Thursday, September 9, 2010

Creature Feature: Life on a Wall

This particular piece of graffiti has remained untouched since I first photographed it in late October of 2006. It's on one of the stanchions supporting the 12th Street viaduct taking I-78 into the Holland Tunnel in downtown Jersey City.

Creature of the Name

Here's the character at the left end, by Loser:

"Toothy"

I do not know what the numeral "3" is doing here. The blue lines look like someone went over the piece, a sign of disrespect. In this area that's often the beginning of the end. Others will go over the piece as well and, in time, weeks or months, the piece will be so badly degraded that it will become completely replaced. That hasn't happened to this work in the four years or so I've been observing it.

This photo is from early August of 2007:

Toothy through the trees.jpg

This is from December 2007, notice the lounge chair at the lower left and the 14th street viaduct at the upper right:

behind your back.jpg

Here's a shot from December 2009:

IMGP0818rd.jpg

Notice the red marking at the right, above center. That was there a year before, but you can't see it in the previous photo as the graffiti itself is too small in the photo. That's the only marking that's happened since the blue lines.

Here's my most recent photo, from July 2010. Notice the yellow throw-up or throwie at the left. That's new, but it doesn't go over the older graffiti, so it's legit. There's also a throwie on a concrete slab into front of the stanchion -- left of center, black outline in white.

IMGP3925rd

ADDENDUM: This photo should give you some sense of the scale of this graffiti:

IMGP1485rd

The man is a bit over 6 feet tall. Notice the paintball marks at the upper left.

ADDENDUM 2: After Irene:

IMGP2852rd

2 comments:

  1. I'm lukewarm to graffiti art but I'm impressed by this one.

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  2. There are three hands a work here. Loser did the character. I can't read the two pieces, the one to the right and the one to the left (that supports the head). It's hard the appreciate the scale of these things from just these photos, come to think of it . . .

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