Destroying Graffiti Is Not Deep Social Commentary, You Idiots

If American Apparel is actually behind the "splasher" -- some jerk who's been systematically destroying some of the best graffiti in Manhattan, I'm going to be incensed.

Linkage

1. Quipsologies is a broader, more general version of graphic design forum Speak Up, providing readers a place to submit links to anything related to architecture, branding, movies, and so on. Sweet!

2. Yes, it really is made out of Bic pens.

3. Following with my obsession with graffiti, the slightly improvised sub-practices of Reverse Graffiti and Green Graffiti are pretty cool (and more legal).

4. Gothamist has a wonderful post up on Doug Aitken's current exhibit on (not in) the MoMA. His video installation, Sleepwalkers, plays every night on eight screens affixed to the museum's exterior walls.

5. Linkable USB drives! What a good idea...

6. What.

Wooster Collective Memorialized

For New Yorkers who didn't have to time to brave the lines for the few short days that the Wooster Collective was open, Graffiti Archeology has put up an extensive website layering the evolution of 11 Sprint Street over the past few years.

Bird's Eye View Required

For those of you still wondering what those orange lines running through the streets of downtown were, apparently it was just graffiti artist MOMO at it again -- this time actually tagging the entire island from west to east with his name.

Watch the video!

Moving Art

Become Your Dream

While working on my graffiti photo essay and poking my head (& camera) into various corners of the city, I came across a series of James De La Vega's paintings in Spanish Harlem. I found him at his store in the East Village and unfortunately couldn't really interview him in the context of this particular project (he staunchly asserts that his work is art, not graffiti), but it was still nice to attach a face to the murals.

Photo Essay in Today's Spectator