Love Who You Are Graffiti

I saw this positive graffiti–“Love who you are!”–scrawled on the brick wall surrounding the 5th Avenue ConEd electrical substation. The “o” in “love” has a Sharpie drawn smiley face.

I noticed that there is a sheen on the unpainted bricks. It made me wonder if ConEd had painted or treated the bricks with something to make it easier to clean off graffiti, or has the previous graffiti removals polished the brick?

A Person Reading a Book: Street Art Over Painted Over Street Art

Street art line drawing of a person with poofy hair reading a book in Brooklyn, New York.

Walking around Park Slope, Brooklyn, I’ve noticed a number of graffitied signal boxes that have been subsequently painted over with primer. It seems like the same street artist is at work following the graffiti-painting-overer and scribbling a new line drawing, which will eventually be painted over before a new work takes its place and so on. The paint in some places must be an inch thick. Many of these line drawings are of dogs–maybe cats? But, this one caught my attention: someone holding a book in their hands while reading. Is this artist the same one who made this?

Brooklyn Graffiti Tells Us, You Matter

Brooklyn wall on Third Avenue with the message "you matter" painted and the "o" is a heart.

Brooklyn graffiti tries to keep us all going. This message was on Third Avenue: You matter (with the o in the shape of a heart). The smiley faces in the lower left were an interesting touch. Unfortunately, this section of wall is completely painted over now with name tagging and other designs.

3rd Avenue Graffiti: “No Coincidents 79,” Flower Pattern, and Human Outline

Poured concrete wall on 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn, New York with graffiti: "No Coincidents," flower pattern, human outline, and others.

I saw this interesting graffiti on a poured concrete wall along 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn, New York yesterday while I was running errands. It features a flower pattern in the middle, “No coincidents [sic] 79” to the left, and a frowning face above. However, it was the human outline on the right that caught my attention and made me pause to take a photo.

At that time, my colleagues at City Tech were in the middle of the 8th Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium on Gender, Sexuality, and SF. I wasn’t there because I’m preparing for a trip while on sabbatical. It felt strange not to be in the trenches with them. They put together an outstanding program, so I’m confident that they had a successful and possibly the biggest event yet. I’m looking forward to catching up with them about it later.

Culture Jamming Moose Knuckle Street Art

I saw this street art last year in Brooklyn. The artist culture jammed the Moose Knuckle advertisement by painting a smug face saying “hi” and using the store’s logo as a kind of hat.