March 03, 2004
Street Art: Hip Hop Walks This Way on the L.E.S.
So we were running some errands and walking over to Orchard 88, our usual morning java joint on New York's Lower East Side, when we were approaching the corner of Rivington and Allen streets and something caught our eye: the crossing signal was red AND green. The red hand was lit up telling us, "Don't Walk." But the green-walking-man-figure was lit up, too, saying "Walk." Which was was it?
Then we realized, "Hey that green is a little too green--where are those lightning-white L.E.D. lights we've become accustomed to... huh? HUH?"
On closer inspection, the reason for the initial confusion became clear. An anonymous artist had pasted up a new green-walking-man on the signal plate, covering the original L.E.D. version. The artist's version was of a tracksuit-and-backwards-Kangol-hat-wearing hip hop dude carrying an old skool boombox. (Click here to see close-up of detail of above image.)
Clever... No, wait... VERY clever!
What's more, the artist had cut out holes in his paper substitute so that the "Walk" L.E.D. lights underneath could shine through. Genius!
One of the great things about Lower Manhattan, especially around the Lower East Side, Nolita, SoHo, the East Village and Chinatown, is that there's so much cool street art on the walls and pavement that the urban landscape is a virtual museum in and of itself.
Okay, for the record, by "street art" here we don't mean graffiti ( though some of it is art and there are plenty of graffiti tags and throw-ups in Downtown New York ), but non-commercial posters, stencils, attached objet d'art , board-graphics, stickers and murals.
We'd love to know who the artist behind what we're calling "Hip Hop Walk Man" is. We think it could be the New York street artist Swoon, but while similar in cheekiness the style and medium here are of a slightly different flavor than his usual works, so we're not sure. If anyone knows, drop us a line at the Massive.
It would be cool if green walkman stays up up for a while, but given the safety risks due to the sign's potential to confuse pedestrians, the authorities will probably have to remove Hip Hop Walk Man. Sniff sniff.
--Typhoon + Ivan Corsa / Photo: Typhoon
RELATED LINKS
Wooster Collective Street Art Project -- Interview [Session.edu]
Swoon bio -- Jen Bekman Gallery
Posted by Robsam at March 3, 2004 12:29 AM
