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A few days ago the mural was tagged with huge filled white bubble letters all along the base. The amazing fanciful restoration, completely obliterating the tag, was done very much in the quick dirty style of Scharf’s street paintings of the Eighties. But Animal New York reports that Sharf is in LA and the restoration was done by an anonymous friend of the artist. I love it. I suspect more action to come.
A long exposure setting the camera down on the iron fence surrounding the central lawn in Tompkins Park. I’m still mystified why no one has constructed anything with the snow.
Did a bunch of playing with levels and color balance to compensate for the nasty yellow light from the sodium street lamps. It was hard to get rid of without desaturating almost to the point of B&W.
The other day the Houston and Bowery Kenny Scharf mural was tagged with giant bubble letters. This morning I saw an image on EV Grieve showing it restored. From the photo I was thinking that someone was able to remove the tag with some magic solvent. But seeing it up close, it looks like Scharf came back last night and painted over the tag. I’m guessing that it must have been him from the style and imagination of the restoration. It is very much in the quick and dirty style of his old illegal painting of the 80′s. I am amazed, amused and happy. Update: Animal New York reports that ‘Kenny Scharf, who’s currently in LA, tells ANIMAL that an anonymous friend went over the tags with squiggly echoes of the colorful wall underneath.’
The upper photos are from the end of November just after the murals were completed.
You can’t see much of this old architectural detail on Avenue A when there are leaves on the tree in front of it. The pigeons take some comfort on it.
On East 5th Street.
I think the P.S. 20 school maintenance crew considers the Parks Department responsible for the sidewalk around the school’s playground, and vise versa. It always takes days for the sidewalk along Norfolk and Houston Street to be shoveled. But the school crew does a thorough job on the fenced-in area around the entrance and along Essex Street with their plow.
A cautious Samuel S. Cox overlooks the one Tompkins park sidewalk that was thoroughly plowed.
Businesses usually do a good job on their sidewalks, fearing the fine and liability, I’m sure. Though it is funny how when the sidewalk comes to the corner, often only the most stingy of paths is cut to the street.
The Quirky and useful Essex Card Shop on Avenue A.
Cold as a brass frog, but bronze is just as cold. Tree Frog by Tom Otterness in the P.S.20 schoolyard, Houston and Essex Streets.
Avenue A.
Tompkins Square Park sidewalk biking.
Bowery Boogie EV Grieve The Lo-Down Cityroom NYT Culture Feed from WNYC NY 1 Majority Report RSS of Gary Null’s Blog Buzzflash C-Monster Art Blog
