Street artist Shepard Fairey was in New York last week and hit the streets, pasting up an Obama poster on the corner of Houston and Bowery, among other spots. Unfortunately, he sacrilegiously pasted right over the work of graffiti writer MARTY, who has been holding down that corner for years. We expected he would take it back, but were surprised he’d do it in broad daylight. Razor Apple reader, Vincent Ng from the LES, caught some photos as MARTY of Smart Crew painted a fill-in over the Obama poster on Saturday afternoon, cleverly using orange paint to match the new Keith Haring mural next to it. Reached for comment by email, Shepard was apologetic for pasting over MARTY, saying, “I don’t like to go over people ever, however, I feel Obama being elected is very important to everyone’s future including MARTY’s. It was not intended to be disrespectful of him, but if he chooses to be that small minded and petty about it I can’t control that. I certainly would expect him to justly re-claim the spot after the election.”
Oddly enough, just a few hours after MARTY finished painting, a trio of Obama-loving graffiti-haters was cleaning off the poster that they mistakenly believed was legal. Who was this pro-Obama buff squad? Shepard doesn’t know, but guesses that, “people [just] feel strongly about Obama.” Obama is certainly hoping people feel strongly in support during the West Virginia primary today.
Below are some photos of MARTY in action, and the the pro-Obama buff squad at work.
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Over the last year or so, the concrete slab on the corner of Houston and Bowery has taken on several unique incarnations. HOST18 and TABOO painted some illegal pieces on the wall in November 2006. Unfortunately they were soon covered up with a legal mural by JACE, who was in town to paint 11 Spring Street. HOST18 and TABOO had their final word over the mural and 11 Spring Street for that matter. MISS 17 and REMO came along and bombed it too, before the legal OMNI mural went up.
Now, a Keith Haring mural that lived on the slab for a brief time in the early ‘80s is making a comeback. The Keith Haring Foundation and Deitch Projects are working to recreate the fluorescent mural to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Haring’s birth on May 4th.
“The concept of recreating a mural is not necessarily something we would ordinarily agree to,” Ms. Gruen said, noting the technical resources needed to re-create, as opposed to simply restore or repair, an artwork. “It was really the fact that the wall still exists that made this so attractive.”
The mural, Haring’s first major outdoor project, existed for a few months before its Day-Glo colors began to fade under the sun. Haring then painted over the work, destroying his own creation before it could further decompose.
Several artists were at work on the mural this morning, and it looks like they’ll be finished this week.
A 8-foot-tall park bench appeared on Houston Street this week, not to be confused with “the bench” outside American Apparel down the street.
A tribe of behemoths has apparently moved into the city, and is looking for somewhere to take a load off. This 8-foot-tall park bench was found Monday bolted into the median strip on Houston at Suffolk Street in the Lower East Side.
A spokesman for the Department of Transportation said the agency is investigating.
Mysterious 8-foot bench appears on LES [AMNY]
Update: Tod confirms that the bench was installed by Brad Downey.
Downey was in town for a flash recently, but long enough to team up with Mike Wrobel to make and install an 8 ft. high bench on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He asked me to document it for him, since the lifespan of this type of work is always questionable. Soon after I took these photos, the piece was removed by the DOT. But only after it made the news. Check out the articles in the NY Post, and AM New York. The DOT was nice enough to post flyers notifying the owner of the piece that they could come claim the work within 48 hours, before they scrapped it. I’m sure there wouldn’t be any NYPD representatives present if someone did in fact show up to claim it, none at all. . .
Photo by Tod Seelie
Update: Nobody is claiming it.
A new mural by Omni is being painted on the corner of Houston and Bowery.
Walter pointed out that REMO and MISS 17 got in the act of painting over the Jace mural on East Houston and Bowery Street. Previously, Jace went over some nice illegal pieces by TABOO and HOST18 of DYM, who answered back with some chrome tags of their own. And the cycle continues.
Photo by Wayne’s New York on Flickr.
After you’ve spent a couple hours fighting for a crowded glimpse of 11 Spring Street, you might wander up to Houston and Bowery to see this Jace mural. Since Jace went over the nice illegal pieces they had running, TABOO and HOST18 took the spot back with a couple tags. A bunch of the artists putting up work in the building have been putting up work on the street too.
TABOO and HOST18 got busy with some pieces on the corner of Houston and Bowery. Marty is holding it down too.
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