In the 1980s I started photographing “street fossils” – car logos, utensils, bits of metal…whatever had fallen onto the street and then gotten pressed into the asphalt by cars. When they paved Johnson Avenue in Bushwick, I took some old Lincoln car logos that I had from when I worked the advertising and put it onto the hot asphalt before the roller came down the street. This was my first attempt to make my own street fossils – you can see them at the corner of Bushwick and Varick avenues.
Walking out when the roller was down the street and laying them on top of the bed of hot asphalt.
They’d go over the asphalt three or four times.
Try explaining that to the crew.
I kept thinking of it as a “steam roller,” although it’s probably been 50 years since they were powered by steam.
Now embedded in the street at the corner of Johnson and Varick avenues… stop by for a look!