let them paint

Local news: a small victory for common sense and free speech.

In a tartly worded ruling, a federal judge ordered the Bloomberg administration yesterday to reinstate a permit for a block party in Chelsea featuring the painting of graffiti on mock subway cars.

The judge, Jed S. Rakoff of Federal District Court in Manhattan, called the city's abrupt cancellation of the permit unconstitutional. He even poked fun at Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's argument that the party would incite the defacement of real subway cars.

"By the same token, presumably, a street performance of 'Hamlet' would be tantamount to encouraging revenge murder," the judge wrote.

"As for a street performance of 'Oedipus Rex,' " he added, "don't even think about it."

The permit was issued to allow Ecko Unlimited, a company run by the designer Marc Ecko, to close West 22nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues from 10 am. to 6 p.m. tomorrow. During the party, Mr. Ecko's company is planning to have 20 people paint graffiti on metal panels made to look like the sides of the subway cars of the 1970's and 80's, which were easy targets for vandals with paint.

And don't think there's no Canada connection here!

Now we can go paint," said Alan Ket, a 34-year-old artist from Brooklyn.

Mr. Ket said he began painting years ago on subway cars, as did Mr. Ecko. The artists he knows have long ago stopped painting on subways, he said, and now paint other things, like murals on public walls, usually with permission. His most recent painting was on a temporary wall at a music festival in Toronto, he said.

A few links to famous NYC graffiti:

@149st

Zephyr Graffiti

Insane Fame

Tats Cru

A huge list of graffiti websites from Art Crimes.

And two fascinating, joyous celebrations of a subculture, a time and an obsession: the movies Style Wars and Wild Style.