Blatant Graffiti at Broadway and Lafayette

Earlier this week the Calvin Klein billboard in Manhattan (Broadway and Lafayette) got a big dose of pink paint.

DAY 1

But it was the next day that people really started to take notice. The pranksters had returned overnight with some more paint. They obviously must have felt that their work was unfinished.

DAY 2

It wasn’t until the 3rd day when the identity was revealed. A shape had emerged out of the paint and it was the silhouette of the New Museum that is poised to open this Saturday – December 1st!
The publicity stunt had been coordinated by the ad agency Droga5, with the permission of Calvin Klein of course.

DAY 3

Taking their cue from appropriation art (and artists such as the Chapman Brothers, Hans Haacke, Jeff Koons, etc.), in which the artist build on a previous work in the creation of a new work, Droga5 reinterpreted and remixed a visual ad from our pop culture and created something new. I thought that this process was very telling and appropriate in conveying what the New Museum is all about!