We’re inspired in so many ways by graffiti artist Banksy’s brilliant tutorial done to the words of Bob Ross, TV painting instructor and host of the iconic Joy of Painting show from 1983 to 1994. Along with revelatory technique is a philosophy for navigating life…
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The messages on the shoelaces of the guy sitting across from me ready “Do I love you?
Do I lust you?” Yeah! Where could I find shoelaces that really said something?
Walking along the Lower East Side of Manhattan, we looked down and found this amazing message pasted onto the curb…
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What are ways that ordinary people can spread light rather than darkness through the day? Lebanese graffiti artists Mohamed and Omar Kabbani, who grew up amidst the brutal civil war in Lebanon, figured out an astonishing way.
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We’re thinking alternative ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day…
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We are ALWAYS on the lookout for ideas that we can apply…somewhere in our life. This snazzy pattern we spotted on the side of a building sent us dreaming.
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Recently, we got a New Year’s card that provided a welcome strategies for this anxious time. As soon as we think about doing them, we calm down.
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Years ago, Maria Robledo sent us these photographs of charming graffiti she spotted painted on plywood. They perfectly convey the magic of the season, and its hope…
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According to David Sax author of the Revenge of the Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter, analog, that is, the very tactile world of things outside the computer, is experiencing a bracing revival. Here’s how analog sparks joy and balances digital life.
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‘Move Shit Forward’ can be a great practice if you don’t know what you’re doing or where you need to be.
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Has any election in America’s history created as much anxiety as this one? It seems like our very lives are on the line. So we’ve put together some instructions for navigating Election Day.
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Ellen Silverman spotted this sign in tiny street garden in Paris. The curiously personal, handwritten note of fierce protection and thanks got us thinking about the loose, personal-yet-targeted messages left in public that we sometimes see that are quite different from graffiti. And that we could make some ourselves.
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At Chai Wali restaurant in Harlem, we saw a wonderful treatment for the old painted brick walls of the brownstone that that houses the restaurant. It was much more interesting than a plain stripped brick wall, and would be a fine technique to apply in a living or work space.
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Viewing the installations scattered through Marcus Garvey Park’s art fair, we were struck by a brick wall covered with vivid flower patterns, overlaid with portraits of women of color. OUTDOOR WALLPAPER! Why hasn’t anyone thought of that…or have they?
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On my office wall, I tape images that inspire, motivate, and hearten me. Recently, I taped up a greeting card that said PROCEED AS IF SUCCESS IS INEVITABLE. Although the words make great sense, they curiously had little impact…UNTIL something compelled me to pair it with a photo I’d clipped from a magazine: Big lesson in what a MOTIVATOR can be.
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We were walking by an empty storefront on Manhattan’s Upper East Side when we noticed that someone had written intriguing, inspiring, philosophical signs on the blank walls that were, no doubt, destined for renovation. Who had taken their marker and, with such bold strokes, written signs all over the place? We pressed our nose against…
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Perhaps graffiti artist Banksy’s most famous piece, made not far from Ground Zero, remains a fitting memorial to that day. Living in NYC, we cannot look south without thinking of the towers… photo: Nic Garcia for Gothamist
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It’s curious how bright red stickers with the words why not? and Do. have been appearing around town, in the subway and on lamp posts. They’re our new Improvised Life stickers. We wonder who the guerilla(s) is/are that are tagging things and spreading the word?
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We found this image on Yoko Ono’s instagram. “The hand is stamping “PEACE” on the map. Yes. We try. yoko” Wonderful words. Part of Ono’s Peace Maps, in which you… Stamping PEACE all over town would make lovely graffiti. via Yoko Ono’s Instagram; peace stamp image via Mikihiko Hori’s Flickr
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This is the first year in some time that Martin Luther King Jr. day was a disturbing day, rather than a purely hopeful one. In light of the recent events in Ferguson and elsewhere, the message in the air, sadly, has been that Dr. King’s dream was not as far along as we thought. It…
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