing is that I'd walked past this section of the sidewalk earlier in the day but hadn't noticed them as I'd failed to looked down.

A little online sleuthing and I learned about Jeremy Novy, a local street artist who has painted over 2000 koi in San Francisco. Some were commissioned. Others he stencils/paints over other graffiti to beautify less aesthetically appealing tagging.

I'm not certain if these particular koi are the work of Novy. But, I suspect even if they weren't made by his hand, they may have been inspired by his designs and desire to bring art and beauty within reach of everyday citizens. It was a special and refreshing moment to be able to enjoy them.

I know most of us are just trying to make it from point A to point B while surviving the hustle and bustle of our day to day lives. But for me, these koi were a reminder we should always take time to smell the roses and, when we're lucky enough to stumble upon them, be sure to take a minute to enjoy the street koi :)

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A photography note: I took this image with my iPhone 4s using the Photojojo Fisheye Phone Lens. It's a magnetic lens and I love it! I then processed the image through the Snapseed iPhone app using the Tilt Shift filter.