Renee Lucille NewellE 75th St between 2nd Ave and 1st AveHeart Three · Location 318 · Drawn June 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 8Video podcast0:00The Wilshire is an apartment complex on 75th Street at the intersection of 2nd Avenue.0:08If you travel east down 75th Street, you'll pass two unnoticeable light battleship gray service doors,0:14and then you'll hit bright yellow.0:17The bright yellow marks the curbs on a slightly downward sloping driveway0:24to a really nice retractable wooden garage door.0:30Our drawing was made on the right, sitting in the long triangle of yellow, catty corner to the wooden door.0:37This is Renee Lucille Newell.0:39She was drawn in June of 2003.0:43Her drawing is counting ten people.0:48Taking note of the local graffiti on this block, there is an increase in the use of paint pens to tag walls and metal surfaces.0:55I can only fantasize how fantastic our urban landscapes would look if these young writers spent a little bit more time, perfected their crafts, chose spaces that fit their intentions best, were aesthetically considerate, and played well with others.1:11Graffiti is from the Greek word meaning to write.1:14Modern graffiti has an incredibly short and intense history of only a couple of decades.1:18Of course people have written their own names and messages, converting a private space into their own message board, for thousands of years.1:27I am not a big fan of quick text-based tags. If I remember, the word tag comes from literally the word tag, which was spray-painted all over New York City by a group going by the name Tough Artists Group.1:40group.1:41Originators, fresh, admirable.1:45Since starting our drawings in Manhattan, the building I live in in Providence has been1:49tagged on several occasions.1:52Even having a moderately strong understanding of the history and culture of graffiti, and1:57being a more than active participant in the reclaiming of and transforming of public space,2:02does not take away from the pure fact that most of the graffiti efforts we see are totally2:07lame.2:07But, added to that, I will say that I feel the same degree of frowniness for the bad2:13taggers as I do for every overbearing, poorly designed billboard I am presented with.2:18Both groups should be sent to art counseling.2:22It was going to be a midweek girls weekend for Carol Bouchard and her best friend,2:27Renee Newell.2:28The two longtime friends decided months ago to take advantage of a seminar in Las Vegas2:33that Newell, an American Airlines customer service agent, had to attend for a day.2:39Renee agreed to stay over a day so that they could do the strip.← Location 317Heart Three · Location 318Location 319 →
