LTVSquad

Category: Graffiti

Graffiti Related Posts

  • Maksim Gelman’s many Flickr accounts and YouTube appearance.

    Maksim Gelman’s many Flickr accounts and YouTube appearance.

    All week I’ve been getting reports of Maksim Gelman’s various flickr accounts. In the graffiti world, he was slightly known by his tag names: Max, Wes, and WS.

    In 2007-2008 he created at least 4 flickr accounts:

    “Couch Bombay’ – http://www.flickr.com/photos/24387359@N04/ (Created: March 2008)
    ‘Maxwell’ – http://www.flickr.com/photos/23025603@N07/ (Created: January 2008)
    ‘MaxerBlaster’ http://www.flickr.com/photos/24207016@N05/ (Created: February 2008)
    ‘BentleyBK31’ – http://www.flickr.com/photos/36849363@N07/ (Created: March 2009)
    ’23allisee’ – http://www.flickr.com/photos/13621034@N06/ (Created: September 2007 )

    Something to note about all of these accounts: None of them listed any contacts, and most photos seemed to have minimal views (0-20 tops, few comments), so no one was really looking at them much (thought that will likely change in the coming days I’d imagine)

    This account may have been one of his as well:
    ‘thefourthcycle’ http://www.flickr.com/photos/23601238@N03/
     (Created: Feb 2008 – same time frame as the others). It features no photos and only seemed to be used to comment on the accounts above. Fake keyboard commando beef? Could be.

    The scant few comments that were in some of the photos seem to show the same amount of beef with other writers he found on the freight tracks of Brooklyn. Here’s 2 examples:

    (Now, I know what you guys out there are thinking – look at that ass – so here it again, zoomed in. Here’s a good a place as any to note that Max seemed to hang out with this girl for a minute. We can only assume whoever she is, she’s counting her blessing today, and could probably make some coin talking to the press at the moment)

    He also loved the Beef on everyone’s favorite Tagpage Replacement (who here recalls tagpage?!)
    Saster:
    http://gallery.saster.net/sgallery/displayimage.php?album=34&pos=48

    On a more comical side, one of his profile pages states he had it on auto login so he wouldn’t loose the password again. This probably explains why he had so many flickr accounts, though it doesn’t explain at all why he didn’t just use password recovery. I’d imagine he changed email addresses often as well.

    Now on to his YouTube appearance:

    Max seemed to hang with the Acid crew on occasion – he even makes an appearance in a trailer for their dvd, which is still on youtube as of today (2/18/2011), here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMdQvQmSkHM
    Wes/max is from 0:39 – 1:05

    Just to round things off, in case you missed it, one commenters thinks he’s hot:

    Disclaimer: We here at LTV are not accountable for the apparent depravity of some commenters.

    Reminds me of that chick who married Richard Ramirez, the LA ‘Nightstalker’.

    This wraps up todays (and this week’s) Maksim coverage. I hate to say it but we’ll probably hear more about this cat in the future as he goes to trial, etc. Much thanks to T, Julie & Indent for pointing more towards most of this.

  • Maksim Gelman’s Graffiti Life

    Maksim Gelman’s Graffiti Life

    The story that Maksim Gelman, the man that went on a murderous rampage last weekend, was also a graffiti writer has been played up in the news a little – but what did he write? Many BK writers have pointed toward 3 tags: Wes, WS and Max.

    As it turns out, I have many photos of his tags and throwys from the day long hike of the Brooklyn freight tracks I took while shooting hundreds of photos for Brooklyn Queens Freight. Most of the photos showing the Wes, WS and Max tags did not make the cut for the printed book, though at least 2 or 3 crept in there. I’ve placed a set of these photos online here, along with some history about the spot he allegedly laid low after murdering the girl he was obsessed with.

    Most writers I’ve talked to in the last day or two tell me wasn’t much of a writer and had plenty of beef. It’s been a long while since any writer has murdered anyone. For anyone that doesn’t know, if writers have beef with each other, it’s generally settled in a fair fist fight.

    Breaking:
    Sources tell me he had a flickr stream!
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/23025603@N07/.

  • Maksim Gelman’s short lived life in Graffiti

    Maksim Gelman’s short lived life in Graffiti


    Maksim Gelman made an international name for himself this last weekend by going on a 28 hour murder spree, during which he killed 4 and attempted to kill many others. The story that the NYC press has mostly glossed over though is that this raving lunatic had prior arrests for Graffiti. This is definitely not to say that the graffiti artists of NYC ever embraced him as one of their own. Indeed, Maksim was known mostly as a toy – a wack bottom feeder with no style, little creativity, and an itch to start beef wherever he could. A quick survey of about a dozen writers yielded a universal response: Maksim sucked at life, and if his peers even knew who he was, they hated his wack handywork.

    When I inquired if anyone had photos of his work, some turned to me and said yo, YOU probably have photos of his crappy throw ups from the freight tracks of Brooklyn. And indeed, unbeknown to me, I did.

    In my documentation of the Bay Ridge Branch freight line for Brooklyn Queens Freight, I shot a few hundred photos of the graffiti along the tracks. Some of these photos contain Maksim’s scraw and throwys. The majority of the photos containing this rubbish graffiti never made the cut and were not printed in BQF. A few got in there though, usually with his scrawl going over someone else or pushed against better graffiti in a vain attempt to be seen next to such works of art.

    The most common aspect of his graffiti in these photos is that he has applied his tags over other writers, or has been crossed out by other writers. This is fairly unique across all of the photos I took on that day. No one on these tracks was jones for beef as much as Maksim (well, cept maybe another toy, but let’s not talk about him). I did no real editing/selecting of photos for this write up: what you see in these photos is how all of his graffiti seemed to appear on the freight tracks – either over someone else’s in an attempt to start a battle, or crossed out by people who hated him. For someone to go out of their way to try and start beef with other writers shows a lot of things about his personality. He wanted attention, bad or good. Full of hate and looking for a fight is the usual MO of such people.

    All of that said, Maksim will not be missed – in society or in the NYC Graffiti world. The tracks are better off without such people around.

    Props to BDPH, Vize & Indent for the 411. I wouldn’t have know I was sitting on this without the input…

  • How much does it cost to arrest a graffiti writer?

    How much does it cost to arrest a graffiti writer?

    Many Sunnyside residents were awoken in the early hours of Monday morning by a low-flying police helicopter.

    The helicopter was flying over 42nd and Queens Blvd at 2:00am as police were pursuing three teenagers who were tagging the building above Dunkin’ Donuts.

    The police tracked them down and arrested them at 41stand Queens Blvd at 2:30 am. The three—Jeffery Sanchez, Jonathan Aramis and Aileen Mahmoodi- were all charged with criminal mischief; making graffiti; and possession of a graffiti instrument, police said.

    According to our records, The NYPD has 6 helicopters. 2 – Bell 412EP’s, 3 – Bell 212’s and 1 – Bell 206.

    According to Conklin’s the average hourly flying cost is as follows:

    412EP – $1668/hour.
    212 – $1439/hour
    206 – $516/hour

    That’s not counting the officer overtime processing these kids, or the fact that the arresting officers were taken off the street probably for the rest of their tour to do the paperwork, etc. Call me crazy but in the grand scheme of things, we’re talking $1000-$5000 cost for these 3 arrests.

    Now you can argue like every other idiot on the internet does these days that ‘they did the crime and should pay the time, expense, etc’. But when you factor in the fact that NYC’s now the weed arrest capital of the US, and star tallying up how much it costs to arrest all these petty crooks (even if no ghetto bird is used) and you’re talking about perhaps millions of dollars, spent largely to keep minorities in jail or with criminal records that will hold them back some more in life. Millions blown on people catching tags and smoking weed – habits that people generally grow out of on their own as they get older. Seems like a huge, huge waste of money to me.

    Mad Props to GasAxe for the research on this one.

  • Calling Out Cope2

    Calling Out Cope2

    I’m going to preface this by saying I know nothing about Cope2 and basically have zero interest in Graff Drama (other than to watch it unfold – TV ain’t half as entertaining as this shit.

    (more…)
  • Murderous Nutcase was a Graffiti Nobody

    Murderous Nutcase was a Graffiti Nobody

    If you haven’t heard by now, a real freak broke loose this last weekend and went on a murderous rampage. Early coverage of the story did not mention though that he had prior arrests for graffiti:

    (CNN) — A New York man fatally stabbed three people, slashed at least five others, hit and killed one man with a car and hijacked two vehicles before being wrestled to the ground early Saturday while trying to break into the cab of a subway car, police said.

    Maksim Gelman, who is unemployed and known to authorities mostly as a graffiti artist, was arrested aboard a northbound train in Manhattan around 9 a.m. Saturday, about 28 hours after he allegedly began a spree that spanned three New York City boroughs, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

    So just what did this a-hole write? At press time, no one seems to know. One all city street bomber only had this to say: “He was a nobody in the graff game.”

    I knew there had to be something to this guy when they said he crossed tracks while running from slashing yet another person on the subway.

  • ‘Probation Vacation’

    ‘Probation Vacation’

    When Bonnie and Clyde over here ain’t rolling deep with a truckload of crazed MUL motherfuckers kicking dry snitches asses, they’re creating some nifty shit worth your dollars. Their first book, ‘Probation Vacation’ is out now.

    This book has some great photos and is guaranteed to inspire and make you look into upping your own game. The print & paper quality top notch. I’ve had mine for a few weeks now and paging through it has definitely inspired me to get off my own fat ass and publish again soon.

  • LTV Racing

    Some day soon the stories from this spot will be told… until then, here’s a few more via Mr F5sky. Also, large props to The Jice Man. This one goes out to Queens.

  • Gimme Gimme Gumballs

    Gimme Gimme Gumballs

  • Freedom Tunnel, Painted

    Freedom Tunnel, Painted


    …so Gothamist today picked up the story that anyone with their ear in the underground has known for a few months now: Amtrak has painted over much of the freedom tunnel.

    The rumor is janet Nazipolatino road through the tunnel on Amtrak one day and was appalled at all the graffiti down there. Thus, someone threw a huge pile of cash at Amtrak to paint and ‘better secure’ freedom tunnel.

    With this new monumental act of state sponsored vandalism, NYC lost a huge amount of priceless art. The works of art in freedom tunnel ran the gauntlet of graffiti, and included everything from a dizzying array of throwys by FE to a 20×30 foot reproduction of Goya’s ‘3rd of May’ by Freedom and Smith. Many of these were priceless works, some created nearly 25 years ago.

    There is absolutely no good reason for this state-sponsored whitewash to have occurred. The tunnel is out of public view so no civilians ever complained about it. To paint over the entire tunnel surely cost taxpayers a huge amount of money. Think about it: 2 walls, running along 2 miles of tunnel, 12-14 feet high. how many gallons of paint was wasted on this project? How many man hours at union wages were wasted on this utterly ridiculous endeavor? What is the total cost to taxpayers for this completely pointless destruction? How many hundreds of thousands of dollars were thrown at this? Money that could have been used to feed the poor, bail out the MTA to keep subway fares down, aid in the construction of the 2nd avenue tunnel… there are dozens of more important projects around NYC that all this time and cash could have been better used on.

    This isn’t the first time that Amtrak has tried to ‘secure’ and clean up freedom tunnel. Several times in the 1990s they evicted homeless people and sealed up entrances to the tunnel. Those entrances were always broken open again, or new ones were created. Many of the homeless moved right back into the tunnel and never left. The tunnel is simply too big to ever be completely secured, and this new creation of miles of clean wall space is just a brand new canvas which will be retaken by graffiti artists in time.

    Meanwhile, all of the exits to this tunnel are chained shut and locked with ‘102’ high security locks. If a train were to derail and burn in the tunnel, there is no escape. NYPD and FDNY do not have 102 keys. They would have to wait on amtrak to show up to get access to the tunnel, and by the time that happened, dozens, potentially hundreds, would be dead.

    Way to go Amtrak and Federal ‘security’ morons. You succeeded in throwing away more taxpayer money while not making this tunnel one bit safer for the public. I for one am completely disgusted by your useless idiotic actions, and you can be damn sure you won’t be getting one red penny out of me on tax day next year.