(Photo: Michael Surtees)

2. STREET ARTISTS ARE GOING 3-D
Evil Little Blue Wooden Character (74 Grand Street) and Virgin Atlantic Sick Bag (spotted throughout Soho and the city)

“Wheat-paste posters, stencils, and stickers are what we’re used to seeing in street art. Now you’ll see these bright wooden characters everywhere—different artists are doing them—propped against lampposts or even glued to walls. This blue, little evil guy is glued to the entrance of a building that street artists have been marking for a while. The 3-D format jumps out at you—you want to pick it up. Unlike posters, these are tactile objects that you would expect to be able to pick up and take home (i.e., steal), but they are usually held down by industrial-strength adhesives. It’s kind of a tease. As for the Virgin barf bag, Virgin is one of the few companies that are willing to take risks with their advertising. This is an expensive ad that won’t last long—if it rains, it’s ruined. The type is stylistic—they don’t expect anyone is actually going to read this. A lot of advertisers are using typography these days as an aesthetic choice. On one level, it’s just a pattern. On another level, there’s the idea that you’ve got a writer who created something—that there’s a personality behind the advertising.”