Monthly Archives: November 2005

BK with Skulls, East Village, NYC

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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

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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

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“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”

“Uneek”

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“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

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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’!

Ivan Corsa Photo

HOLLRDRSEX, East Village, NYC – Detail 1

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

Ivan Corsa Photo

Court TV Tenement Apartment Billboard, NYC #3

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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

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

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 #1

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

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

Buff Monster Strikes Downtown New York City #2

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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