More Brains

January 2, 2023

Street art graffiti of a colorful hand drawn person with their yellow brains showing through their skull. The style is very rough with loose brush strokes and overlayed line work.

There’s a lot to unpack in this piece — loose brushwork, layer upon layer, a frantic somewhat anxious details and an unusual color palette. There’s a pulsing radiating energy to the brain and even the whole piece. I’m not even sure it’s by a single artist or just a various people adding to the mix. I snapped this photo In December, so perhaps it’s serving as a metaphor for the last year representing our collective dread. Let’s hope we can shake it off and regain a bit of our self health in 2023.

Chinatown, New York

Sticker Lettering

November 27, 2022

A sticker with light blue script graffiti lettering on a black background

Found this little sticker outside the market and the lettering caught my eye. Definitely a practiced hand at work here — which makes sense if you’re going to go through all the expense of printing stickers. Practice, practice, practice before you print. I do wish the color wasn’t so faded. I bet the original blue was much more vibrant.

Westchester, New York

Blue Skull

January 29, 2022

A large spray painted graffiti of a blue skull

Still mining the archives as the pandemic keeps on going. Here’s a large piece from somewhere in Brooklyn. There’s some nice shading under the eye sockets. The attempt to add a devil lock of hair doesn’t quite work in terms of the perspective, but I still like it. This particular shade of blue isn’t one you see very often either.

Brooklyn, New York

Positivity

January 23, 2022

White cursive graffiti spraypaint of the phrase, "I like you!" on a green construction board

More unseen gems from the archive. This morning a bit of positivity with your typography. I can only imagine that it’s quite difficult to freehand write cursive this large — and to do it with a bit of style. Check the little serif connector on the letter “y”. Gorgeous. I also remember a bit of photographer’s conceit as I tried to line up the construction light with the exclamation point.

Manhattan, NYC

Glamour

January 16, 2022

A glamorous paste up graphic of a blonde woman wearing a bowler hat and old style tuxedo

Another piece from the deep archives. This is a closeup of a wheat pasted cut out printed on the bottom of a traffic pole. Beyond the glamour of the colors, there’s a distinct attitude in the position of her head and in her eyes. A wariness perhaps as she seems to be turning away but not looking away. Wearing men’s clothes but with red lipstick, she captures (demands?) the masculine without relinquishing the feminine.

Brooklyn, NYC

The Door

January 8, 2022

Red door with white spray paint pattern graffiti

Digging through the archives recently and I found this photo of a door from sometime in 2012. I love the minimal pattern, much of it single line, along with the loose flow of the lines. There’s a distinct improvised, on-the-spot feel to the piece.

Manhattan.

Ghost Dance

December 16, 2021

Spray paint graffiti of a smiling happy ghost skipping along in a single black line

Finally, made it back into the city and spotted this little gem. Confident line work with a great attitude and joy.

Soho, Manhattan.