browse by city
New York, NY (722)
Toronto, ON (720)
Brooklyn, NY (713)
Montreal, QC (376)
London, UK (286)
complete city list
popular articles
Ditmas Park
from: Peter
Coast
from: Peter
Shad Crossing
from: Peter
South Philly May 4th: Art, Indicators, People, Etc.
from: serlingrod
Destruction or Art
from: Robert Emanuel
what's hot this month?
recent articles
08 Marathon
from: fuzzytank
Journey Down Baltimore Avenue
from: serlingrod
Cosplay
from: chiamattt
The Star of India
from: jack
May 11 2008 Berlin
from: hool
The Wealth and the Poverty.
from: jack
The Werewolf of Dogdyke
from: Lincoln
Hell Gate
from: Cart Legger
Kitten and Roosters
from: lunapark
Destruction or Art
from: Robert Emanuel
read all today's articles
browse by author
Peter (740)
joey (262)
EvilGentleman (261)
hool (244)
jack (220)
complete author list
hot topics
graffiti
Justo Gallego
JA One
graf trux
parkour
fuck neck face
wheat paste
nyc
sane smith
graf
sixy
hool
harlem
banksy
brooklyn
Spraycan Science on 107th Street
New York, NY - Peter - Friday, May 17th, 2002 : goo
[previous] :: [next]
One thing I learned, when I moved to this neighborhood in the southern fringes of Harlem, is that you don't have to venture far to see the bombastic hold that graffiti has on most of the open spaces.
This wall is a private wall on private property; as such, it's imune to the city's ceaseless buffing efforts. Its countless overlayering of spray has created a strata of enamel that, when cracked by vicious winter weather or chipped by an errant pop-fly form the neighboring schoolyard, reveals a rainbow of colors, a treasury of line-qualities and styles that form some sort of vague urban semaphore.
If you look at graffiti for more than a few years, you learn to keep your eyes peeled for those rare and discontinued colors and finishes- the so-called vintage Krylon shades- the provenance of the old-school; the fat lip Empire Blue, the crackly-but-not-faded Hot Raspberry, and the ubiquitous shades of American Beauty, a whole decade of 80's tagging in a single racked pallete.
Crips lines and fades; all from an aerosol can. Perhaps the wall's owner is a fan of this neighborhood spot's ongoing role as the epicenter of South Harlem's frustrated creative urges. More likely, the owner simply doesn't care to pay notice.
But nevertheless, the wall remains; the unknowns getting tagged over constantly by the up-and-comers, the kings' pieces remaining untouched, save but by the hands of time, enamel scenes impervious to even the harshest winters.
This article has been viewed 4629 times in the last 6 years
moebius rex: 17th May 2002 - 18:13 GMT
peter--i like the way you focus on detail and divine a sort of abstract visual poetry out of a larger piece. it's interesting to see the areas where erosion has revealed the brick underneath. the pastel shades are nice, too.
krylon: back in the early '90s my friend marla had a huge chunk of red lucite in the shape of the krylon "K" icon that hung on a chain around her neck. it was fly.
moebius rex: hm, i should've said krylon icon, no "k"
karma: i really wish i had a digital camera.
Peter: 18th May 2002 - 23:19 GMT
a friend gave me a digital camera this past winter; ive discovered that i (rather absentmindedly) have been carrying it around with me almost everywhere i go here in nyc; there are just so many photo-worthy things that, although perhaps not worthy of the time and cost of analog photography- are perfectly suited for snapping with the digicam.
and then you have people like hool who are true artists of the format.
get a digital camera; you wont regret it. ive seen ones for ~49$...
WildBritishStyle: 23rd May 2002 - 17:54 GMT
When youre carrying around a camera all the time you notice things more. Little things. Things that wouldn't ordinarily be of interest suddenly become 'shots'.
A fat woman posting a letter
Two dogs sitting by a pile a old newspapers
The pavement
A puddle
It's all good, and when you've got a digica you can snap away without worrying "is it really worth it?" It's free! YaY!
Peter: 28th May 2002 - 19:19 GMT
digicams help you capture that strange world that, although easy to visualize in your mind's eye at times, doesnt translate well to being captured in a hard-copy medium.
StripesA4: 8th Oct 2005 - 00:57 GMT
my cuz lives across the street from that its pretty run down in tersm of style and color but nonetheless eye pleasing
Comment on this article
[previous] :: [next]
search citynoise.org
recent discussions
Cosplay
from: chiamattt
PDX Graffiti Like Ummm...
from: fuzzytank
New Use for Urban Ruins?
from: CE
Brooklyn Vespa
from: Peter
America's Most Boring Towns: 10
from: Scott Sargent
Irlam, Manchester
from: Andrew Smith
Clean Canvasses?
from: Peter
Cabrini Green [whats Left of It]
from: corsakti
Fredericton Transit
from: CE
Banksy Photos + Other Graf
from: SpankyHam
from the archives
recently viewed
Britomart
from: starlajo
Spraycan Science on 107th Street
from: Peter
Docks
from: Selig
Bougain Villa
from: Guy McLaren
Citynoised
from: jeeff
Be Happy
from: CE
Classic Cars 7 - Pontiac on Outlook
from: joey
Moon over Church St.
from: Biff
The Golden Hour, Pt. 2
from: Peter
Calgary Graf Truck
from: ksedge
concept and content © citynoise.org 2002 - 2006 : designed and maintained by
jamie (jamazon.co.uk) and
peter (rhodamine.org) (with special thanks
to jamie's php-god coding skillz).
caveat: entries and comments on citynoise.org represent
the views of their respective authors; this is an open forum, open to
all relevant ideas,
and as such, sees minimal editorial interference. as such, all content
on this site remains property of its creator/author, and is therefore
protected by all applicable copyright laws.