Have you heard of the graffiti artist—or vandal, depending on your persuasion—who goes by the name of Lewy BTM? Well, you’re about to, because the guy merits a level of fame (or infamy!) for this. Read More
Everyone is waiting to dive into the revamped McCarren Park Pool at the end of the month, restored to its Robert Moses-era glory after decades of neglect. But another corner every hipster’s favorite park has just been spiffed up thanks to Adidas.
On the other end of McCarren lies a run of seven popular tennis courts besides Automotive High School. Like much of the park, it is a little worse for the wear. Efforts have been afoot to install a bubble for the winter, but at least for the time being, a new windscreen will help keep conditions better during the blustery spring and fall months. And this being Brooklyn, the windscreen had to take on an artistic flair. Read More
If you ever wondered how those massive sculptures magically appear in plazas and POPS around the city, look no further than Jonathan Prince. The sculptor just installed two works at the Christie’s Sculpture Garden at 535 Madison Avenue, and while they may look like they crashed there on a meteor or magically appeared a la the Obelisk in 2001, it is in fact a painstaking process involving forklifts and winches. Read More
However hard to imagine, the East Village will soon be even more colorful. A local group has managed to raise a full $3,000 on Kickstarter to “beautify” the East Village, DNAinfo reports. Apparently deeming itself too urbane for scaffolding and dumpsters, those city scabs we’ve come to know and love, the Fourth Arts Block (FAB, get it?!) will use the money to paint the industrial construction accoutrements.
The group has been quietly embellishing construction sites in the neighborhood since 2008. Perhaps best known for the sidewalk mural on Extra Place, the non-profit organization hopes both to make the neighborhood more aesthetically agreeable and to evoke the neighborhood’s gritty, guerilla-art past. Read More
A gigantic mural by the renowned Mexican painter Arnold Belkin that is emblazoned on the side of a playground in Hell’s Kitchen and has deteriorated in the 39 years since its creation can be restored, the Heritage Preservation organization announced.
But there is a problem: repairing the mural will cost at least $70,000, and no one has yet to offer funding. Read More
The travel website Virtualtourist.com has compiled a list of the world’s ten worst public artworks, and The Observer is pleased—albeit somewhat surprised—to see that New York’s numerous public artworks managed to avoid the list entirely. Read More
For the past nine years, two gigantic beams of light have shown over Lower Manhattan—a beacon of loss and hope, a searchlight for something that would never be found and yet would stay with all New Yorkers forever.
Known as the Tribute in Light, it was a public art project created by the Municipal Art Society and Creative Time to commemorate the fallen Twin Towers. Beginning six months after 9/11, and relit every anniversary thereafter, the temporary, luminous memorial will return this year for the 10th anniversary of the attacks. It could be for the last time ever. Read More
Amid the heat, the stench, the slow-moving tourists and the quick-moving taxi cabs, there is another obstacle (albeit an often far more pleasant one) for New Yorkers to maneuver around when they venture out this summer: the slew of sculpture, performance and temporary architecture that makes up the city’s public art. Read More
A few weeks ago, it was revealed that the shimmering base of 1 World Trade Center was crumbling, literally. The fancy glass facade meant to mask a 20-story concrete bunker at the base of the building was proving too difficult to manufacture, and an alternate solution needed to be devised. The next day, a Read More
Bike-riding is probably one of the most fun things in the world (except when it’s not). What could top the wind in your hair on a sunny day, shirt clinging to your back, maybe a few friends pedaling alongside? Maybe if you could turn your bike into a giant piece of sidewalk chalk.
That Read More
