Big Apple draws on past with revival of hand-painted street ads

NEW YORK - Once outdated relics in a digital world, painted advertisements are flourishing once again in New York, putting a dose of hip attitude into 21st century commercial art in the city that never sleeps.

Toiling under the blazing sun of a heat wave, Justin Odaffer puts the finishing touches to a Ray-Ban ad he has spent several days painting on the facade of an East Village building in downtown Manhattan.

For the past seven years, Odaffer - who has a degree in fine art - has painted ads on walls in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago for Colossal Media, which has risen from nowhere to become the leader in painted advertising.