Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On our iPod: Manu Chao - "Clandestino"
Classic kicks on our feet: Adidas Gazelle

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On our iPod: Manu Chao - "Clandestino"
Classic kicks on our feet: Adidas Gazelle

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On our iPod: Manu Chao - "Clandestino"
Classic kicks on our feet: Adidas Gazelle

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"

Here's the money shot of the Billi Kid collabo with Question Josh (?JOSH) in the beloved Nolita nabe of downtown Manhattan.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Keane - "Nothing in My Way"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Keane - "Nothing in My Way"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Keane - "Nothing in My Way"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Keane - "Nothing in My Way"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Mando Diao - "Before Rock and Roll"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Mando Diao - "Before Rock and Roll"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Mando Diao - "Before Rock and Roll"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Mando Diao - "Before Rock and Roll"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: The Rakes - "22 Grand Job"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Marun"

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Mando Diao - "Before Rock ad Roll"
Kicks on our feet: Vans "Plaid" Slip-ons

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Mando Diao - "Before Rock ad Roll"
Kicks on our feet: Vans "Plaid" Slip-ons

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Mando Diao - "Before Rock ad Roll"
Kicks on our feet: Vans "Plaid" Slip-ons

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: Amy Winehouse - "Rehab"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Beckenbauer" Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

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

Ivan Corsa Photo

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

Ivan Corsa Photo

Ivan Corsa Photo

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

Ivan Corsa Photo

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

Ivan Corsa Photo

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

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Deerhoof - "+81"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Beckenbauer" Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Deerhoof - "+81"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Beckenbauer" Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Deerhoof - "+81"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Beckenbauer" Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Deerhoof - "+81"
Kicks on our feet: Adidas "Beckenbauer" Sneakers

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: LCD Soundsystem - "Daft Punk is Playing in My House"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

New York City bike messengers mass at a Chinatown park for a game of bicycle polo on the Lower East Side.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: LCD Soundsystem - "Daft Punk is Playing in My House"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

New York City bike messengers mass at a Chinatown park for a game of bicycle polo on the Lower East Side.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: LCD Soundsystem - "Daft Punk is Playing in My House"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

"Dr. Sex" strikes again with this recent, daring tag atop a tall building along Canal Street in Chinatown, New York City. Note that the moniker is rendered here as "HOURDRSX," without the "E," but we've seen the tag elsewhere in downtown Manhattan as either "HOLLRDRSEX" or just "DRSEX." We love the juxtoposition of the tag and the Chinese billboard underneath it. Great stuff.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's a closer, detail shot of the daring "Dr. Sex" graf atop a tall building on Canal St. in Chinatown, New York City. The tag is written out this time as "HOURDRSX," minus the "E." See next post for the wide, contextual shot.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's a close-up of an awesome color paste-up by the artist Bast (or Bäst) in Chinatown, New York City. The subject of this wheat-paste work is John Gotti, the late, convicted NYC crime boss who was dubbed the "Teflon Don" by the media. This black-and-white version of this artwork appears in Nolita, a few blocks to the north of C-town and Little Italy, where Gotti managed his business out of a storefront "social club."

Ivan Corsa Photo

"Teflon Don" Gotti Paste-up by Bast - No. 2 Context

Here's the wider shot of the "Teflon Don" Gotti wheat-paste by the street artist Bast in Chinatown, NYC.

Ivan Corsa Photo

The artist's signature moniker, Bast," is detailed here in the same font he uses in all his work and with the "a" in Bast rendered with an umlaut.

Ivan Corsa Photo

We love details like this "TEFLON" tag and the New York Yankees logo in the lower-right corner of this Chinatown street artwork by Bast. The poster is a portrait of John Gotti.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's a typical example of a storefront tag in the nabe where the Lower East Side and Chinatown melt into one another in NYC. Love the yellow hue and the stars in the writing. As for the tag itself, we can't decipher the letters. Any ideas on the writer, or on what the tag says? Email us. (We'll re-post with this with your suggestions.)

Ivan Corsa Photo

Tune on Our iPod: Deerhoof "Wrong Time Capsule"
Kicks on Our Feet: Adidas Y3

The actors Robert Deniro and the late Charles Bronson both played vigilante killers in films about outsiders taking the law into their own hands to seek justice. Here the two are united in wheat-paste street art on a Chinatown street in lower Manhattan. The image of Deniro is culled from the film Taxi Driver. Bronson's image is from Death Wish. Dubbed "Karbon Kopy Killer," this street art is by the artist Ars.

Ivan Corsa Photo

We don't know who this is. We don't know who the subject of this stencil is nor do we know the artist responsible for this work. But we like it. When we look at the person rendered in this image, we feel like we're look at some late Soviet-era East German spy hanging out in a Prague cafe waiting to meet his "secret" Czech contact. But this is the year 2005, so such a character would have shed the Cold-war look ages ago. Now he'd be clad with brand name logos -- a pair of Nike sneakers on his feet, an Izod Lacoste shirt on his back, and Diesel jeans on his legs. Go consumer culture, go!

Ivan Corsa Photo

The last in the series of life-size black-and-white wheat-paste ups by WK Interact at the corner of Chrystie and Rivington streets in the Lower East Side, in New York City.

Ivan Corsa Photo

In this detail shot, note the visible Krylon brand can of aerosol paint and the vague but indeterminate branding on the sneaker -- it could pass for the Nike "swoosh" at a glance or maybe the Puma mark.

This is yet another in series of life-size black-and-white wheat-paste ups at the corner of Chrystie and Rivington streets in the Lower East Side. The ups are by well-known New York City artist WK Interact, whose studio and shop are on Stanton Street near Ludlow, in the heart of what is now the ultra-hot real estate market for apartments and condos in the LES.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Note the downward double-arm movement of the graff writer depicted in this up, another in the recently upped series of life-size black-and-white wheat-paste ups at the corner of Chrystie and Rivington streets in the Lower East Side. The ups are by well-known New York City artist WK Interact, whose studio and shop are on Stanton Street near Ludlow, in the heart of what is now the ultra-hot real estate market for apartments and condos in the LES.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Two writers visible in this wide shot in the latest series of life-size black-and-white wheat-paste ups by well-known New York City artist WK Interact.

Ivan Corsa Photo

In this detail shot, the graf writer is on the one-knee stance. This is yet another in series of life-size black-and-white wheat-paste ups at the corner of Chrystie and Rivington streets in the Lower East Side. The ups are by well-known New York City artist WK Interact, whose studio and shop are on Stanton Street near Ludlow, in the heart of what is now the ultra-hot real estate market for apartments and condos in the LES.

Ivan Corsa Photo

One in a newly-upped series of life-size black-and-white wheat-paste ups New York City artist WK Interact.

Ivan Corsa Photo

More in a series of life-size black-and-white wheat-paste ups by well-known New York City artist WK Interact, whose studio and shop are on Stanton Street near Ludlow, in the heart of the ultra-hot real estate market for apartments and condos in the LES.

Ivan Corsa Photo

This series of life-size black-and-white wheat-paste ups of graf writers doing there thing went up along the side of a sign store at the corner of Chrystie and Rivington streets near the Bowery in the Lower East Side. The ups are by well-known New York City artist WK Interact, whose studio and shop are on Stanton Street near Ludlow, in the heart of what is now the ultra-hot real estate market for apartments and condos in the LES. WK Interact's work can be found throughout lower Manhattan. This work is one of this finest street works yet.

Ivan Corsa Photo

This logo is the boss. When you see your local fire department with a logo and name like Chinatown Dragon Fighters, well, damn, if our apartment building was on fire we'd want this fire company to come to our rescue first. Could there be any team of firemen in the world with a cooler name that this? Did you hear us? DRAGON FIGHTERS! You know what Dragons are, right? Hell, those f**ckers breathe fire. Think about it. This is like calling your local police force the "The All-time Best Psychotic-Murderer Ass-Kickers in the World." So when the roof is on fire in downtown New York City, who ya' gonna call? Dragon Fighters, damn straight, dude!

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here are some curious wheat-pastes in a three-repeat "up" in Lower Manhattan. The images show a geezer holding a puppy. Okay, we already know what you're asking: what does it all mean? Now, we might try to deconstruct this and Scotch-tape together some theory, but, really, we'd just be grasping at straws. We're as stumped as you are. (Or as you might be--if you have a theory, drop us a line.) Maybe this is a shot from a famous film. Or a found photo that's now become another ephemeral piece of downotwn street art. At any rate, we can imagine seeing this in really hip clothing store like A.P.C. or ALife Rivington Club or Paul Smith. Or maybe in the bathroom of a downtown French bistro.

Ivan Corsa Photo

We found this Obey stencil by artist/publisher/seminal guerilla-marketer Shepard Fairey on a light-post base in the Lower East Side of New York City. Fairey is, of course, the person behind all those Giant Has a Posse stickers of Andre the Giant that found their way stuck to surfaces all over the world in the 1990's. We love Fairey's work (including his recent Swindle magazine) and his ever-expanding visual vocabulary of icons and imagery.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's a nice "up" by "Repo" near Essex and Broome streets in the currently hot, hot, hot real estate market that is the Lower East Side, in New York City. Notice how the tag is where the wall seems to undulate at the bevel, giving the this piece of Krylon graf a wavy effect.

Ivan Corsa Photo

We love this stencil pattern of Marilyn Monroe on a red door in Chinatown. The Monroe iconography works on a couple of levels here, we think. Not only is Marilyn a pop culture icon due to her tragic celebrity as film actress and sex symbol, but she is also an icon of the pop-art era courtesy of Andy Warhol's famed silkscreen prints of her blown-up image, which the artist arranged in multiples on a canvas.

Ivan Corsa Photo