Anywhere & Everywhere

A couple of weeks ago on This American Life, they did a story about cops trying to locate and arrest graffitti artists in New York. One of the artists they mentioned was a guy named Revs, who eluded police for years, creating 235 "pages" of his life story along the walls of subway tunnels, where most people won't even see them. He would paint a section of the wall white and then spraypaint a narrative, beginning with his birth. I find this FASCINATING. I ran into the bedroom to Graham, who was sitting on the bed reading Hagel, and breathlessly told him of this amazing-sounding guy. Sometimes I feel bad for Graham who has to hear every excited thought I EVER HAVE. Sometimes in one night he will have to withstand me chattering on about everything from an 80 year old octupus finding a mate for the first time, to the latest in the literary controversies surrounding the estate of Sylvia Plath, to quadropeds discovered in Turkey. Some things are more interesting than others, but he always looks up from his book, gives me some sort of affirmative grunt (at the very least) and then goes on with his life.

This time, he seemed a little interested. The next night he came home and he said, "Hey, I think I saw one of that guy's pages on the L." I practically peed my pants. On the way home from the show on Wednesday, he showed it to me, against the wall we pass just before the Grand stop on the L, a smudged white with a scrawl of letters. Last night, we had one of those unusual nights where we went all over town. Graham, now hot on the trail of Revs, saw even MORE pages as I stared at an ad for the Bahamas on the F train. Of course, you blink, and they are GONE. The speed of the train doesn't let you read ANYTHING.

I've looked and looked on-line, but there is nothing directly about the pages anywhere. I know from This American Life that Revs was eventually arrested and charged with vandalism and stolen property. He had been getting into the subway tunnels night after night by wearing a stolen MTA uniform. Everytime workers saw him coming in with a LADDER and a bucket of WHITE PAINT and a ROLLER, they just assumed he was work crew. Eventually, he would go "ligit" as an artist and do sculpture. He also teamed up with another Graffiti artist named Cost, during the 90's and did cryptic messages. I've never been into tagging or graffiti--even though one of my favorite painters began as graffitti artist. Now I see it as an amzing form of guerilla art--something I am more and more attracted to. Like blogging, it is a skip-the-middle-man form of creation. New York seems to be this thriving creature, where everyone goes to MAKE THEIR MARK. It seems only obvious, that artists would do this LITERALLY.

Revs has added to that feeling (I think for both Graham and I) that there are treasures lurking ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE in this city. Last night, while going for a walk, we by sheer "accident" also stumbled upon TWO sites from two of our favorite movies. I feel kind of inspired to make my own map of New York, dotting the important places that have sprung up along the way. You never know what may occur in this incredible place. It could be something as magnificent as a landmark building or something more quiet, like the unseen written works of a man's life, running underground.