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GammaBlog Video - NYC - East Village - Lower East Side - Politics - Architecture - Street Art - Photos - NYC Guide 
Photographer Jay Maisel has inhabited this building on Spring Street at Bowery for many years. For some reason it has managed to remain a haven for graffiti and street art for as long as I can remember.
Someone covered all the Lady Gaga posters on Mulberry Street with colorful graffiti.
“Muffin Milk” is the funniest tag of 2011 so far.
This cute little character is pedobear , and he is one of those internet memes that may have escaped your notice. Basically it is a way to be really offensive without offending the unaware. It somehow has come to reference or allege pedophilia without overtly stating it. For example you might see a cartoon of pedobear in pope garb. Someone has been tagging with the image in Manhattan for the lulz.
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.
Update – Saturday: I’m editing video and composing music to replace the deafening roar of the lift engine. I should have something up by tomorrow.
Os Gemeos had a large crew of helpers, but Kenny Scharf seems to be doing it all himself. He said he had someone keeping him company, but driving the lift and the painting is all up to him. I’m loving the spray strokes, delicately delineating the shapes and shades. You need to see the mural in person, it is luminous. I asked him how long it took him to get up on that same wall in 1985. But I couldn’t get an answer.
I think this Scharf mural from December 1984 was done on this same wall. They were colorful quick, dirty and illegal.
The space filling reminds me of Escher, but I suspect this is all improvised.
