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June 11, 2014 Marina Galperina

“I don’t even think it’s a crime,” TRAP tells ANIMAL, walking through his home-borough of Queens. He is confident, casual, as if he isn’t about to catch a tag on the underside of the bridge in broad daylight. Since 1979, he’s been spray painting New York City streets, evolving his unique handstyle and perfecting his […]

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June 10, 2014 Bucky Turco

Art magnate Banksy finally has a fully functioning website again. The homepage of www.banksy.co.uk now sports a black and white illustration of a dying Dumbo surrounded by militants that fans may recognize from the parody video he released on day 6 of his Better Out Than In residency back in October of 2013. For that […]

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June 9, 2014 Bucky Turco

In today’s Metro, there’s a front page story about “Graffiti-Free NYC,” a program that employs “low-to-moderate income New Yorkers” to traipse around the boroughs and buff graffiti for property owners, free of charge. According to the paper, these “Graffiti Warriors” have cleaned off 170 million square feet of tags, outlines and throw-ups since 1999. For […]

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June 5, 2014 Bucky Turco

At first glance, this corner on Allen and Division Streets in Chinatown looks like many others in the area, but it’s part of a legal graffiti installation by Smart Crew that completely blurs the traditional notions of “vandalism” and “art.” Sure, the SABIO fire extinguisher tag, and the CASH4, STU, and CHE tags above are illegal […]

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June 3, 2014 Andy Cush

In 2012, graffiti writers KET, NOXER, and TRES painted an Inwood wall with a mural that implicitly labeled the NYPD, the Koch Brothers, Halliburton, and a slew of other entities as “murderers.” Unsurprisingly, the police were displeased, and plainclothes officers buffed the wall despite its owner having signed off on the art. Now, the spot will […]

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May 29, 2014 Bucky Turco

When a piece of stenciled art on plywood appeared in Bristol last month affixed to a public wall near the Broad Plains Boys Club, its leader Dennis Stinchcombe couldn’t be certain it was the work of Banksy. The piece depicted a man and woman staring into their cell phone screens, mid embrace, and although it […]

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May 28, 2014 Bucky Turco

The New York Post reports on the staggering proliferation of graffiti in the city that must be driving the new police commissioner insane. According to the tabloid, there was “211 more graffiti complaints this year compared with last year,” noting how “that’s about a 5 percent spike citywide, from 3,956 to 4,167.” A whole 211 […]

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May 22, 2014 Andy Cush

Keep up the good work, graffiti writers. Bill Bratton is very bothered by your exploits along the Long Island Expressway in Queens. “I have a weekend house out in Long Island, and I go out of my mind when I go back and forth on the LIE and I see that . . . graffiti […]

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May 14, 2014 Bucky Turco

After a brief hiccup by way of a paint-filled fire extinguisher, New York City graffiti artist COPE2 completed his freestyle production on the Bowery Wall last night. As of 10AM this morning, it was still perfectly intact, but with all the controversy and haters the legendary writer attracts, it’s virtually guaranteed that it will undergo […]

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May 13, 2014 Andy Cush

Last night, someone went over COPE2‘s still-in-progress Bowery Wall with the word “snitch,” painting it in black fire-extinguisher lettering. When we arrived at the wall this morning, the writer was on a scissor lift fixing the work while iconic photographer Martha Cooper took photos. COPE2 appeared unfazed by the ragging. “It ain’t no thing,” he […]

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