A simple set of three images starts out the Street Paint series from 2003. Initially I had all these images in a group called Street Art. But then in my mind’s own invented idea of paint versus paper I broke them down. It also helps to keep the sets smaller and more concise.

When I first got the camera I was working in SoHo at the African art gallery. Immediately I began to photograph the graffiti around that neighborhood.

There were certain doorways that were completely covered in slapped up art. Stencils. Tags. Paper pieces. A huge variety ripe for the picking.

The Michael Jackson by Faile is a wonderful piece. Rendered here in stencil and later in paper. Faile overall is one of my favorites. Great imagery and execution. Without all the product tie ins of similar artists I find it more palatable.

The single color on wood piece is unidentified. I don’t even know the person in the image. Anyone? But it was persistently placed all over the East Village.

The cat image is a simple one. Cats do rule the internet. But the piece itself was silk screened onto the wall. The sign underneath had been on the wall forever. But the buildup of paint upon close inspection looked like a silkscreen. You could actually see the pull marks. Don’t ask me how they managed that. Maybe it was just a stencil and a thick layer of paint they smoothed out.

I have played with the notion of creating pieces like these. Then I think about how I always get caught in every other instance in my life. Then the idea evaporates. I guess the idea is still there and that’s why I post these pieces. That and the fact that you can see they have had a huge influence on the work I am currently doing.