The Vine: November 13, 2009
Hi Sars,
I am hoping your savvy and knowledgeable Vine readers can help me find out about this little guy (picture at right). I took this pic, and another one on the mall in Washington DC, in front of the Capitol building. I took another one at the roundabout in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and a friend sent me a pic from NYC at East Houston and Bleecker. I am trying to figure out what he is all about, but I don’t even know what to put into Google Images to begin to get info.
Want info on my Mystery Man
Dear Mystery,
I’ve never seen that guy. I don’t think it’s actually related to the Toynbee tiles, but it’s probably a similar style of graffiti or culture jamming. You may want to Google a string of all the locations, and terms like “rocket” or “mystery man,” and see if anyone on Flickr has posted a photo along with information.
Readers?
Tags: Ask The Readers NYC popcult rando Toynbee
There’s one in Pittsburgh, too! It’s at the corner of Forbes and Craig, embedded into the pavement. I think it’s yellow, but I’m not there right now and I can’t be sure.
I will stay tuned for more information on this, because I am also intrigued.
I’ve seen this little guy ALL OVER the streets of DC, and no one that I have asked has known who or what he is. I hope someone here is able to answer this. Its been driving me nuts for years!
Google Images > “rocket robot street art ” yielded this. A NYC based artist, with examples in Chicago as well.
ttp://gapersblock.com/ac/2009/08/27/whose-street-art-is-this/
OOOH!!! Lookie!
http://tinyurl.com/yzhaq7t
I’ve seen those on the sidewalks in Pittsburgh too and wondered what they are.
Oh man, the Toynbee tiles! That’s what I first thought of when I saw this.
I didn’t have the slightest clue what they meant, but I remember looking for them every time I went into Baltimore on field trips and with my family in the late 80s/early 90s.
the stikman from philly
Here’s more info: http://tinyurl.com/y8z2f4s
(I Googled skeleton “street art” DC and checked the images that came up.)
He’s called Stickman or Stikman; here’s a Flickr pool. http://www.flickr.com/groups/42499904@N00/
They’re all over West Philly too, around the Penn and Drexel campuses. I always wondered what the little stickmen were up to.
Oh, and here’s a Washington Post article about these! http://is.gd/4UhZZ
I don’t know what they are, but there is a Flickr group:
http://tinyurl.com/ljobua
http://tinyurl.com/stikman
Aw, he sounds kind of sweet.
There is on on the street in the intersection of 33rd Street and 10th Avenue in NYC. I pass it by when I go to grab McDonald’s for lunch. (Don’t judge me!) I have often wondered what it was . . .
He is all over the streets of Toronto, too, at least in my neighbourhood. I’ve been noticing and enjoying him and wondering what he’s about. I am glad he’s showing up in other cities as well!
There is a stikman at the intersection of 15th and Market in Philadelphia. I see the Toynbee ones around the city as well.
So THAT’S what those tiles are! We have one that I pass every day on my way to work – on a street in the suburban edge of Philadelphia.
I’ve never seen stikman, though.
There’s a few of these around Boston too, I just figured it was some weird tagging done by some over-zealous art students (of which there are plenty around here.)
Yup, I’ve seen him in Harvard Square! In a crosswalk. They painted over him. Bummer.
I’m so glad I finally have my answer (I’m the original questioner)! Now that I know they are in so many places, I’m going to have to keep an eye out for more.
I knew the members of the Nation would come through!
I’ve seen it too!
Somewhere randomely in NYC’s East Village.
(Sorry no more specific helps.)
STICKMAN
street artist is Stikman or Stickman
also in Brooklyn and Chicago
i can’t find a meaning in anything i can find on line, but i found an address my computer can’t get to (ftp, i think)
so many in DC seem to pointing at govt locations -of course, almost every building in dc is a govt location. And Philly is the place of the Declaration of independence.
Chiming in to say that there used to be one of these in the crosswalk at Hollywood and Highland in LA. Haven’t walked that way in a while, but I used to see him regularly, and always wondered where it came from. Maybe the artist was visiting?
They are all over the Chicago loop, too, and I love them! I’ve been asking everyone about him for months, and no one knew anything. I should have known it would eventually end up on TN!
I just read your review aloud to my husband, who read Methland a couple of months ago. His response: “Yeah, she pretty much nailed it.”
Saw one in Montreal over the weekend – would have had no clue what it was if I hadn’t read the Vine on Friday!
Ha! There are two in Cleveland that I know of, on the crosswalks of Euclid & 14th and at 9th as well.
This little guy gets around!
Wait, so do we think that there are copycat artists in other cities, or that this guy is traveling all over the place to do this?
Saw one today at 83rd and Central Park West. Can’t believe I never noticed it before as I walk by there everyday!
Yay!! I saw him all over Philly and wondered what he was about. Cute!
This comment is pretty belated, and may be tangential… but this little guy reminds me VERY strongly of these Mexican ceremonial paper dolls that were in a collection I cataloged as a grad student working at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures in Bloomington, Indiana. I used a book on ceremonial papermaking as a reference for my cataloging (Traditional Papermaking and Paper Cult Figures of Mexico, by Alan R. & Pamela E. Sandstrom, University of Oklahoma Press, 1986) and while the ones they show on the book’s cover are a lot more elaborate, this guy looks like some of the simpler figures they have in the book. Wonder if they were any influence?
SO late to the party, but I just had to chime in. I go to UC Berkeley and this little guy is all over campus and the surrouding streets. I just stepped on him today. Seems he is a bi-coastal bot!