Call off the dogs. I’ve gotten my answer.
Yesterday, you may remember, I posted a little piece about “Desperately Seeking Susan,” wondering aloud if anyone knew the artist responsible for the stenciled skeletons that adorned the case Madonna’s seen lugging around in the beginning of the film, and all over her boyfriend Jimmy’s band van (see ablove). I mentioned that I felt sure I’d seen that exact style of artwork outside of the film, and postulated that it might have been some local SoHo street artist at the time.
Well, the response was relatively huge (or at least huge compared to a lot of things I put up here, which often are met with a chorus of crickets). Encouragingly, lots of folks knew the answer and offered some tantalizing extra bits of info.
Tim B. of Stupefaction fame wrote:
The artist was/is Michael Roman. We used to sell his t-shirts at Bleecker Bobs. I'm pretty sure he's still around...I just don't know where. He MAY be in San Francisco now, but don't quote me on that.
Meanwhile, a reader named Rich D.of Obsolete Press wrote…
It sounds like we were running in very similar circles in the mid 80's! Oddly, a friend posted something yesterday on FB about Desperately Seeking Susan, and I mentioned the Mike Roman Stencils, and the next day your post showed up. The wonders of the web! I posted a link to Mike's site in the comments. Anyway, I just wanted to mention that you may remember those same stencils adorned the Aztec Lounge.
It looks like Michael Roman is indeed still with us (check out his website here), and I believe Tim and Rich are right – I probably remember seeing his shirts at Bleecker Bob’s and his art at the Aztec Lounge (as photographed below by David Vega).
Anyway, thanks for weighing in, peoples! Consider this skull-adorned case closed!
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