Maze

August 26, 2023

A mural with a background of yellow at the top fading to purple at the bottom and intricate, maze-like interlocking shapes painted within

Found this mural outside an Italian butcher shop with a ton of intricate, maze-like detail. It’s definitely got a Keith Haring vibe which is both good and bad. Good, because I love Haring’s work. Bad, because it seems to lack the social relevance of Haring’s work. I still love all the little interconnecting doodles and you’ll certainly never get bored looking at it.

West Side, Manhattan.

Starter

August 12, 2023

White sticker with red and yellow border with a pacman character chasing a red ghost. The word, "Start" is written above in a child's handwriting.

Found this sticker in the parking lot outside a small town supermarket. It’s big at about four inches square. There’s a disconnect between the professional vinyl color printing and the childlike illustration and type. I have no idea what it means beyond the obvious video game reference, but I do love the pencil scribbled response. When graffiti causes a response, it transforms into a conversation and eventually into a historical timeline.

Saranac, New York

Space Cat

June 3, 2023

Die cut sticker of an illustrated fantasy science fiction cat with a white border stuck on a black pillar.

Found this sticker posted up on the west side last week. Really vibrant colors and gradients in the illustration. Still not sure it’s a cat. Maybe an owl? Or a viper? For scale, it was about 3″ x 3″.

Manhattan, New York

Komodo

May 27, 2023

A white dragon with a black outline filled with colorful spots drawn on an old newspaper and pasted up on a wall.

Made it back into Manhattan this week and — not surprisingly — quickly found a bunch of new street art. The colors on this piece caught my eye. The spray paint is a bit fun as it roves within and outside the lines. But I found the dots to be a bit derivative of Damien Hirst who always leaves a bitter exploitative taste in my mouth these days. Luckily, this artist — Mo Riza — is more than dots and I actually like the rest of his work better than this piece.

Manhattan, New York

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

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