John FlorioE 49th St between Madison Ave and 5th AveHeart Three · Location 222 · Drawn March 2003Hover over or select the image to reveal a hidden view.PhotographsDownload photograph 1Download photograph 2Download photograph 3Download photograph 4Download photograph 5Download photograph 6Download photograph 7Download photograph 8Download photograph 9Video podcast0:00Just to the right of a black door for number 24, East 49th Street, west of Madison Avenue,0:07is a slender stretch of building with a dirty yellow stucco surface.0:13To the right of that is the Liberty Deli and Pizza.0:16Liberty Deli and Pizza has decided to class up their joint in the last couple of years.0:22They scrapped their advertently obvious patriotic themes0:25and settled into an awning with straight lines stretching a dark blue canvas.0:32This is John Florio. He was drawn in March of 2003. His drawing is counting0:39ten people. This is what the people in the bank can see. A man drawing on tiptoe,0:47ballerina in boots on point pressed against the wall extending as far as I0:52I can reach. Even now, long after having drawn this figure, I can feel how far I stretch0:59to make this figure happen. It is not unlike the experience of victoriously, finally, being1:05able to see the top of the refrigerator.1:08Liberty Deli provides a perma-display of stars and stripes, a graphic decision that shifts1:14in significance with world events. We can only hope that this universally recognized1:20a nice bit of graphic design is globally met with an understanding of where it comes from.1:26If it was 6 a.m. and Metallica was blasting from the basement of Engine Company 214 in Bedford1:32Stuyvesant, it meant that John J. Florio was down there pumping iron. The night that the men of1:38Engine 214 found Mr. Florio's body, someone called to say, turn on the radio. They did,1:44and they caught the opening riff of a Metallica song. Mr. Richards knew it was a message.← Location 221Heart Three · Location 222Location 223 →
