Love Me Syracuse: one less

Westcott St.

I found that the poster on the highway tower at the intersection of Townsend and Erie has been painted over by the city. Not really sure why they painted over it as it is paper, it would have probably been easier to scrape it off. Now there is a splotch of paint and you can see the wrinkles of the paper underneath it. Score one for whomever made that choice.

As I have been driving around the city and finding these posters I have noticed a few things. The first thing has nothing to do with the "Love Me" posters. As a transplant to Syracuse from Philadelphia, I have been struck by the lack of graffiti. That's right lack of graffiti, and what graffiti there is, there is surprisingly very little that is any good. In other words, there is a lack of graffiti that is artistic or that expresses anything. Most of what I have seen is random tagging. But there is one block on the west side that is just spectacular! As a person who struggles with finger paint, I was very excited to find this artwork and I hope that it is not destroyed over time. I hope to go back and get some pics and do a separate post on this site.

The other things that I have noticed do have to do with the Love Me posters. When I first saw them, and as the city of Syracuse has proved by painting over them, at first glance they seem to be painted onto whatever surface the creator has placed them. They are not, they are posters. So far, I have not found 2 of the same. Many are similar, but none have been duplicated.The person (or people) who have created them uses a variety of paper. Some of them are shooting range targets, some of them are newspaper (Wall Street Journal) and some are on a stiff yellowish brown paper. (I am sure if I was an artist I would know what it is) I am guessing that the person who is hanging these makes them up ahead of time and then quickly applies them to the surface that they have chosen. By no means are they weather proof as I have found a few that have taken a beating by both man and nature.

If you want to find a lot of them in one place, go to Westcott St. They are all over the place.