If you're in the financial district today and you have some time to spare, artist Geoffrey Raymond is inviting the public to scribble on his latest masterpiece—a portrait of Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein—in the alley behind 85 Broad Street during lunch. Sharpies will be provided, as usual. [Dealbreaker, previously]
Geoffrey Raymond is the artist who's been making a name for himself with his portraits of disgraced CEOs, turning up outside office buildings and encouraging employees to "contribute" to his art by adding an inscription of their own. He was outside Bear Stearns shortly after Jimmy Cayne was ousted; last week, he stood outside AIG with a Hank Greenberg painting set up on an easel. But it isn't the safest line of work: When he appeared outside Lehman Brothers with a portrait of Dick Fuld (which he eventually sold for $10,000), he says he "almost got beaten up by a 'drunk, angry' employee wearing one of the firm's corporate softball league jerseys." [NYO, previously]
When you loathe someone, there's nothing more cathartic than scrawling ad-hominem invective over a portrait of that person! At least, that's the thought behind a new painting of disgraced Bear Stearns chair Jimmy Cayne by Geoffrey Raymond, the artist who's made a career out of painting controversy-tainted Wall Streeters. Raymond was standing outside Bear's headquarters at 383 Madison yesterday and offering Bear employees a red marker to express their black thoughts about Cayne on his painting, "The Annotated Bear." A few employees of the about-to-shutter bank—today was the last day in Bear Stearns' 85-year life—took up the offer, scribbling love notes like "Dear Jim, Up Yours" and "Now You Know What BS Stands For." Make yourself at home in the pillory, Jimmy, it's going to be a long time before these burned bankers tire of throwing rocks at you.
