wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Google has used letters inspired by the work of the late New York artist Keith Haring for the "doodle" above its homepage search bar. Haring died tragically of AIDS in 1990. Friday would have been his 54th birthday.

FULL DISCLOSURE: The photos that accompany this article contain graphic images that may be upsetting to viewers. Pop artist Keith Haring painted his signature lines and squiggles in many places throughout New York City, but one of the most unique may have been the men's bathroom at the Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender Community Center.

The rarely-seen junk sculptures of a New York performance artist and MC, an installation that explores our city from the water, important post-war artists from Italy and a pop-up show that features innovative works on video. Plus, there's a gazillion events related to Armory Week, as well as a gallery walk in Bushwick. It's all too much for the eyeballs to absorb. Here's what we're looking at.

The images reveal themselves slowly: a hot air balloon covered in moss, an NYPD helicopter darting across a granite sky, the delicate outline of what appears to be the Space Shuttle. This is no ordinary astronomical display. On a steep granite outcropping that lies within earshot of a major New York roadway, artist Kevin Sudeith has carved a series of delicate petroglyphs that depict a variety of air traffic.

The renowned Philadelphia artist and sign painter Stephen Powers, who many know by his old tag name ESPO, is putting the finishing touches on a piece of monumental street art on the outside of an old Macy's parking garage in downtown Brooklyn.

The Richard Hambleton retrospective at Phillips de Pury & Company is only on view through Tuesday. But there's still plenty of historic graffiti around town to cast your eye over. With the help of graffiti aficionada Katherine Lorimer (who snaps shots of street art as Luna Park), WNYC has created a tour of five of the coolest and oldest pieces of graffiti around town.

An international ensemble of dancers, drummers and martial artists are set to perform at the Asia Society's "Hip Hop Kung Fu" event on Wednesday night.

WNYC's morning news producers bring you a rundown of today's must-read stories.

The Mars Bar closed its doors on Tuesday due to New York City health code violations. But even if it cleans up its act, the watering hole will not re-open on the block any time soon due to a developer's plans to demolish the existing structure and rebuild it as an apartment building.

Tuesday afternoon, the online auction site artnet Auctions wrapped up its week-long sale “Urban Scrawl: Graffiti and Street Art.” Among the sale’s high ticket items were works by Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and other influential New York street artists of the 20th century. Click here to see a slideshow of some of the works that sold.

The museum announced on Tuesday that it had canceled Art in the Streets show due to lack of funds. The show is the first U.S. museum show to chronicle the history of graffiti and street art.

In Long Island City, Queens, there's a five-story, mostly empty warehouse where graffiti is legal. It’s called 5Pointz, and for years, the building's owner has allowed graffiti artists to spray paint most of the facade.

Street art isn't what it used to be. And for a lot of New Yorkers, that's probably a good thing. Gone are the days when entire subway trains were coated in spray paint.

That isn't to say that street art is irrelevant.

Check out "Exit Through the Gift Shop," the documentary that at once celebrates and hilariously sends up the significance (and the very definition) of street art. The movie, directed by the ever-mysterious artist Banksy, is up for an Oscar this year.

So, who are the newest street artists making their mark in (and on) the city?

One of them has been penning "moustache" on the upper lips of various actresses, at least their two-dimensional selves (Reese's moustache here). The penmanship isn't anything to write home about, but still, there's a certain Gallic charm to the enterprise, and an impishness. These days, it's striking just how innocent and inoffensive so much subway graffiti is. Sure, you get the predictable assortment of four-letter words and body parts and all-around disfigurement. But not all that often. To a much greater extent subway posters seem to have been defaced by really happy, well-adjusted people. Whatever became of urban rage?

PHOTOS: Artwork created by juvenile offenders on probation for graffiti crimes will soon add a splash of color to the drab white walls of Judge Lee Elkins 10th floor courtroom in Brooklyn family court, where he presided over many of the offenders' cases.

Zebadiah Arrington, 19, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Thursday for spray painting his tag, "ZEB," onto seven New York City subway cars.

British graffiti artist and political activist Banksy has been venturing into more mixed and varied mediums lately, adding performance art and even sculpture to his distinctive repertoire. With his reputation for subversive social commentary, it was only a matter of time before Banksy addressed the worst oil spill in history.

Artists in New York love playing with buildings. Last year, David Byrne played the Battery Maritime Building, and graffiti went high-tech with LED lights at MoMA’s Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit. Enter Sweatshoppe. 

Once you cross east under the I-35 expressway, the buildings become much shorter, and there is an abundance of empty lots overgrown with weeds. There are also a number of weathered and run down properties - old boarded up bars, restaurants, homes, and factories that probably saw their last customers ...