Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On our iPod: Cornelius - "Brazil"
Sneakers on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Air - "Mer du Japon"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Air - "Mer du Japon"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Air - "Mer du Japon"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Air - "Mer du Japon"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Air - "Mer du Japon"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Air - "Mer du Japon"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Air - "Mer du Japon"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Air - "Mer du Japon"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Air - "Mer du Japon"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Amy Winehouse- "Rehab"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun" Original Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Amy Winehouse- "Rehab"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun" Original Sneakers

"Books" (or "Skoob") sky-graf at the top of a tenement building on Allen Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, NYC.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Amy Winehouse- "Rehab"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun" Original Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Babyshambles - "Pipedown"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Beckenbauer" Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: LCD Soundsystem - "Yeah (Pretentious Mix)"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Beck - "Hell Yes"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Beck - "Hell Yes"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Tosca - "Orozco"
Kicks on our feet: Converse "John Varvatos" Laceless Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Tosca - "Orozco"
Kicks on our feet: Converse "John Varvatos" Laceless Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Tosca - "Orozco"
Kicks on our feet: Converse "John Varvatos" Laceless Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Deerhoof - "Wrong Time Capsule"
Kicks on our feet: Converse "John Varvatos" Laceless Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Deerhoof - "Wrong Time Capsule"
Kicks on our feet: Converse "John Varvatos" Laceless Sneakers

The view looking out toward 18th Street from the alley that runs past Caribou Coffee in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of the American capital.

Background Note
We were out of town visiting Washington, DC last weekend and snapped this series of images in the Adams Morgan district of the Amercian capital. Washington is a famously clean, well-groomed and orderly city (or, at least, it is in most of the city, that is, in those areas where the well-heeled work, live and play). While in Adams Morgan, the only graf we saw was hidden in narrow back alleys. Most of it was aesthetically insginificant, but some, like the throw-ups we found in this alley off 18th Street, across from the Caribou Coffee, was really good, first-rate stuff.

Ivan Corsa Photo

When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, its pieces -- its concerete bits, chunks and slabs -- ended up as so many souvenirs and art objet for collectors, museums and public urban installations all over the world. The Berlin wall was a long, massive canvas for sreet artists and graffiti writers. Covered in layer upon layer of scrawls, imagery, paint and political messages, the wall was like lonr-running (literally) communal, open-source work of of public art on the West Berlin side. Viewed out of its context far away from Berlin, a slab of the wall functions as a stand-alone piece of art that is a legitimate subject of aesthetic consideration. And it also functions as a historical artifact that reminds viewers of one of the uglier 20 geo-political events of the 20th Century.

New Yorkers have their own slab of the Berlin wall in Midtown Manhattan. This image shows an actual segment of the Cold War barrier on public view behind real-estate developer Jerry Speyer's office building at 520 Madison Avenue. To get to it, you need to access a small, open plaza on the north side of 53rd Street between 5th and Madison avenues. Check it.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's a detail shot of the Belrin wall sgement in Midtown, New York City. The most prominent imagery is that of an illustrated face.

Background

When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, its pieces -- its concerete bits, chunks and slabs -- ended up as so many souvenirs and art objet for collectors, museums and public urban installations all over the world. The Berlin wall was a long, massive canvas for sreet artists and graffiti writers. Covered in layer upon layer of scrawls, imagery, paint and political messages, the wall was like lonr-running (literally) communal, open-source work of of public art on the West Berlin side. Viewed out of its context far away from Berlin, a slab of the wall functions as a stand-alone piece of art that is a legitimate subject of aesthetic consideration. And it also functions as a historical artifact that reminds viewers of one of the uglier 20 geo-political events of the 20th Century.

New Yorkers have their own slab of the Berlin wall in Midtown Manhattan. This image shows an actual segment of the Cold War barrier on public view behind real-estate developer Jerry Speyer's office building at 520 Madison Avenue. To get to it, you need to access a small, open plaza on the north side of E. 53rd Street between 5th and Madison avenues. Check it.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's another shot of the Berlin wall slab in NewYork that shows a tourist inspecting the wall. This image was taken from an angle and looks out toward E. 53rd Street.

Background

When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, its pieces -- its concerete bits, chunks and slabs -- ended up as so many souvenirs and art objet for collectors, museums and public urban installations all over the world. The Berlin wall was a long, massive canvas for sreet artists and graffiti writers. Covered in layer upon layer of scrawls, imagery, paint and political messages, the wall was like lonr-running (literally) communal, open-source work of of public art on the West Berlin side. Viewed out of its context far away from Berlin, a slab of the wall functions as a stand-alone piece of art that is a legitimate subject of aesthetic consideration. And it also functions as a historical artifact that reminds viewers of one of the uglier 20 geo-political events of the 20th Century.

New Yorkers have their own slab of the Berlin wall in Midtown Manhattan. This image shows an actual segment of the Cold War barrier on public view behind real-estate developer Jerry Speyer's office building at 520 Madison Avenue. To get to it, you need to access a small, open plaza on the north side of E. 53rd Street between 5th and Madison avenues. Check it.

Ivan Corsa Photo

We love this massive "X" on these freight doors outside the Swiss Cultural Center in the trendy Les Marais district of Paris. The Swiss Cultural Center is kind of a hidden gem; the center is in a beautiful, post-modern multi-level exhibition space at the end of a narrow alley. The cneter is home to frequently changing art shows featuring work by young artists and designers. The alley, through which one pust pass to reach the center, is filled with great street art and graf.

Ivan Corsa Photo

While we're on the subject of spaces and places in downtown Manhattan that are no more, here's a shot of the recently torn down Gaseteria gas station at the corner of Houston and Lafayette streets in Soho, New York City. More precisely, it's a picture of a billboard advertisement of the station at the station. We've always loved this sign because it's so obviously from a different stylistic era of advertising and retail signage. Even the messaging is quaint: "Thank you for making us #1" and "New York's 'House Brand'" are presented in an almost laughable, but endearing, way. Most of all, we love the design aesthetic and the illustration of the station itself, with bright yellow NYC taxis sitting at all the pumps. It's a big surprise that Gaseteria wasn't demolished to make room for new luxury apartments and condos (given the location, the land and air-rights alone are worth potentially tens of millions of dollars.) No, what replaced this old petrol stop was a new, shiny, modern service station of a well-known brand franchise.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's a closer view of the facade of 295 Bowery and the iconic, ironic and grim skull and cell phone wheat-paste poster and skull-and-bones graf.

Background
The building pictured above no longer exists. The tenement at 295 Bowery was torn down earlier this year by Avalon Bay Partners, a real-estate investment trust, as part of their multi-building Avalon Chrystie condo development that straddles Houston St. and the Bowery on the border of the East Village and Soho. The building was a haven for lots of graf and street art, none more symbolic than that the wheat-paste poster of a skull talking into a cell phone on the facade. The 295 Bowery building had been a decrepit structure for decades, but was actually still home to a few artists who were paying extremely low rents on what had become extremely valuable real estate. The building is also known as "McGurk's Suicide Hall" because about a hundred years ago it was home to McGurk's Saloon, which was often frequented by hookers and their customers. The saloon was the scene of many suicides by desperate prostitutes looking to escape the misery of the Bowery.

Ivan Corsa Photo

The building pictured above no longer exists. The tenement at 295 Bowery was torn down earlier this year by Avalon Bay Partners, a real-estate investment trust, as part of their multi-building Avalon Chrystie condo development that straddles Houston St. and the Bowery on the border of the East Village and Soho. The building was a haven for lots of graf and street art, none more symbolic than that the wheat-paste poster of a skull talking into a cell phone on the facade. The 295 Bowery building had been a decrepit structure for decades, but was actually still home to a few artists who were paying extremely low rents on what had become extremely valuable real estate. The building is also known as "McGurk's Suicide Hall" because about a hundred years ago it was home to McGurk's Saloon, which was often frequented by hookers and their customers. The saloon was the scene of many suicides by desperate prostitutes looking to escape the misery of the Bowery.

Ivan Corsa Photo

It seems like there's clever billboard advertising everywhere in New York City, so when we see a billboard that actually stops us in our tracks and makes us pause and smile (and snap a bunch of pictures while we're at it, too), well, that's something. That's what happened when we saw this massive ad-screen for CourtTV. The ad has been designed as the side of the Soho tenement apartment building upon which it's hung. In the windows, shadows suggest tenants engaged in criminal intrigue. The apartment buildng is at the corner of King St. and 6th Avenue, a block south of Houston St., in a neighborhood that is home to some of the hottest, most acclaimed advertising agencies in the world.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's the context shot of the CourtTV billboard apartment building.

It seems like there's clever billboard advertising everywhere in New York City, so when we see a billboard that actually stops us in our tracks and makes us pause and smile (and snap a bunch of pictures while we're at it, too), well, that's something. That's what happened when we saw this massive ad-screen for CourtTV. The ad has been designed as the side of the Soho tenement apartment building upon which it's hung. In the windows, shadows suggest tenants engaged in criminal intrigue. The apartment buildng is at the corner of King St. and 6th Avenue, a block south of Houston St., in a neighborhood that is home to some of the hottest, most acclaimed advertising agencies in the world.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's a closer view of the windows on the Court TV billboard in Soho, New York City.

It seems like there's clever billboard advertising everywhere in New York City, so when we see a billboard that actually stops us in our tracks and makes us pause and smile (and snap a bunch of pictures while we're at it, too), well, that's something. That's what happened when we saw this massive ad-screen for CourtTV. The ad has been designed as the side of the Soho tenement apartment building upon which it's hung. In the windows, shadows suggest tenants engaged in criminal intrigue. The apartment buildng is at the corner of King St. and 6th Avenue, a block south of Houston St., in a neighborhood that is home to some of the hottest, most acclaimed advertising agencies in the world.

Ivan Corsa Photo

The New York City Apple Store in Soho resides in a former US Post Office building formerly called "Station A" in Soho. It's located in the heart of downtown Manhattan amid multi-million-dollar real estate in the form of lofts, apartments, retail spaces, creative offices and historic cast-iron architecture. Like those lofts that have been converted from former factory space, the Apple Store is an excellent example of the re-development and re-purposing of existing structure as new, mixed-use space.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Another shot of the Apple Store, Soho.

The New York City Apple Store in Soho resides in a former US Post Office building formerly called "Station A" in Soho. It's located in the heart of downtown Manhattan amid multi-million-dollar real estate in the form of lofts, apartments, retail spaces, creative offices and historic cast-iron architecture. Like those lofts that have been converted from former factory space, the Apple Store is an excellent example of the re-development and re-purposing of existing structure as new, mixed-use space.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Love this shot of central Tokyo with the Tokyo Tower smack in the middle. The Japanese capital is one of our favorite places on earth. We love visiting Tokyo -- and travel to and around Japan, in general. There's so much human activity at street level in Tokyo and so many interesting urban spaces. Once one steps out of the hotel, one could walk for hours and hours just exploring. And in recent years, there's a lot to explore in terms of great street art by Japanese and foreign artists -- some obscure, some well-known -- in the backstreets of the Harajuku, Ura-Harujuku, Naka-meguro and Daikanyama neighborhoods. Book that flight now, Speed Racer.

D. Carter Witt Photo

Surface To Air (or Surface 2 Air) is an underground-ish creator's atelier, art gallery, event space and boutique all wrapped up into one at very central Paris address in a right-bank neighborhood near Les Halles. Here is a shot of the iron-shuttered, graf-scrawled storefront from across the lane. Like Colette a couple of kilometers away, Surface To Air is a small mecca of under-the-radar creative cool.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's a shot of some graphic design in the form of cool logo/symbols painted on the storefront of Surface To Air in Paris.

Surface To Air (or Surface 2 Air) is an underground-ish creator's atelier, art gallery, event space and boutique all wrapped up into one at very central Paris address in a right-bank neighborhood near Les Halles. Here is a shot of the iron-shuttered, graf-scrawled storefront from across the lane. Like Colette a couple of kilometers away, Surface To Air is a small mecca of under-the-radar creative cool.

Ivan Corsa Photo

This is a shot of the Surface To Air signage, a non-descript, sterile sans-serif logotype.

Surface To Air (or Surface 2 Air) is an underground-ish creator's atelier, art gallery, event space and boutique all wrapped up into one at very central Paris address in a right-bank neighborhood near Les Halles. Here is a shot of the iron-shuttered, graf-scrawled storefront from across the lane. Like Colette a couple of kilometers away, Surface To Air is a small mecca of under-the-radar creative cool.

Ivan Corsa Photo

This image doesn't really need explanation ... well .. okay, maybe it does ... a little. Whenever a building undergoes some sort of renovation work in New York City, scaffolding is placed on all sides of the building adjacent to the sidewalk. The scaffolding covers the sidewalk, and the sides of the structure is often repurposed as billboard space and as a placeholder for signs of those street-level retail businesses whose front signage is blocked by the scaffolding. Pictured here and below is a cheeky use of scaffolding space as signage by Digital Ink, an electronic printing company on Varick Street in Soho.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Another shot of the clever use of scaffolding space by Digital Ink to advertise its business in New York.

This image doesn't really need explanation ... well .. okay, maybe it does ... a little. Whenever a building undergoes some sort of renovation work in New York City, scaffolding is placed on all sides of the building adjacent to the sidewalk. The scaffolding covers the sidewalk, and the sides of the structure is often repurposed as billboard space and as a placeholder for signs of those street-level retail businesses whose front signage is blocked by the scaffolding. Pictured here and below is a cheeky use of scaffolding space as signage by Digital Ink, an electronic printing company on Varick Street in Soho.

Ivan Corsa Photo

A close-up shot of the awning and signage of the recently closed Pop Shop. The Shop, on Lafayette Street in Soho, New York City, was part of the legacy of late downtown artist Keith Haring. The shop was an emporium of all things Haring and an example of how licensing and merchandising of an artists body of work could be lucrative and continue to promote a the artist's work long after his death. In fact, Haring's iconic graffiti-inspired imagery was virtually a brand in and of itself. As is often the case with Manhattan real estate in neighborhoods that have changed dramatically through gentrification, leases property prices and rents skyrocket. The Pop Shop can no longer afford the landlord's new asking price on the lease of the current retail space. So long, Pop Shop.

Ivan Corsa Photo

The Pop Shop on Lafayette Street in Soho, New York City, was part of the legacy of late downtown artist Keith Haring. The shop was an emporium of all things Haring and an example of how licensing and merchandising of an artists body of work could be lucrative and continue to promote a the artist's work long after his death. In fact, Haring's iconic graffiti-inspired imagery was virtually a brand in and of itself. As is often the case with Manhattan real estate in neighborhoods that have changed dramatically through gentrification, leases property prices and rents skyrocket. The Pop Shop can no longer afford the landlord's new asking price on the lease of the current retail space. So long, Pop Shop.

Ivan Corsa Photo

This "secret" SoHo restaurant was outted this past summer by the New York times in a Style section article. Appearances can be misleading. The photo shows a small, no-frills Mexican diner and bdeli/bodega called The Corner La Esquina, but the real restaurant is behind and below the diner "front." To ge to the real La Esquina you must pass through an unmarked, non-descript door that looks like an employees-only portal to a storage room. Once past, you enter a totally different space, a quintessentially chic downtown restaurant and boite. La Esquina is at the interesection of Cleveland Place and Kenmare and Lafayette streets, a block south of Spring Street.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's a beter view of the interior (as well as the collection of sneakers and other merch) through the front window of the Adidas sneaker concept store in Soho, in New York City. Note the way the interior space is lit.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Another shot of the front of the Adidas sneaker concept store in Soho, in New York City.

Ivna Corsa Photo

German shoemaker Adidas has a fashion-forward concept store for its designer sneakers on cobblestoned Wooster Street in Soho, in New York City. The shop is a well-designed groundfloor and cavernous space surrounded by loft apartment buildings and shops like Stussy and Head Porter. Here we see the front of the space, which boasts large windows and a minimalist, garage-door facade.The iconic Adidas brand of three stripes and lift-blue can be found echoed on the collection of garbage and the upturned pallet resting curbside in front of the sneaker emporium.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Previously we reported on the Time magazine billboard at Houston and Wooster streets in Soho, NYC, where large colorful tags have appeared by NYC graf writer Cope2 ("CopeII"). The idea is that each week, more aerosol art will go up on the billboard screen, which hangs from the north face of a loft apartment building, until eventually the Time magazine logo and trademark red-border will go up in the space and frame the Krylon work. In this second installment of photos from Week 2, you can seen the updated billboard with new, additional layers of graf. Week 3 images to be uploaded here soon.

Notes:
Sneakers on our feet: Puma 5000M
Tunes in ours ears: M.I.A. "Galang"

Ivan Corsa Photo

A detail shot of the Time magazine "graf" billboard that hangs on a lofts apartment building at the corner of Houston and Wooster streets in Soho, NYC.

Notes:
Sneakers on our feet: Puma 5000M
Tunes in ours ears: M.I.A. "Galang"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Another (slightly wider) detail shot of the Time magazine Cope2 graffiti billboard at Houston and Wooster streets in Soho, New York City.

Notes:
Sneakers on our feet: Puma 5000M
Tunes in ours ears: M.I.A. "Galang"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Another wider, zoom shot of the Time magazine Cope2 graffiti billboard in Soho, New York City.

Notes:
Sneakers on our feet: Puma 5000M
Tunes in ours ears: M.I.A. "Galang"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Another distant zoom of the Time magazine Cope2 graffiti billboard in Soho, New York City.

Notes:
Sneakers on our feet: Puma 5000M
Tunes in ours ears: M.I.A. "Galang"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Another contextual shot of the Time magazine Cope2 graffiti billboard in Soho, New York City.

Notes:
Sneakers on our feet: Puma 5000M
Tunes in ours ears: M.I.A. "Galang"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's a more contextual skyline shot of the Time magazine Cope2 graffiti billboard in Soho, New York City.

Notes:
Sneakers on our feet: Puma 5000M
Tunes in ours ears: M.I.A. "Galang"

Ivan Corsa Photo

NYC was recently treated to the work of experimental Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who is known for his use of low-cost, re-purposed and recycled materials to create stunning cleverly designed structures. These buildings can be built and torn down quickly. Pictured above and below in this Global Graphica series, is Ban's Nomadic Museum on Pier 54 in lower Manhattan. The Nomadic Museum was designed for a massive exhbition of photos and film by the artist Gregory Colbert. The structure is a long cathedral-like building that fills the full length of what was disused pier on the Hudson River. The museum's walls are made of box-car-sized shipping containers, which still bear the colors and logos of the shipping companies that once used them to ferry goods across the world's oceans and seas.

Ivan Corsa Photo

A closer view of the Nomadic Museum by architect Shigeru Ban at Pier 54 on the Hudson River, New York City.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here a close-up of the north wall of the Nomadic Museum by Shigeru Ban. The walls are made of recycled shipping containers.

Ivan Corsa Photo

A view of the face and entrance of the Nomadic Museum by experimental Japanese architect Shigeru Ban at Pier 54 in New York City. The Nomadic Museum was designed for a massive exhbition of photos and film by the artist Gregory Colbert.

Ivan Corsa Photo