Canal Rubber

I've been wanting to draw Canal Rubber for, like, years and years, and I finally carved out some time to do it. It's hard to believe it's still there. It's been at this location since 1954, and is one of the most distinctive storefronts on Canal St. It's one of the few of this type of business still left on that stretch, which once had dozens of industrial supply stores. A few others, like Canal Plastics and Canal Lighting, still remain, but the rest of the street has become a weird conglomeration of upscale development, low-end souvenir and knock-off merchandise stores, and vacant buildings, with tons of street vendors lining the sidewalks with counterfeit goods. The building, at the corner of Canal and Greene St., was sold in 2015, but as of now, the business remains. It's not hard to predict that it will be out out sooner or later, though. 

Process shots:

R.I.P. Stomp

Today is the last performance of Stomp. If you're not familiar with it, it's a wordless stage show of a group of performers creating music and choreography entirely acoustically, using found objects and industrial materials like garbage can lids, brooms, radiator hoses, and the like. It's been at this same location for 29 years, performing 11,472 times.

I've never seen the show, but it's still a landmark of the Lower East Side. I've walked past its distinctive marquee a million times. I did this drawing as part of Save Our Stages series. Stomp was able to re-open after pandemic restrictions were lifted, but the international tourists who made up a large part of its audience have not returned, at least to this venue. The building has a long, long history, stretching back to the early 20th century as part of the Yiddish Theater, and later home to the original Little Shop of Horrors, John Leguizamo's Mambo Mouth, and Eric Bogosian's Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. Hopefully, that tradition continues.

EV Grieve: Bang Gone: Stomp's Long Run On 2nd Avenue Concludes

House Portrait

My friend (and boss) Paul commissioned me to draw his house as a Christmas present for his wife. I think it's the first home they've owned. It's in Jersey City. Unlike most of my work, this one I did from a photo.