#29: I see dead people.

Swiss-Italian painter and sculptor Alberto Giacometti is one of my favorite artists.  I read somewhere about his comments after spending some time studying the human face.  His conclusion was that the only things in a human face that were really alive, were the eyes.  

This guy was really intense.  I love it!

#28: Art As Therapy

They say art can be a therapeutic outlet for the artist.  A way to drain their internal issues.  

The reference to a "foreign" boy here... seems so.... autobiographical.  Glad he/she got it out of their system.  "yeaih!" for the healing power of the Sharpie.

#27: Smell-o-Vision

Somewhere in the 60's the movie industry came out with this new gimmick called Smell-o-Vision.  The technique involved adding smells and odors to the experience of movie watching with the intention of making it more life-like.  Maybe that's why NYC feels so "real".  

I wonder if the MTA (the New York City transportation authority) still uses this technique.

#26: Facial Reconstruction

Isabelle Dinoire was the first person to survive a partial face transplant in 2005.  And only last month, doctors in Spain managed to perform the first successful full face transplant.  Apparently it took a 30 member medical team 24 hours to perform the operation.  

That is really very impressive, but I have to say that here in the tunnels of the NYC subway system, it only takes a team of 1, a couple of seconds to perform a similar operation.  We're just that good here in New York.

#25: Le Mustache II

Will the real defacer please stand up, please stand up.

Last week, a friend emailed me about these funny mustaches that she had seen in the 49th St station on the N train.  The defacer wrote the word "mustache" with the drawing itself.

A couple of days later, two different friends sent me photos of those mustaches that they found somewhere.

And then this weekend I found them in two different stations by the Lower East Side area.

Is this the work of a single defacer??  Or are some of these the work of copycats repeating his/her design around town?? hmm…  If we had security cameras in the subway like they do in London, we could find out.  But... if they did have cameras we probably wouldn't have any of this wonderful art!! …like in London!!  

This post marks the first time I include photos that are not mine.  I've always made the point of posting my photography only.  Thank you Emily for the email, thank you Monica and Lou for the photos.

#24: D'oH!!

Hehe… hehehe….. he….. hehehe   …. hihi……   Who ever said NYC is not a happy place!!???

#23: Damage Control

Wow!  This girl has either a very devoted fan or she has relatives living in the neighborhood.  A few days ago i took the photo of this New Jersey based reality TV show star, with a nice piece of artwork painted on her mouth.  And then a couple of days later I came across the same poster... and the piece was gone!!!  Someone actually took the time to carefully remove the offending material without damaging the poster!

I have to say that the clean up work was even more skillfully done than the original drawing.  One could say it's a sample of "restorative art" if there is such a thing.   (And actually, there is.  But if you google that term, you find things related to 'fixing up' dead people for their funeral.  Weird.)