WHO THE HELL IS JIM JOE?
Jim Joe is a graffiti artist, currently hyperactive in New York City. He has made quite a name for himself with his simple, sometimes humorous writings, especially in the Lower East Side and East Village, where his tag is ubiquitous. He first caught the attention of Subway Art Blog in February for hitting up the Essex Street station on the J train. This is our Jim Joe artist profile, which is a culmination of six months of obsessively following his work in the subway and beyond.
MEET JIM JOE
Here is what we know about him:
He is a he. We can confirm this through folks who have seen him. A few Animal NYC readers have seen him in action and commented about it in one of Animal’s articles.
One commenter said: “I SAW HIM! I was on 16th an 7th ave, he wrote, ‘My friends think I’m a fool, my friends think I’m a fool- Jim Joe’ in silver marker on a discarded couch. Then he took a picture of it and walked away.”
Another said: “I saw Jim Joe on Bleeker and Jones a few weeks ago and knew it was him after he wrote on a US Postal Service Mailbox. It was one of the best moments of my life. I took a picture of him with my cell phone. It was kind of like a celebrity siting but better because only special New Yorkers know of him. AMAZING.”
According to The Link Newspaper of Canada, Jim Joe is originally from Montreal and attended McGill University; he was featured in the Fall 2009 issue of McGill’s art magazine, Folio, in his fourth year.
He became active in New York sometime around early 2010 and has graced objects with his tag at least as far north as Columbus Circle, and as far out in Brooklyn as Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant. His canvas of choice, though, seems to be the southeast area of Manhattan.
Jim Joe is unlike most graffiti artists, not only due to his style and artistic influences, but also because he has a website, a blog, a Twitter account and a publicly known e-mail address.
MUCH MUCH MORE AFTER THE JUMP