It’s always exciting to see artists on the streets of New York operating in one way or another, oblivious to all distractions, tuning all the dissonances of the city out as they stand focused and charged with their creation. It happens in Central Park all the time, a wide bush blossoms in the Spring or a bird lands on a rock and an artist with his easel sets up and begins drawing, and slowly a crowd gathers to enjoy the image evolving from life. Or in Williamsburg somewhere, you’ve got 2 painters in overalls reaching, dangling, off of stepladders, brushing an advertisement on the side of a red-brick wall, thick paint waves going up in multi-hued patterns as the day drifts by on a hazy summer afternoon.

Recently I came across Jesse Cesario in the same way, (curator for the Camera Club of NYC and Fashion Center BID), on 39th and Broadway, doing something (illicit, possibly), putting some flyers or stickers on a newspaper box, covering up the AmNew York, or Village Voice, or Gotham Writers pages with his own images of fashion and style around the Garment District.

That was last Winter, and it turns out that this Spring he is curating an event called Escape Routes in Port Authority that is bringing images of overlooked moments, movement in Nature, and subtle out-of-the-ordinary experiences, to the walls on the second floor of the Port Authority Bus Terminal, (visible when you enter from 8th Ave by 41st street, I believe in some old Hallmark Card store taken over for artistic purposes).

Imagine all the travellers stopping for a few moments before rushing to the next train home, checking out an image that can take them out of time, pull them for a second to another place and another memory that can stick with them after they leave, making them remember what else is going on in the world besides their own circle.

This exhibit is designed to do just that, and is recommended if you’re passing through the Port Authority this Spring. It even brings to mind another exhibit I saw and couldn’t leave for ten minutes at the Roosevelt Avenue station years ago, where a small TV screen was flashing images of matadors and bulls before bloody encounters, swords raised and thrust, with the bulls often coming out on top at the end of the fight. It’s funny how something can stick with you for years after.

Escape Route is running indefinitely through the Spring at Port Authority, NYC.