The title of the Jasper Johns’ retrospective at the Met is ‘Gray’, as it collects work from his career that exemplifies his preoccupation with the color, or non-color, gray. The more recent work, dated 2007, and not shown before, is the some of the strongest. Also on view is a work that incorporates the imagery from a Henri Monnier painting, one of the most recent addition to Johns’ iconography.

Jasper Johns: Gray is on view through May 4, 2008 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street

Photo of ‘Beckett’ by Jamie M. Stukenberg.

Zach from Trackstar appears in the latest issue of Cog Magazine, a pretty great fixed gear bike mag. The ad reads, “Meet Zach - Cusses like a sailor and rides like a warrior poet.” Not coincidentally, you can pick up the magazine in the shop for free (231 Eldridge St.). We got ours smuggled over the Canadian border.

In other news, Dov Charney’s sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit went to trial on Tuesday.

It’s cold and barren outside, but soon it will be summer. Besides being able to cruise around in shorts and a tee, its also time for the 8th annual Bicycle Film Festival from May 30th to June 1st. The deadline for submitting work to the festival has been extended to March 7th, so stop holding back and send in your bike themed video or film.

The Bicycle Film Festival is a celebration of bicycles through film, art and music.

We are accepting entries for films with a strong theme or character of bicycles. A fine thriller with one scene of a bicycle chase does not count. We encourage all films with these guidelines to enter:

All lengths 1 minute on up Short films under 10 minutes are easier to program for our popular shorts program. Of course all lengths are accepted and screened.

All types: BMX, narratives, docs, experimental, Hollywood, cycling, and so on.

The Bicycle Film Festival, plus art show, parade and block party, is always fun and draws a crowd, so don’t miss out on the chance to make your work a part of it.

Daily Photo: Lunar Eclipse

Growing up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York, James Top got his start writing graffiti in the early 70s as JEE 2. With The Odd Partners crew, which he later came to lead, Top left his mark on the subway lines and streets of New York. Now he’s using that energy to educate and inspire, teaching college students about graffiti and opening his first solo show in New York. In anticipation of the opening at Essex Gallery this Friday, Gothamist interviewed Top about his early days in graffiti, his controversial graffiti class at Hostos College in the Bronx (not surprisingly Vallone caused a stink), and his most recent work.

There wasn’t really competition. It was really “us” vs. the MTA who often tried to clean up our tags. Everyone tried to find a new style but ours became the best style to mimic: the “throw up”. It’s close to a tag but takes more skills to execute with one fill-in color and one outline. We used a lot of silver and black. Mostly “high heat silver” from automotive stores— very luminous stuff.

Afrology opens this Friday, February 22 at Essex Street Gallery, 27 1/2 Essex Street from 6 PM to midnight. The exhibit “consists of seventeen variations of the 1970’s hairstyle, the “Afro”, filled with humorous and serious messages about being an African American man through the eyes of James Top.”