Spalding and the Stenciled Head

I spotted the screen-grab below on Tumblr this evening and felt compelled to share it here (click on it to enlarge). This is a fleeting still from Spalding Gray’s “Swimming to Cambodia.” I’m sharing it not only because I’m a huge fan of Gray’s work (you can read more about that here), but also because as a single snapshot, it almost completely captures the vibe of SoHo in the mid-80’s.

Because I’m obsessed with seemingly meaningless minutia, I was also captivated by the fact that it displays a stencil that used to be EVERYwhere for a while. In the center of the photograph, sprayed onto the bottom portion of the building’s edifice, you’ll see what looks like the head of an Asian man. Like I said, this stencil was absolutely everywhere in SoHo back then (predating Shepherd Fairey’s work by a good couple of years). I don’t remember the specifics to it – I believe it was just a self-promotional thing for some hip, young artist. I even remember some parodies of it (the same face with the eyes X’d out as if having been shot). I doubt you’d be able to find examples of either on any SoHo facades today.

At a glance, I can’t say for sure what street this is, but I’m guessing it could be the corner of Mercer and Broome. I’m purely projecting, of course. What say you?