Results tagged “oedipusrex”

As part of Adidas's new spring line of End to End sneakers for Foot Locker, the German shoe manufacturer has created an EndtoEnd Project exhibit in an empty lot on Lafayette and Houston. Adidas had different graffiti artists create designs for shoes in an East London warehouse, so in bringing the finished shoes to the states, Adidas has the artists tagging a replica of a NYC subway car!

Who doesn't like sassy judges? Last year, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said the city's attempt to stop Marc Ecko's graffiti party was a "flagrant violation of the First Amendment". (He said that if the graffiti party were banned because it might incite graffiti, what about street performances of Hamlet or Oedipus Rex?) Now he has ruled that a Picasso worth tens of millions can be sold at Christie's tonight.

Clothing entrepreneur Marc Ecko is suing the city once again. Ecko who found himself pitted against the city when a permit for a party to celebrate his new Atari game about graffiti taggers was revoked last summer- only for a judge to rule that the party had to go on after Ecko sued the city - is battling a law that makes carrying broad-tipped markers and spray paint illegal for people under 21. The new law makes posession a crime, whereas before police had to prove an intent to deface, which seems crazy, because what if you're an art school student - you can't bring supplies? Ecko's lawyer, Daniel Perez says, "There is no justification for telling a 19- or 20-year-old that you can use your index finger for pulling the trigger of an M16 on the battlefield or pulling a switch in the voting booth, but not to push the trigger on a can of spray paint." But AM New York reports Ecko's foe, City Councilman Peter Vallone, as saying, "All Marc Ecko is doing is promoting his video game. A video game which teaches kids how perform the crime of graffiti. We knew we were pushing the envelope with this law, but it is necessary to combat graffiti." Ecko doesn't need to promote his video game through lawsuits - he's on America's Next Top Model, for heaven's sake! And Atari, quick, develop a game between Ecko and Vallone!

Yesterday afternoon, Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that the city had to allow Marc Ecko's graffiti party to go on tomorrow, because revoking the permit was unconstitutional. Gothamist is amazed - and pleased - that the people managed to win this one, because the Bloomberg adminstration seemed to be on a roll with clamping down on the fun things in life, like smoking, being noisy, protesting in the park. We hope that some of the artists participating in tomorrow's event will wear shirts with Judge Rakoff's face on it - here's part of his ruling explaining why the city's argument was silly:

"By the same token, presumably, a street performance of 'Hamlet' would be tantamount to encouraging revenge murder... As for a street performance of 'Oedipus Rex,' don't even think about it... The denial of the permit on the stated grounds that the demonstration will 'incite' others to actually paint graffiti on subway cars is a flagrant violation of the First Amendment and cannot stand."

Will copies of Hamlet and Oedipus Rex, not to mention West Side Story which Rakoff mentioned last week, now be zooming up the Amazon charts? Gothamist can only hope! While the city is considering whether or not to appeal (Bloomberg hates losing...just hates it!), Ecko et al. are still planning on tomorrow's party on West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues, which starts at noon. Ecko told reporters he was "just excited" and added, "We knew this was worth fighting for, and clearly the mayor must have been misinformed." Heh!