A brief handwritten message from England for all the would be kings. Juvenile? Perhaps. Accurate? Indeed. (Interesting to learn more about the etymology and meaning of the word as well.)

Cotswalds, England

Another photo from England: this time a stone pillar in an alley between the high street and the back of the shops. Your eye is immediately caught by the storm trooper stencil, but more and more is revealed as you look closer. The caricature at the top is quite striking. There’s a realism and emotion along with a cartoon style. Finally, you start to see the messages scratched into the surface. It seems to be a common post for sounding off on the popular conspiracies of the day. It’s also an example of one of my favorite bits of graffiti in the public square — a dialog.

Cotswalds, England

Here’s another find from the English countryside. It may be genuine — pulled from some school or misguided high street shop manager — but I really hope it’s an artist created bit of cheeky humor. It’s such a nice dry summary celebrating the small and pointless in the face of the large and important. I love it.

Cotswalds, England

A bit surprising to find this graffiti in a small town in the idyllic English countryside, but also refreshing. Turns out there actually still is Anarchy in the UK after all these years. Hopefully, the kid’s have understanding and not just outrage. Hopefully, they know what they’re fighting for and not just what they’re fighting against.

Cotswalds, England

Back from holiday and it seems like Midtown has a new logo. Or a new advertising campaign. One can never be sure these days. It is a very clean stencil though and that’s not easy to do. The monogram is also very nice. It’s an obvious nod to the Yankees monogram which itself has moved well beyond sports identity to a clear New York City logo recognized around the world. It’s even surpassed the state’s I ♥️ NY logo from Milton Glaser. I don’t think this one will rise to the heights of those renown logos, but it is a nice bit of typographic illustration and painting.

Midtown, Manhattan.

Things are not okay. We all know it. We see it. We hear it. We’re bombarded and we can’t avoid the onslaught. All of which means it’s a good time to ask people, “are you okay?”

There’s a short story going on in this small piece. The look of concern, the flat mouth line, the slouching eyebrow, the sad eyes as one looks away and one looks on. The illustration style reminds me of old Pink Panther cartoons or the Little Ceasers mascot both of which come with fond nostalgia and sit in contrast with the emotion in this brief sketch. I like to think of these two as “D” on the left and “T” on the right. Two characters, close, concerned and unsure.

And so, even if the answer is “no”, even if you don’t have a good reply, now is the time to ask the question. RUOK?

Lower East Side, Manhattan.

I’ve always been a fan of cyan & magenta color combos going back to my early design days learning about four color separations for offset printing. It’s a combo that is so rich, has good contrast and blends fantastically. Top it off with a great positive stencil with custom lettering and this piece is a real winner. It just hit me at the right time too. Sometimes it seems like we can’t do anything, but we can always make art.

Wall Street, Manhattan.