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)

Chico's new anti-violence mural on Houston and Avenue B

As we mentioned on Monday, the Lower Eastside Girls Club was bringing Chico back from Florida to paint a few murals. Yesterday, Chico and the POP (Power of Peace) Youth Anti-Violence Coalition finished work on a new mural on Houston at Avenue B.




The Lo-Down stopped by to catch the work in progress yesterday.

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.

NBA ad takes over

Work on Chico's former "spay/neuter" mural on Avenue A near 12th Street is nearly complete. Here's how it looked last Sunday...



..and now...the NBA video game has come to life.





Previously.

Paws for effect

The deathwatch continues on Avenue A near 12th Street ... at the site of Chico's former spay/neuter mural... The outline for the NBA video game ad going up here is slightly visible... at the bottom of the mural, there's a lone reminder of the cats and dogs who once roamed this wall...



...a single set of paws...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Chico's Avenue A mural neutered

Related:
Our friend over at Cat Sitter in the City has more thoughts on the mural... and a few better shots of how it looked...

Chico's Avenue A mural neutered

Over the weekend, Chico's "spay/neuter" mural on Avenue A near 11th Street...



...got painted over...






One of the painters said they were putting up an ad for an NBA video game...

Previously on EV Grieve:
What's going on with the playground at Mary Help of Christians?

About those "Chico sightings"

"After announcing three months ago that he would be leaving the Lower East Side to move to Florida, 'Chico sightings' in the neighborhood made some wonder if he was going to go. He said he’ll be leaving for Florida next week." (The Villager)

Previously on EV Grieve.

Updated: Watching a mural/ad come to life on Houston and Avenue B

Here's a recap:

Wednesday. Work began Thursday morning.



Late Thursday afternoon



Late Friday afternoon



Saturday morning



Sunday



And thanks to a reader for pointing out what this is an ad for....

Into the sunset

We checked back in last night around 7:45 to see how Chico and company were doing on the new mural/ad on Houston and Avenue B...

Swatching Chico on Houston and Avenue B

Back in mid-April, we mentioned the space on Houston and Avenue B that was earmarked for Chico...



Well, Chico and company (Tats Cru?) are currently putting up a new mural.... which looks like a Swatch ad...





We'll walk by later for a progress report...when it's a little less congested.

The return of Chico?

Back on March 5, we did a post on a new mural by Chico/Tats Cru at Houston and Avenue B. It was our impression that this was Chico's last work before moving to Florida.



Well, maybe not. Spotted this on Houston and Avenue B...at the exact spot of their last mural....

Now pitching for the Mets...

[Updated: Oops! Had the schedule wrong...Mets open at home NEXT Monday... They're in Cincinnati today...]



And if the bullpen car is to return, the van pictured above by Chico seen around the East Village gets our vote. I think JJ Putz will love it.

Definitely cooler than this.



Or this.

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

Two weeks back, we mentioned the new mural by Chico and Tats Cru on Houston and Avenue B.

Here's a quick look at some recent history of the corner...

May 2007:



September 1997:



Someone wasn't a big fan of the Royal Family....hence the "die" mustache for the late Diana, Princess of Wales.



[The 2007 photo via the Associated Press; the 1997 photo via the Grieve family camera]

A new mural for Houston and Avenue B

Yesterday, I noted that Chico and Tats Cru were working on a mural on the northwest corner of Houston and Avenue B.... Here's the final product:

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...

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: