Monthly Archives: November 2005

BK with Skulls, East Village, NYC

Loving this “BK” tag we found behind the clump of buildings where the legendary club CBGBs is housed on the Bowery in the East Village, NYC. BK is punctuated with a couple of skulls worked into the tag. Maybe the skulls could be substitutes for actual letters. So maybe this is really “BeKe” or “BeKo.” No matter. This writer has a great sense of style and technique. Find this one while you can along that decrepit, abandoned and razed stretch of E. 1st Street between Bowery and 2nd Avenue. As we post this, several recently bulldozed plots of land are being developed into fashionable, luxury apartments, condos and lofts. In New York, whether it’s writin’ space or living space, it all comes down to real estate.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Gear: Nikon Coolpix 3600 digital camera
On the iPod: Fiery Furnaces – “EP”
Kicks on our Feet: Adidas Y3

Superfeen by ESPO, NYC #1

Here’s the side of the “Superfeen” truck by ESPO in Soho. This panel reads “Go Superfeen Go!” Note the superhero Superfeen’s key qualities noted at the sides: “He’s not for truth and justice” and “He’s for the American Way.”

“Superfeen” is the latest brilliant installment of graf-cum-street art by the renowned New York artist ESPO on this always-parked Soho truck. The back of the truck is a panel dubbed “Caffeine and Nicotine,” wherein an anti-superhero takes a coffee and smoke break. Unfortunately, we weren’t carrying the heavier-duty Nikon digital camera that’s usually in our bag, so we had to make do with our Treo 650 camera phone, and thus image resolution quality is a bit wanting.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Gear: Photo taken using camera embedded in a Treo 650 SmartPhone.
On our iPod: Animal Collective – “Feels”

Superfeen by ESPO, NYC #2

Ivan Corsa Photo

Gear: Photo taken using camera embedded in a Treo 650 SmartPhone.
On our iPod: Animal Collective – “Feels”

“Uneek”

“Uneek” is the only indicator of authorship or branding on this sticker we found in lower Manhattan. The face is a rather rubber-faced rendering of the character “Reverend Jim Ignatowski” from the American TV sitcom “Taxi,” which was originally broadcast between 1978 and 1982. The character was played by the actor Christopher Lloyd. The show was set in New York City. “Uneek” is just another example of downtown sticker art.

Ivan Corsa Photo

HOLLRDRSEX, East Village, NYC – Detail 2

Here’s a detail shot showing the “DRSEX” part of the larger, longer “HOLLRDRSEX” tag.

New and old examples of the “DrSex” tag can be found around downtown Manhattan, mainly on the walls of old apartment buildings and storefronts in the Lower East Side and the East Village. But usually the tag is just written as “DRSEX.” Pictured here, though, is a longer moniker, “HOLLRDRSEX,” as in “Holler” and “Dr Sex” perhaps? Don’t know if HOLLR represents another graf writer who has collabo’d with the good Dr. for this piece of aerosol art. In any case, we don’t often see tags this long in lower Manattan, as there’s usually not enough blank wall space available for graf so large and elongated. This “up” is on the side of a tenement building that is adjacent to a rare empty lot at the corner of E. 1st St. and 2nd Ave. in the East Village. Dr. Sex, holla’!

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HOLLRDRSEX, East Village, NYC – Detail 1

… And to be fair, here’s a detail shot of the “HOLLR” half of the East Village “HOLLRDRSEX” tag.

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Court TV Tenement Apartment Billboard, NYC #3

It seems like there’s clever billboard advertising everywhere in New York City, so when we see a billboard that actually stops us in our tracks and makes us pause and smile (and snap a bunch of pictures while we’re at it, too), well, that’s something. That’s what happened when we saw this massive ad-screen for CourtTV. The ad has been designed as the side of the Soho tenement apartment building upon which it’s hung. In the windows, shadows suggest tenants engaged in criminal intrigue. The apartment buildng is at the corner of King St. and 6th Avenue, a block south of Houston St., in a neighborhood that is home to some of the hottest, most acclaimed advertising agencies in the world.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Court TV Tenement Apartment Billboard, NYC #2

Here’s the context shot of the CourtTV billboard apartment building.

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Court TV Tenement Apartment Billboard, NYC #1

Here’s a closer view of the windows on the Court TV billboard in Soho, New York City.

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Buff Monster Strikes Downtown New York City #2

Here’s the detail shot of Buff Monster’s silicon-breast-enhanced wheat-paste in downtown New York City.

Here’s some recent work by the street artist known as Buff Monster. This pink Japanese-anime-like character – the “Buff Monster” – can be found in many places in Los Angeles, where the artist lives. But this example is a continent away in lower Manhattan, NYC. Sometimes one of Buff Monster’s “X” eyes sports an eyepatch. Sometimes the character’s domehead has devil horns or antennae. Here, it sprouts breasts that could be the envy of many a pornstar. According to Tristan Manco in his excellent book “Street Logos,” Buff Monster has said that the inspiration for his pink street-art icon was inspired by the rememberance of a sticker he saw in Tokyo, Japan when he was a child.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Buff Monster Strikes Downtown New York City #1

Ivan Corsa Photo

Monsieur A by Andre in Nolita, New York City #2

Here’s second shot of work by the influential French street artist who goes by the moniker Andre (“Tout Va Bien”), who left his mark in several New York City locations during a recent visit here. In the high-rent downtown neighborhood known as Nolita, Andre painted his iconic character “Monsieur A,” which can be found throughout Paris and other European cities. Monsieur A is often painted as a thin, prancing stick-legged character with an “X” for one of the eyes.

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Monsieur A by Andre in Nolita, New York City #1

The influential French street artist who goes by the moniker Andre (“Tout Va Bien”) left his mark in several New York City locations during a recent visit here. In the high-rent downtown neighborhood known as Nolita, Andre painted his iconic character “Monsieur A,”which can be found throughout Paris and other European cities. Monsieur A is often painted as a thin, prancing stick-legged character with an “X” for one of the eyes.

Ivan Corsa Photo

“Keep on Grass” at 11 Spring St., NYC #2

Here’s another example of wood-cut work at the street art gallery that is 11 Spring Street in Nolita, New York City. The sign’s message can be interpreted in more than one way, obviously. However, there’s also a degree of irony at play here if the declaration is taken literally, that is, in its inverted twist of the traditional sense of not walking on or stopping on a verdant lawn. The irony lies in the fact that there is scarcely any grass to keep off of (or “on”) along almost any given downtown block, including Spring St. The real tongue-in-cheek irony is that play on words and the imperative reference to “ingesting” a certain “herb.”

Ivan Corsa Photo

“Keep on Grass” at 11 Spring St., NYC #1

Here’s close-up shop of the “Keep on Grass” wood-cut.

We found this work at the street art gallery that is 11 Spring Street in Nolita, New York City. The sign’s message can be interpreted in more than one way, obviously. However, there’s also a degree of irony at play here if the declaration is taken literally, that is, in its inverted twist of the traditional sense of not walking on or stopping on a verdant lawn. The irony lies in the fact that there is scarcely any grass to keep off of (or “on”) along almost any given downtown block, including Spring St. The real tongue-in-cheek irony is that play on words and the imperative reference to “ingesting” a certain “herb.”

Ivan Corsa Photo

“Overconsum” Sticker – 1

Here’s some sticker art we found on a “stand” waterpipe in Soho, NYC.

This sticker image of a boy’s (man’s) face is drawn in such a manner that the illustration could work well as a stencil. The face looks Asian and the bandanna suggests a Japanese sushi maker. “Overconsum” is written on the headcover. Message, anyone?

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HOLLRDRSEX, East Village, NYC – Wide

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“Overconsum” Sticker – 2

Here’s a closer-up shot of some NYC sticker art.

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Sublime Soho Graffiti – 2

This shot shows a slightly closer-up view of this awesome Soho tag “Kuko.”

Here’s an example of some top-drawer graf on Spring St. in Soho, New York City. We love how the tag bleeds. Nice touch. The tag reads “Kuko,” but we could be wrong — we don’t recognize the writer’s name or the tag itself. Great style, without being overdone. Making a simple, clean tag stand out with an original design (and without going “wild-style” overboard) is much harder than it looks.

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Sublime Soho Graffiti – 1

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LES-Chinatown Graffiti

Here’s a typical example of a storefront tag in the nabe where the Lower East Side and Chinatown melt into one another in NYC. Love the yellow hue and the stars in the writing. As for the tag itself, we can’t decipher the letters. Any ideas on the writer, or on what the tag says? Email us. (We’ll re-post with this with your suggestions.)

Ivan Corsa Photo

Tune on Our iPod: Deerhoof “Wrong Time Capsule”
Kicks on Our Feet: Adidas Y3