As for Chico's new mural...

In his column this week, Scoopy had the following news about the new mural CHico is creating on Houston and Avenue B. To the Scoopster:

It turns out Chico, who is back in town from Tampa for some more commission work, is painting over the P.O.P. [Power of Peace] mural with a new one for a local band, Loisaida. He’ll then paint a new one for the Girls Club just to the west, covering over another of his murals, for the local band Aventura. Basically, it’s not what we thought — that someone might have dared diss Chico by painting over his work — but just some mural switching by the artist himself.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Chico has a new work in progress on Houston and Avenue B

RCN Cable discovers 'illegal graffiti' two years later

As Jeremiah reported on Monday, workers at the RCN Cable building on Avenue C and Sixth Street painted over the Obama-McCain election mural and others on the site last week....



Now...



Patrick Hedlund has a follow-up piece today at DNAinfo. He speaks with an anonymous RCN spokesperson who sounds a little huffy about Chico's mural, which graced the wall for two years.

"The bottom line is the building had illegal graffiti on it and we cleaned it up — period."

And!

But the RCN spokesman quickly dismissed the idea that Garcia might return to work on the wall.

"We're not interested in doing business with him again," he said.

Curious to see how long the building sits tag free.... this little doodle was quickly painted over....



Anyway, there were all sorts of Chico murals on this corner...



Are you telling me that RCN just figured out that there are murals here? (What about the illegal ads?) And it wasn't as if Chico just ran up here and tagged the wall in the middle of the night... this corner art took a long time to create... And this entire time RCN was unaware of the activity?

A side note, perhaps ... graffiti artist Jairo Pastoressa, accused of murdering Christopher Jusko, helped Chico create this mural ... His signature was in spray paint below Chico's name.


[Photo via DNAinfo]

Chico's mural corner painted over on East Houston

Through the years, the East Houston Street side of 6 Avenue B has been home to a variety of tributes and ads by Chico... (the most recent ad on the corner space was a colorful spot for Wafels & Dinges...)

[September 1997]

This past weekend, several readers were surprised to see that someone painted over the existing murals... (apparently a trend)





So far, no one seems to know who ordered the paint-over for the corner... and we're told that Chico is quite upset by this development...

Previously on EV Grieve:
An appreciation of Chico's work

Houston and Avenue B in 1997....and 2007

Chico creates tribute for Bob Arihood at Ray's Candy Store

Yesterday after, we posted photos of Chico working on a mural for the Ray's Candy Store awning on Avenue A ... Single Linds Reflex, who worked with Chico on the concept, was there to watch it happen ... Here's a sort of Blogger time-lapse with the final work ...

And later... Chico talks with Lucy and Ray...

More on Chico's farewell to the LES

As you know, Chico is leaving NYC after 30 years of creating his spray-painted murals around the LES. Over at 12ozProphet, Martha Cooper was at his going-away party last week at China 1 on Avenue B. According to Cooper, the New York City Housing Authority presented him with a plaque that read “In recognition of dedicated and inspired service to the community in which he has lived and worked for more than 30 years this plaque is presented to Antonio “Chico” Garcia, Graffiti Artist Extraordinaire, with extreme gratitude and appreciation for decades of impressionistic and powerful messages, murals and paintings you have contributed to on Manhattan’s Lower East Side at the New York City Housing Authority. Job Well Done! 2009” As Cooper wrote: "That must be the first time a city agency has celebrated a graffiti artist!"

Cooper also has several early photos of Chico's work from 1982:

Chico's last LES hurrah

Before heading to Florida, Chico apparently has one mural left to do. As a reader pointed out last night, there was an open space marked "Reserved for Tats Cru/Chico" on the northwest corner of Houston and Avenue B.

This afternoon, Chico and company were at work...

Chico back to create an anti-violence mural

Lyn Pentecost, executive director of the Lower Eastside Girls Club, passed along this message on Friday evening:

The Lower Eastside Girls Club has brought Chico back from Florida to paint a few murals before the snowflakes fall:

He’ll start next week on an Anti-Violence message mural to be designed and painted by Chico and the POP (Power of Peace) Youth Anti-Violence Coalition founded a year and a half ago when Tina Negron -- the older sister of a Girls Club member -- was murdered at Key Food on Avenue A.

Since then POP has held a youth conference with Rosario Dawson, Ben Valentin (Tina’s brother) Angel Seda (GOLES) and Councilwoman Rosie Mendez at City Hall, a community march last Spring, three widely attended handbill clinics and competitions, and now -- in response to the recent tensions -- we’ve brought back Chico...the master messenger.

I'm told that he'll be starting at Avenue B and Houston.

Previously on EV Grieve.

Chico's tribute to Mom on Avenue B and Houston

Yesterday morning, Chico and friends started their new mural on the liquor store on Avenue B at Houston...



They're also putting up new local ads on Houston...



Later yesterday, Chico had wrapped up his work...



This is a tribute to the owner of the great liquor store here. She passed away earlier this year.



No word yet on the fate of the store. Her nephew is weighing the options, I'm told. Scoopy had an item on this store. As he reported: "The nephew is currently trying to locate the paperwork for the old tenement, the upper floors of which have sat empty for some 20 years. 'Maybe there's some money in the building, a secret hideaway — could be, I didn't say there is,' Chico quipped. As for 'Mom,' he said, 'She used to give everybody credit. She was a hard-working woman. She would lock the gates. She was open till midnight.'"

Chico's back; ditto for the Rat Pack

As you may know, Chico is back in town to do a few more murals in the neighborhood. Aside from his anti-violence mural on Houston and Avenue B, he created this tribute to Eric "Taz" Pagan on 13th Street and Avenue A.



He also did this Rat pack mural on the gate of Summit, the new bar that replaced Baraza on Avenue C near Ninth Street.


Saturday:



Sunday:



For further reading:
A well-preserved Chico mural (BoweryBoogie)

Chico, ‘The Messenger,’ spreads message of peace back on L.E.S. (The Villager)

An appreciation of Chico's work

We noted some of Chico's new work last week... After the spay/neuter sign disappeared, figured that I may want to chronicle some of Chico's work... As he has said, Chico figures that he has done 7,000 murals around the city the past 30 years. Here are a few of those murals.