From Hoodie to Hoody 

src= "http://www.woostercollective.com/images/hoody3.jpe" WIDTH="190" ALIGN=
"left" hspace="10">It’s not often that I come across an artists’ website where I
view every page and every photo with jaw dropped amazement. It took me almost
three hours - in one sitting - to take in the art of href="http://www.danwitzstreetart.com/">Dan Witz. Witz is a street artist
who integrates elements of surprise with both beauty and a message.  Working
outside on the street since 1978, Dan’s projects are extremely complex (both
technically and in their symbolism). Each is a complete universe unto itself.
Take the
“Hoodys”, a series of ominous messages to drug users and dealers during the
1990s.  The pictures show Dan’s Hoodys in high locations (where the dealers used
to work and lurk) peering down on us. The placements are so perfect, so exact,
that it’s certain most people mistook them for the real thing.

/>Photorealistic imagery is common in Dan’s work.  The "http://www.bway.net/~danwitz/birds2000/imgs/bird-6.jpg"> hummingbirds are a
series of stickers made with acrylic paint. The shadows below them, combined
with the elongated wings of the bird, make the image appear as if its in mid-
flight soaring near the building where Dan has placed the sticker and added the
shadows with paint. The surprise to see a hummingbird in the city, as well as
the beautiful mix of colors, must have delighted people who saw them as they
walked to their destination in the Lower East Side.

One of the most
touching monuments to the victims of the terrorist attacks are href="http://www.bway.net/~danwitz/lightpoles/img/lightpole6.jpg"> Dan’s WTC
Shrines.  We saw some of the sticker shrines last summer. A real shrine of
candles and notes had built up on the ground around them.  It was a very
powerful sight to see this mixture of Dan’s art with the real thing.

/>Dan, we can’t wait to see what you will surprise us with this summer.

/>—Hoodie

The other day we asked Dan our five questions.  Here’s
what he had to say:

Wooster: How did you get started in
creating art for the street?

Dan: I started in art school. At
Cooper Union on the Lower East Side in the late 70’s. I did it out of typical
art student rebellion really. Drunk one night, appalled at the cold elitist
atmosphere of the school—the post modern architecture, the chilly art snob
students—I went and painted fires up and down the back stairway of the school.
I got expelled and after much debate and furor (and attention), re-instated .
Amazed at the power to reach all sorts of people I’d stumbled over, I’ve never
looked back.

Wooster: What originally inspired you to do the
WTC shrines, the Hoodys, and the Birds?

Dan: The WTC piece is a series of shrines—my version of the offerings that all those people put up in the days after 9/11. This was my way of mourning, processing the tragedy. Strangely, it was the most easiest full series piece I’ve ever done. Complete Grace. The Hoodys came from a dark period in the early nineties. Drugs, HIV, poverty/despair/danger were like a pall of doom over the lower east side (my neighborhood).The grim reaper hoody posters were inspired by deer x-ing signs—the way the hi way dept. puts up those yellow diamond deer silhouettes as warning signs. The hummingbirds were pure street art. Pure ‘what the fuck is this?’ and my version of a tag. I do remember having a concept that I’d put them everywhere below 14th street except Soho. Cause back then Soho was for the gallery types and those characters wouldn’t need or want exposure to something so “pedestrian”—so un-status- quo.

Wooster: What other street artists do you most admire and why?

Dan: Back when I got started, Charles Simonds, Jenny Holzer, and all the kids bombing trains really opened my eyes and got me thinking. A guy I’ve always admired a lot, although he’s not technically a street artist, is Andy Goldsworthy. Those pictures you had up on your site this week—the posters made from the snapshots of everyday people in Baghdad, that really kicked my legs out. It’s straightforward and subtle—it used all the power, every level; those pieces do brilliantly everything I admire about good art on the street. I’d like to see other works by this artist.

Wooster: What’s your favorite city, neighborhood, or block, to post and/or to see street art?

Dan: I’ve just moved to Greenpoint/East Williamsburg. This neighborhood’s got it coming. Big time. Best energy in the city now. By far. Some extraordinary Graffiti pieces over on Morgan. State of the art. I’ve worked this zone before, and I will again.

Wooster:  What inspires you now?

Dan: Right now it’s got to be the war. There’s nothing else

To view Dan’s body of work, check out his website.