Photos by Vincent Ng. This past Saturday, one of the Obama posters Shepard Fairey added to the cityscape was taken down by graffiti writer MARTY -- who Razor Apple reports "has been holding down that corner for years." The Obama poster is on the corner of Houston and Bowery, and reportedly Shepard was apologetic for pasting over another writers work, but added, “however, I feel Obama being elected is very important to everyone’s future......

Gawker is stoking the debate over whether street artist Nick Walker is in fact the mysterious millionaire street artist Banksy; we continue to disagree. Nick Walker and Banksy are definitely, positively two different people – although they are both English graffiti artists, and they are friends. Here in New York, Walker’s been a busy bee, branching out from last week’s work in the West Village to Williamsburg, where aptly-named blog Williamsburg is Dead documented......

Banksy may have stopped by New York City recently, but a Gawker tipster thought he saw the British street artist last night in the West Village. The tipster reported that Banksy was putting up a piece outside of Thunder Jacksons, saying, "He looks like a guy you would see in the cheap seats at a soccer game...He did come in and have a couple beers at Thunder Jackson's afterwards but he doesn't like to chat."......

The presence of oil in parts of Greenpoint is well documented, but it looks like someone wants the oil to be cleaned up. This morning there was artwork in the Queens-bound Nassau Avenue G stop asking for a stop to the oil spills. The artwork shows drops of oil on the walls of the station, pools of oil collected on the floors, and paper towels for straphangers to clean up the spill. Reader Shannan tells......

Last summer Shepard Fairey was in town installing his exhibit at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in DUMBO; new pieces also went up around the streets of Brooklyn during that time. This past week, after a report came in that Fairey was going blind as a result of his diabetes, a whole new slew of his pieces went up (check them out below); while some thought, "for a blind guy, he's sure getting up," others questioned......

Razor Apple has some photos of street artist MORAL's work. He's been bombing the city with fire extinguisher tags, one of a few taggers who uses that medium -- where the fire extinguisher is loaded up with paint. Just one of the many contributing to the rise of graffiti in town! Here's an instruction manual on how to make your own and use one; and check it out in action here.......

Seen on 9th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues: Pixel graffiti. The piece was tagged at little while later. [Via dpstyles, who got it from nickgraywfu]......

Photo by Jake Dobkin. New stats from the NYPD show an 81.5% rise in graffiti-related complaints from 2006 to 2007 (pre-Splasher!), a year that graffiti arrests also went up 28%. Queens council member Peter Vallone, Jr. notes that, "we did an excellent job turning the tide against graffiti in the '90s and the beginning part of this century. Unfortunately, because of the lack of police officers, the fact that they have to do double duty......

Barack Obama has popped up in the form of street art in Brooklyn, and AAVR Magazine points out the Grattan Street mural near the Morgan L stop. That's part of his More Perfect Union speech in the background, and yes, it looks a little bit more like Fred Armisen's Fauxbama than the real thing. Less detailed Obama murals can be found on Carlton Avenue at Dean Street in Prospect Heights (photos here and here). How......

Pictured: All City NRG designed by Vincent "Factone" Ficarra, urban artist in New York. Remember AriZona Iced Tea? Well, its made a cross-country image trip and landed in the heart of NYC with its new energy drink called All City NRG (you know, like the subway lines). As you can see, the cans are all tagged up, and their promo van is similarly decorated -- though it's sort of camouflaged when parked in the......

SFist worried over drugstore chain Walgreens celebration of Black History Month.Gothamist was surprised that apparently New York City is the fourth most miserable city in the country, after Detroit, Stockton, CA, and Flint, MI.Shanghaiist finds out what the Chinese think of Hilary and Obama.It was with a healthy amount of schadenfreude that Phillyist reported that former Eagle, and now Cowboy (ew), Terrell Owens owes the Eagles a significant wad of cash.Torontoist is two weeks......

Photograph of the Puck Building, where at least one 7th floor business supports Obama, by Tien Mao It's pretty safe to say many New Yorkers are aligned with the Democratic party, but it's unclear who NYC's registered Democrats will vote for on primary day - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Though in the highly unscientific survey of sights around the city over the past week (and year), it seems the senator representing Illinois has......

SHOP: Still looking for that perfect gift? The Brooklyn Historical Society is holding the 4th Annual NY Creates Craft Fair, and they may have just what you're looking for. Check it out today and tomorrow, and it will be back the 22nd and 23rd for the real last-minute shoppers. Friday and Saturday // Noon to 6pm // BHS [128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn] ART: Too much is going on the First Friday of every month, so......

Recently, legend became reality when a 10-story building in SoHo was being converted to a luxury condo. Unearthed in the walls was a large mural created by graffiti pioneers Fab Five Freddy and Futura 2000.The artwork contains a variety of images and writing executed in spray paint, grease pencil, magic marker and whatever else was on hand — in silver, gold, pink and red. There are cartoonlike pictures of a bomber airplane, images of a......

READING: Dave Eggers has delivered two (out of three) great novels, and tonight he reads from last one (which is just out on paperback), What is the What. He'll be at the Strand discussing the book and he'll also give a slideshow presentation from a recent trip he took to Sudan. More info here. Friday // 7pm // Strand Bookstore [828 Broadway] // Free EVENT: We love a good pillow fight, and tonight there's a......

Last week marked the five year anniversary of the murder of Jam Master Jay, who was shot and killed at his studio in Queens the night before Halloween 2002. The slaying was one of many that went unspoken about by witnesses, all of whom follow the "no snitching" rule. However, The Daily News has just talked to someone who is breaking this absurd code of silence.Randy Allen, the iconic turntablist's longtime business partner, told the......

Before November 24th we suggest heading over to the Storefront for Art and Architecture for this urban housing designs exhibit. The little gallery houses a New York City created from Legos! Not a completely new idea (this Sean fella did a good job of it previously), however these guys have taken it to the next level, including little details only locals could appreciate. Seriously, there's even street art...and Banksy no less! Watch the video......

Paul McDonough, New York City 1968-1972 is the current exhibit at Sasha Wolf's gallery. Wolf, as curator, worked closely with the artist for over a year putting together a collage of street photography from the time. McDonough, a current Brooklynite, says when he arrived here in the late '60s, photographing "satisfied my sketching impulses...I learned to carry a camera everywhere, all the time, loaded with 400-speed film." We highly recommend getting up close and......

Michael Dory is expanding the definition of graffiti, with his non-visual sonic street art (presented last month at Conflux). His inconspicuous concrete crickets (pictured) recently got some NPR and Boing Boing love, and his own site explains:Graffiti is one of the most powerful and most personal displays in the urban experience, and can be used to make statements, tag territory, spread messages — urban markup language in practice. However, the output is nearly always visual......

Do you hate graffiti? Do you also hate Brooklyn gentrification? Then you're really going to hate this email we received from Gothamist reader Paul Vogeler: Hey this developer has chosen 7 local Brooklyn based artists to “wheatpaste” their art on the construction fence on North 10th and North 11th between Bedford and Berry in Williamsburg. It should set a new precedent for developers beginning to incorporate more artists in the beginning, middle, and final......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a suspicious fire in the area of Ludlow and Stanton Sts. in Manhattan, a crane vs. overpass incident at Westchester and Prospect Aves. in the Bronx, and an armed robbery on Shell Rd. in Brooklyn. Musician/actor Jon Bon Jovi is suing the maker of an energy drink for selling a coffee-based beverage called Mijovi. The owner of the NJ beverage company says that the name of his product is......

MUSIC: If you haven't checked out the Summer of Love exhibit at the Whitney, head over there after work and get a double dose of rock while you're at it. Tonight Dirty Projectors and Lucky Dragons take the stage at Whitney Live. Get there early to get in. Check out this "Take Away Show" in New York featuring the Dirty Projectors. Friday // 6pm // The Whitney [945 Madison Ave at 75th St] // Free......

EVENT: The New York Book Club at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum presents…"Breaking News: How the Associated Press Has Covered New York City". The panelists include "Hal Buell, longtime AP photo editor who put images of the Vietnam War in newspapers across America; Richard Drew, AP photographer who has covered New York events including 9/11; Edie Lederer, longtime UN correspondent and first woman to be the foreign chief of bureau; and Valerie Komor, corporate......

It appears that the iPhone day incident between a television news producer and a charity mascot seems to be more than that it appears. The mascot, from a group that calls itself Hungrr was involved in a verbal altercation with the producer and was then asked to move along by the police. Watch the video for yourself, here. Here is what we know: WNBC released a statement yesterday afternoon saying: "We looked into this serious......

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a large snake was reported on West 118th St. in Manhattan, an assault in transit on the Brighton Line in Brooklyn, and an armed robbery on Whittier St. and Lafayette Ave. in the Bronx. The Splasher's identity is revealed! Scroll down to the bottom of our post on the anti-street art vandal for his name and picture. Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro wants security cameras installed at a......

This morning at the Gothamist mailbox, a small package was waiting, containing three copies of a small newspaper. On the cover were the words "if we did it, this is how it would've happened" -- a tribute to the recent unpublished OJ Simpson book-- and a picture of a defaced Shepard Fairey piece in Williamsburg. Inside the newspaper we found 14 pages of total insanity-- part revolutionary tract, part interview, part photo essay, part......

After months of silence, it looks like Shepard Fairey's recent work on the streets of New York has brought the Splasher out of retirement. Not clear yet if this is related to last week's stinkbomb arrest. Matt Barber writes:Was down on Wooster today at the candy factory building and snapped this photo, the wheatpaste and paint look pretty fresh to me, Shep just put the same poster up near my house last week so thought......

From the tallest skyscraper in the City of Brotherly Love to Canadian tourism copywriting brilliance, here's what you should know from our -ist cities: This week, Phillyist took a gleeful listen to the White Stripes' exciting new release, watched in awe as their new tallest skyscraper was finally completed, found a cheaper way to get to Gothamist, invented a tasty new dessert, and brought back their Craigslist Round-Up feature with a bang. Bostonist watches......