Regular ST readers know we frequently update the ever-evolving signage in NYC’s Times Square, aka The Crossroads of America. Most of these installations entail dynamic digital signage, where every generation’s crisp display resolution tops its predecessor. However, a recent installation on Broadway, between 51st and 52nd Sts., only incorporated spraypaint and a trio of tricked-out imaginations.
Clear Channel Outdoor, which owns the displays, hired Brooklyn-based graffiti artists The Yok and Sheyro (real names not available) and Jersey Joe/Rime, who grew up in New York and New Jersey, but currently lives in L.A., to replicate tattoo art for the block-long billboard to promote Ink Masters, a Spike TV show that highlights skin artists.
Their work began with two blank arms and the Ink Master logo. For three nights, they “sleeved” the arms with radical, tattoo-style, sprayed-on art. These photos certainly convey a sense of the immense, creative output by these gifted artists. To watch their work in progress, check out the video at www.spike.com/video-clips/t7gr0q/ink-master-tattooing-a-billboard-in-times-square.