Cover of Lee Quiñones: Fifty Years of New York Graffiti Art and Beyond (Damiani Books, 2024). Photo by Chris Stein. It’s been said that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, which may be true among those who trade only in words but, for an artist the cover is paramount. It is the single […]
By the 1970’s, Times Square had become a veritable Sodom and Gomorrah. As the red light capital of the eastern seaboard, the Great White Way offered a new kind of Broadway show any time of night or day, peddling pleasures of the flesh on the streets, XXX movie theaters, strip clubs, brothels, and sex shops […]
CAINE ONE tribute by LADY PINK The life and death of Woodside writer Edward Growalski, more famously known as CAINE ONE, has captured the imagination of several generations of graffiti writers, be it from Queens or parts afar. His untimely passing in 1982, right at the cusp of mainstream acclaim and entry into the legitimate […]
Growing up in Yorkville during the early aughts, photographer Wes Knoll was crushingly bored by the homogenous scene on midtown Manhattan’s eastern shore. But once in high school, the world finally began to crack open. “I could have never imagined whether it just be like being able to hop on a train and be what […]
Charlotte St., The Bronx. Rubble in a vacant lot with four apartment buildings in the background. A large Puerto Rican flag hangs from the rightmost building. 1980 © Joe Conzo Jr. Set against the backdrop of landlord-sponsored arson and “benign neglect,” over 97% of seven census tracts in the South Bronx were left vacant or […]
Above: the two dicks as they appear in real life. “Life imitating art.” That’s how rabble rousing art collective INDECLINE describes the LA billboard they smartly-vandalized, so it looks like the one that recently appeared on HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm. In the episode, character Susie Green promotes her new business Catch as Caftan with […]
Back in 1979, 19-year-old Peter Anderson decamped from his native Glasgow and set his sights on London to study at the Royal College of Art with the dream of becoming a fashion photographer. He arrived in the city just a post-punk era began to take root, radiating out from underground pubs where bands took the […]
For centuries the mythic landscape of the American frontier has captured the imagination of radicals, rebels, and free spirits drawn to the edge, casting their fortune against the elements. Seasoned with the blend of rugged individualism and American exceptionalism, the runaway is recast as the anti-hero of our times, blazing a path where few dare […]
Targeting sneakerheads is actually kinda brilliant. Where else can a conman-politician find a young, diverse and mostly amoral demographic that worships at the altar of consumerism and nonsensical brand partnerships? Nike could collaborate with Halliburton, and there would still be footwear stans waiting in line to cop them. And so, it makes perfect sense that […]
Back in the days, the compliment card occupied a rarefied space, one of status and style with just the right touch of intimacy between new acquaintances. A throwback to the Victorian era on both sides of the pond, the posh flocked to local print shops to create their own customized look. The fashion caught on […]