One of the things that attracts my attention in cities all over are the leftover spaces where things were once made. The faded grit and glory of a city’s formerly industrial buildings and districts have an aesthetic appeal in their decay—a theme that has attracted many an artistic and entrepreneurial eye. Perhaps because of this appeal (along with their general undesirability and low rents), the buildings that once housed large-scale manufacturing, warehousing, markets, and other functions of a city’s industrial past have over time frequently become homes for new types of creative and productive activity. Spaces and places that appear to be neglected and disused are often teeming with new life. With little or no renovation, generations of artists, workers, small businesses–producers of all kinds of things–have moved into cities’ industrial lofts, warehouses and factories, either alongside or replacing more traditional industries. In this way, the industrial infrastructure of so many cities has provided ongoing support for growth and innovation, even while larger interests and policies assume these spaces and activities are dead.

Artist ESPO penned a “Love Letter to Brooklyn” on the walls and ramps of a garage in downtown Brooklyn. The garage belongs to Macy’s; the department store commissioned the work. ESPO is Steve Powers, a graffiti writer who is known for making poetry larger than life, in a graphic, block-letter style that plays with language and imagery that offer a kind of nostalgic take on the advertising and signage that once adorned the urban landscape that now forms his canvas. It’s good stuff.

In a strange series of events, I spotted this work for the first time while on my way to a public tour of the Brooklyn Detention Center, newly re-opened just down the block. An entirely different way to see eternity.

All’s Fair in Love and Brooklyn, photo by Luna Park via thestreetspot.com

Always a good companion for sleuthing, the internet led me from ESPO’s exteriors to his interiors:

ESPO in his studio, photo by Todd Selby via theselby.com