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Blackwing drawing pencils are seen on Monday, April 23, 2012. RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: lrphotos068969

By Frances Roberts and Richard Levine

I bet you didn’t know that there was a “cult following” for pencils. Not just any pencils. Art directors don’t wax poetic about No. 2 Ticonderogas. Proof readers don’t wear their Staples generic pencils done to the nub. Apparently Blackwing brand pencils have quite a following. “Half the pressure, twice the speed”, is the company’s motto and to those that love them they wear them right down to a stub. Witness the fact that on eBay, an unused vintage, single pencil can go for $40.00. For that much money we’d wear down the pencil to the stub too.

In an effort to thwart graffiti, store owners are required to keep aerosol cans of paint locked up and are prohibited from selling them to minors. These cans are in Blick Art Supplies on Saturday, April 18, 2009. RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: lrphotos068981

These cans aren’t locked up in aerosol can jail because they committed a crime. In an effort to thwart graffiti, minors can’t buy aerosol cans of paint (and some markers also) so stores lock them up to keep control over their inventory.

Rooftops in the New York neighborhood of Chinatown are covered with graffiti, seen on Saturday, April 21, 2012. RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: lrphotos068850

Needless to say, if you want to get them you can always get them.

An artist works on his graffiti on the Five Pointz building in Long Island City in Queens in New York on Saturday, September 19, 2009. The building is an 200,000 square foot outdoor art exhibit space where graffiti artists can paint their work. RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: lrphotos047873

Although, sometimes their use is legit like at 5 Pointz, a mecca for graffiti artists. The 200,000 square foot former factory sees aerosol artists from around the world. The artwork transforms the outside into an ever changing graffiti art museum.

Hermann Nitsch , back to camera, directs an assistant in his live painting action "60. Painting Action// 60. Malaktion" in the Mike Weiss Gallery in the West Chelsea arts district of New York on Wednesday, February 16, 2011. Nitsch, a founding member of the Viennese Actionism movement, along with his assistants under his direction, perform a series of ritualist painting acts, splattering, pouring and otherwise manipulating the paint on the canvas. Nitsch created the Orgies Mysteries Theater in the 1960's staging performances entailing the use of animal butchering and blood. RICHARD B. LEVINE/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: lrphotos059570

To end, here’s a man that really gets into his paint. Hermann Nitsch, founder of the Viennese Actionism movement, directs his assistants to smear, rub, throw and otherwise get the paint onto the canvas. Nitsch, who is almost 74, used to do this himself but now he directs his small army of assistants. This is from Nitsch’s first live painting action in the United States in February 2011.

Richard Levine and Frances Roberts, of Levine Roberts Photography, are a husband and wife team of photographers covering politics, environmental issues, the economy, business, and social and cultural issues in the Big Apple. See more photos from their collection on Newscom.

You may be interested in these other posts from Levine Roberts photography on FocalPoint:

One Man’s Trash

What will become of rain?

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream

The Symbolic Wedding Dress