New York street art: Stencil of acclaimed director Woody Allen on wall along Rivington Street, between Norfolk and Suffolk streets, on the Lower East Side, New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photos - Street Art Images

New York Street Art: Stencil street art of Native-American imagery on a public phone in Gramercy Park.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

New York Street Art: Another shot of the stylized stencil street art we found in Gramercy Park The stencil is of a crying Native-American on the side of a public phone.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

New York Street Art: Stencil street art of crying Native American on the side of a public phone, NYC.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

New York Street Art: Stylized stencil of Native American crying a single tear on the side of a public phone in Gramercy Park, NYC.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

New York street art: Detail from stencil of a spray-paint can branded with a Campbell's Soup can label is an homage to the late, great Andy Warhol, one of the most significant and influential 20th-century artists. Instead of "Soup," the can reads "Spray." This stencil can be found on the wall outside of Lasso restaurant, at the corner of Kenmare Street and Elizabeth Street. Let's see more!!!

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

New York street art: This stencil of a spray-paint can branded with a Campbell's Soup can label is an homage to the late, great Andy Warhol, one of the most significant and influential 20th-century artists. Instead of "Soup," the can reads "Spray." This stencil can be found on the wall outside of Lasso restaurant, at the corner of Kenmare Street and Elizabeth Street. Let's see more!!!

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

New York street art: This stencil of a spray-paint can branded with a Campbell's Soup can label is an homage to the late, great Andy Warhol, one of the most significant and influential 20th-century artists. Instead of "Soup," the can reads "Spray." This stencil can be found on the wall outside of Lasso restaurant, at the corner of Kenmare Street and Elizabeth Street. Let's see more!!!

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

New York street art: This stencil of a spray-paint can branded with a Campbell's Soup can label is an homage to the late, great Andy Warhol, one of the most significant and influential 20th-century artists. Instead of "Soup," the can reads "Spray." Warhol created series of artworks in the 1960s based on American mass-produced supermarket products, including paintings, silkscreens and replica Campbell's Soup cans, which was an example of what became known as pop art. It can be argued that in 2008, the global street art phenomenon is an extension of the pop-art ethos or the pop art of the new millennium. These "Campbell's Spray" stencils have been appearing around lower Manhattan, New York City recently, in addition to other street artworks referencing other famous Andy Warhol paintings. This stencil can be found on the wall outside of Lasso restaurant, at the corner of Kenmare Street and Elizabeth Street. Let's see more!!!

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Shot of a coo' of "I WANT IN SPUD!" stencil street art in Philadelphia. (Thanks, Charlie!)

© Charlie Shipman Photo

Stencil street art: Rat with RPG by U.K. artist Banksy, near the Deitch Projects gallery on Grand Street, in SoHo, NYC.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Stencil street art by Banksy, near the Deitch Projects gallery, Grand Street, SoHo, New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Street art: Banksy's stenciled rat with RPG on Grand Street in Soho, New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Stencil street art from British superstar Banksy in Soho.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

More stencil street art from Spain: Clint Eastwood stencil in Barri Gotic, Barcelona (Espana).

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Stencil street art: Bach "Is Bach" in Barcelona, Spain (Espana). Love it.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Stencil street art: Four funky-looking dudes stenciled on a wall in the old Barri Gotic quarter of Barcelona, Spain (Espana).

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Olympia beer stencil, Lower East Side, New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Wide shot of Olympia beer stencil, Orchard Street, Lower East Side, New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Detail of Olympia beer stencil, Lower East Side, NYC.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Example of the street art medium as appropriated by brand marketers: Olympia beer stencil on a lamppost base on Orchard Street, Lower East Side, New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

All-star, grade-A sampler collection of stencils street art (including piece by Borf) and graff in a doorway down an alley in the old Barri Gotic center of Barcelona, Spain (Espana).

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Sweet two-layer, two-color stencil of stylized, Japanese-anime-esque hyper-cute girl crying tears in Barcelona, Spain (Espana).

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Stencil street art: Wider-angle shot of Frankenstein stencil image in Nolita, downtown New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Stencil street art: Close-up of Frankenstein stencil in Nolita, New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Stencil street art: Frankenstein image in Nolita, downtown Manhattan, NYC.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Close-up of SIL stencil street art near Bowery Ballroom music venue on Delancey Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City, baby!

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Another angle of SIL stencil street art on Delancey Street, downtown New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

SIL stencil street art near Bowery Ballroom, Delancey Street, NYC.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Wheatpaste of elephants on building at the corner of The Bowery and Spring Street, in downtown NYC. In the frame is one of those giant Vote stencils and fresh "SIL" stencil.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Fesh stencil of a pistol labeled "Fitschen" on Crosby Street, NYC.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

"Fitschen" gun stencil on Crosby Street, SoHo, New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Stencil street art in SoHo, New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Clever, cheeky stencil message on Crosby Street, New York City. Fucking brilliant.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

"Viva La Evolution" stencil with "Splasher" paint on Crosby Street, SoHo.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

"Viva La Evolution" stencil with "Splasher" paint.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

"Vive La Evolution" stencil with "Splasher" paint on Crosby Street, SoHo.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Images

Bill Murray stencil in Reykjavik.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Photos

Stencil of Bill Murray in Reykjavik, Iceland.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Photos

Stencil of actor Bill Murray in Reykjavik, Iceland. We love Bill Murray. He looks here like he did in the film The Life Aquatic.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Photos

Close-up of Praying Hands stencil on Crosby Street in SoHo, New York City. Boo-ya!

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Photos

Praying Hands stencil on Crosby Street in SoHo, New York City.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Photos

The legendary Brooklyn UFO strikes again on Crosby Street in SoHo, New York City. To the left of UFO is a stencil of praying hands.

© Ivan Corsa Photo - Street Art Photos

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On our iPod: Lily Allen - "LDN"
Classic kicks on our feet: Adidas "Stan Smith"

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On our iPod: Lily Allen - "LDN"
Classic kicks on our feet: Adidas "Stan Smith"

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On our iPod: Lily Allen - "LDN"
Classic kicks on our feet: Adidas "Stan Smith"

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Flight of the Conchords - "Inner City Pressure"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Flight of the Conchords - "Inner City Pressure"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Flight of the Conchords - "Inner City Pressure"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Flight of the Conchords - "Inner City Pressure"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

Photo gear: Canon PowerShot SD 630 ELPH digital camera
On the iPod: Flight of the Conchords - "Inner City Pressure"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

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: 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: 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: Goldfrapp - "Utopia"
Kicks on our feet: Puma "Easy Rider" Sneakers

There is an interesting article today in U.K. newspaper the Guardian about the changing urban landscape of Melbourne, Australia, as the city tidied itself in preparation of the Commonwealth Games. The clean-up is a result of an initiative to remove graffiti and street art. The report, titled "The writing on the wall," was penned by the well-known British street artist "Banksy." According to the story, Melbourne's effort to paint over its rich tapestry of urban art is enforced by the city's new official zero-tolerance stance on anything that constitutes graffiti. This includes stencil art for which Australia's second city has become famous internationally among followers and creators of street art. (Props to Robin for the tip.)

Here's the detail of the sharply rendered, circular stencil portrait that we found on a lamp-post base along West Broadway (between Houston and Prince streets) in Soho yesterday evening.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's the detail shot of "Shapes." Not your average East Village-graf, "Shapes" is a stencil-like splatter-work of red paint and sans-serif letters in all-caps. While the artistry and style is neither "wild" nor "hip-hop" by the standard of traditional techniques, this is a highly distinctive and original tag. Even though it's small, you can't miss it on East 9th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenues, a stretch of gentrified and expensive downtown Manhattan real-estate with practically zero graf but least a half-down Japanese restaurants.

Ivan Corsa Photo

And here's the wider, context shot of "Shapes."

Background Note
Not your average East Village-graf, "Shapes" is a stencil-like splatter-work of red paint and sans-serif letters in all-caps. While the artistry and style is neither "wild" nor "hip-hop" by the standard of traditional techniques, this is a highly distinctive and original tag. Even though it's small, you can't miss it on East 9th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenues, a stretch of gentrified and expensive downtown Manhattan real-estate with practically zero graf but least a half-down Japanese restaurants.

Ivan Corsa Photo

CORRECTION: The artist who created this sticker was misidentified in our original post below. The work featured in the image above is a "Lobster Roll" sticker by "Twerps!" We apologize to the artist and our readers for the error. (Props to Mikhail in NYC for setting us straight.)

2006-04-24

***

Here's the wider, contextual shot of a recent Neckface sticker in Soho, NYC.

Background Note
The work of Neckface is among the most familiar array of street-art images in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York City. Neckface works in several mediums and is known for stickers and wall pieces featuring creepy characters who have little if any neck (hence the apt name "Neckface"). Neckface also often simply scrawls his name in large child-like lettering on the sides of buildings and other urban surfaces. But it is for his stickers that he is probably best known. These can be found in many major cities, including NYC, San Francisco and Tokyo. The Brooklyn-based artist is originally from California. He has exhibited his work in galleries throughout the world and has had his art (and himself) featured in magazines and newspapers.

Gear: Nikon Coolpix 3600 Digital Camera

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's another shot, from another angle, of the shark stencils near the 7th Ave. subway stop in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NYC

Background
The well-groomed and excessively gentrified (and real estate crazy) Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope isn't full of the street art and graf so common in other parts of New York's largest borough, such as Williamsburg. But the street art is there, tucked between apartments and brownstones, especially the further down the slope and away Prospect Park one heads. Such is the case of these wonderful stencilled silhouettes of sharks near the 7th Avenue F-Train subway station.

Ivan Corsa Photo

This phrase has greater resonance in light of recent riots in the suburbs of Paris and other cities throughout France, as well as ongoing events in Iraq. We found this phrase sprayed in English and Arabic on the asphalt outside the entrance to the Swiss cutural center's art gallery in Les Marais in Paris.

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

Here's a close-up shot of the "Spliff" stencil we found in the hot Paris nabe of St. Germain des Pres. As street art, this is subversive on a couple of levels. But what's really striking is its illustrative comic-book style and the location on the pavement next to a public telephone (see contextual shot below) in a hood with some of the most desirable and fashionable real-estate in the city.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Tunes on our Apple iPod: "Guero" by Beck
Kicks on our Feet: BAPESTA Lime-pink high-tops

Paris street art

Here's a the contextual shot of the "Spliff" stencil we found in the hot Paris nabe of St. Germain des Pres. As street art, this is subversive on a couple of levels. But what's really striking is its illustrative comic-book style and the location on the pavement next to a public telephone (see close-up shot above) in a hood with some of the most desirable and fashionable real-estate in the city.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Tunes on our Apple iPod: "Guero" by Beck
Kicks on our Feet: BAPESTA Lime-pink high-tops

Paris street art

We caught this awesomely fresh stencil of Mel Gibson at the bottom of a door on Prince St. in Soho, New York City. Seeing this gives us an idea -- what we'd really, really like to see is a stencil of Russell Crowe on the side door of the Mercer Hotel (that's where Crowe had his recent infamous telephone-throwing tantrum -- c'mon ... irony, people, irony.) Anyway, if you want to find this one, walk west on Prince from Broadway, past the the Apple Computer Store, towards Kid Robot. You'll find this on the left side of the street.

Ivan Corsa Photo

A mid-dsitance shot of the Mel Gibson stencil on Prince St. in Soho, New York City. If you want to find this one, walk west on Prince from Broadway, past the the Apple Computer Store, towards Kid Robot. You'll find this on the left side of the street.

Ivan Corsa Photo

Here's a close-up detail shot of a fresh Mel Gibson stencil on Prince St. in Soho, New York City. If you want to find this one, walk west on Prince from Broadway, past the the Apple Computer Store, towards Kid Robot. You'll find this on the left side of the street.

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

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

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

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

Here's a cool stencil we've seen all around downtown New York City for a long time. From Tribeca and SoHo to Chinatown and the East Village, this stencil of a Mars Rover-type vehicle is a regular reminder of NASA's mission to the mysterious red planet in the 1990's. But wait, maybe it's not supposed to be a Mars rover at all. Maybe the stencil is one of those remote control robots that are used for checking bombs. And notice the vehicle's probing, grappling arms are lifting a bag of money. Hmmm ...

Ivan Corsa Photo

If you're not looking carefully, you might easily miss this stencil as you're walking by it on the street because this work is really small. In that way and in the utter simplicity of it -- a man's head --this stencil is a subtle piece of street art.

Ivan Corsa Photo

If it's pandas you want, then it's pandas you shall get ... at least as far as this example of stencil street art goes in lower Manhattan. The stencil genre has become ever more visible over the past four or five years, with a lot of Australian street artists leading the way and exporting the creative seed to places like New York City, Paris and Tokyo. Though stencils are not uncommon, they are still a niche-within-a-niche as far as art goes. Other forms/media of street art and graf lead the way in terms of visibility at street level.

Ivan Corsa Photo

The stencil is the massage. Here's another one of those stenciled catchphrases you see around lower Manhattan. These slogans are sometimes ironic plays on words, tweaks of well-worn idioms, and sometimes stabs at political commentary. "Pray for Pills" is one of the more ominous and darkly comic turns at street-art as anonymous propaganda. We have absolutely no idea who the artist behind these stencil messages is. (Anybody know? Drop us a line). This example is comfortably spray-painted onto a wall near where another Genghis plaque has been put up, this time with an orange background. To see another example of the Genghis street-art series click here.

Typhoon Photo

The ruthless Mongol ruler and warrior Genghis Khan (c. 1162-1227) unified his people and created the world's largest empire, which at its speak reached as far west as Hungary and as far east as Korea and covered much of China and Russia. A New York City artist has paid homage to Genghis with this piece of mixed media street art on Ludlow St. on the Lower East Side. The work uses a wood plaque, paint and ink, with a splotch of white paint serving as backdrop for the ink illustration of the illustrious Khan.

Reiko Oishi Photo