Tag, you're it?

New York is an animal, a creature built by those able, often required to live atop one another. A metropolis of the cramped, an island of sardines. Yet somehow each of us remains anonymous. At most, you see those you wish to see in your own neighborhood. But as you trek through the city, eyes and ears open, the strangers, buildings, parks of your every day life start to seep into your world. Some become your friends. Others your enemies.

Graffiti artists, commissioned painters, hacks, classically trained violinists, panhandlers, Mexican mariachis...some days you encounter each of them trying to make it. Working the subway. The streets. The C-Towns.

For a while now, "Chef Pants" has been inching into my realm. I'm sure my friend Tony objects to even the mention of the name. Whether sprayed on a restaurant awning, a UPS truck, a mailbox, even your own apartment building (as pictured), Chef Pants has struck the city. All things considered, chef pants themselves aren't the most attractive or flattering attire one could don. They remind of MC Hammer and his ridiculous dances from back in the day. In all honesty, I can't figure out why one would choose that as a tag. And as it turns out, Chef Pants is a girl. A friend of a friend knows her. Maybe she's a chef. From the way she tags things, I surmise she's left-handed.

And then there's AnaPeru, PeruAna. She writes her name and country and then the reverse on top of each other with a Sharpie. I've seen her tag on restaurant furniture, sidewalks, flowerpots. A girl from Peru named Ana. And of course, a female Peruvian is called a Peruana. It's clever. Isn't it also technically vandalism?

I understand the desire to make one's mark on this Earth but am curious whether this method is effective or counter-productive. If you're found out, you're anonymity gone, does anything change? Do people respect that you've become a household name from writing your chosen name all over the city? Does it make you an artist? Or just a nuisance? I applaud expression. And all things considered, am writing right now because of it. Who am I to knock it?

And here's one of the latest posters to have gone up in the neighborhood. Is it art? Political commentary? Original? Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama. Now, there's a project.