I had a rare occasion to walk to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick in January 2021. There, I happened across BLOB DYLAN graffiti, which I barely (thanks to my then-BlackBerry Classic phone having battery issues) captured and turned into an article. That BLOB DYLAN sighting gave rise to a follow-up article on BLOB interpretation, researching the identity of the person behind BLOB DYLAN graffiti, and a look at another account of BLOB. However, despite all of the words I published about BLOB DYLAN – who has left his mark all over St Petersburg, Florida, and New York City, I had not personally seen BLOB DYLAN graffiti since that winter day in Bushwick. He does not seem to be active in the areas I usually walk.
Note that I said had.
(This is part of my series of articles on BLOB DYLAN.)
On May 26, 2024, I briefly crossed through Bushwick for the first time since January 2021. I had walked all the way from Brooklyn to Forest Hills, Queens, and was on my return trip (I did not go through Bushwick on the way to Forest Hills). I noticed some scribbles on a pole at the corner of DeKalb and Wycoff Avenues. One of the scribbles looked familiar.
I dare say that is BLOB DYLAN.
(I suspect the “AIDZ” tag next to “BLOB DYLAN” was contributed by a different tagger.)
This BLOB DYLAN is styled differently from the one I found in Bushwick three years ago. That BLOB had a straight line through the “O” instead of a ring and there was no circle around the “A” in DYLAN. In my search for BLOB DYLAN, I found compelling evidence that many BLOB DYLAN scribbles – especially outside of St. Petersburg and New York City, are copycats. Does this mean that the new BLOB or the 2021 BLOB is not legit? I am not so sure. I quote from my own BLOB DYLAN study in 2021:
Six of the Dylan images have no cross through the “O” at all. Of the ones that do draw a line through the “O,” we also have variance. Some, like Tampa from May 7, 2019 and New York City from December 17, 2019 handle the “O” similarly to the tag I found in Bushwick. The majority from this set, however, style the line through the “O” like the rings orbiting Saturn. For example, note this July 28, 2020 Blob Dylan in Bushwick, which has the orbital “O” and a circle around the “A” in “Dylan.” I suppose it is plausibly the same tagger – especially since these images are from his known haunts, but the style does not seem to be precisely the same as what I found in Bushwick.
Nicholas A. Ferrell, internationally recognized BLOB DYLAN expert
Another blogger who referenced my post came across BLOB tags with the same style as my new find (see archived link) – which seems consistent with my speculation in my 2021 research piece. I have not put any work into getting to the bottom of BLOB DYLAN since I wrote my October 24, 2021 research article. For that reason, combined with recent BLOB DYLAN sightings by others, I see no reason to question my tentative conclusion from back then that the BLOB DYLAN’s with a straight line through the “O” and the BLOB DYLAN’s with an orbital “O” and circle around the “A” are both plausibly legitimate if they are found in either St. Petersburg or New York City – with the latter most likely being the newer tags.
I did not take the time to stay at the scene of BLOB and perform a forensic examination. By the time I found the tag, I had already walked for about 18 miles and still had a fair distance to walk home.
I was content to take the photo, be on my way, and figure out what to do with it later. It is now later, and based on my photograph and past BLOB DYLAN research, your resident BLOB DYLAN appraiser rates this new BLOB in Bushwick as likely authentic.