Sheep Scandal!

Over the last few months, we've been counting sheep- tons of sheep- on the streets downtown. The sheep appear in posters, stickers, and free-hand graffiti pieces, and until now, we thought they were all by the same person. Not so-- the artist known as "5003" has stepped up to claim the open-mouth sheep (seen here), but has disavowed the other sheep (with closed mouths, seen here)-- calling them "counterfeit."

the5003 says: Counterfeit sheep are lerking in the streets......Don't be fooled........
the5003 says: This isn't me.........

the5003 says: What's up with this dude biting my sheep?

the5003 says: Anyone who hasn't figured it out by now....THIS ISN"T ME....This is just another person stealing imagery and ideas........

mattsiren says: yep..5003's sheeps have twice the amount of fur.. this is definitely a counterfeit.

The battle has joined-- will the counterfeit sheepman step forward? And what will happen when he does? [For a great book featuring sheep, read Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase.]

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jake Dobkin in Arts and Events on November 22, 2005 1:21 PM

Comments [rss]

C

you gotta be kidding me.

i wonder what the next hipster fad will be?

do yourself a favor jake, jump OFF this stupid bandwagon. move the hell on. stupid yuppies everywhere are "being hip" by putting up some "cute statement". GIVE ME A BREAK!

stephanie berger

jake, honestly, i liked gothamist alot more when you were the behind the scenes publisher. who cares about this sheep crap? it's useless. your other graffiti (sorry, i dont use the word graf) opinion"ist" was more crap. nobody cares about this shit. be it corporate graffiti or your own personal graffiti. it's crap. it's illegal and a tiny minority of it is art. (i do love de la vega, revs, cost, sane, smith, and pause). those guys were and are artists but let me get back to my original point.

as of this post, i've configured my rss reader to delete all new gothamist posts authored by "Jake Dobkin". i have a feeling i'll like gothamist alot more this way.

take care,

steph

erika

uhhhh....wow. ego much?

i knew all along the 5003 guy and the "sheep with a message" guy were different artists. they CLEARLY are, as the messaged has a different style to it. A sheep is a symbol and its not an exclusive idea to one person. While i respect 5003 tags and stickers, him thinking that someone is biting off him is a bit silly. get over it.