Spider-Man takes a wall on Avenue A

Over the weekend, a new Spider-Man mural arrived outside 50 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street. 

The work is by French artist Cyril Valade, who has a new show at Krause Gallery, 149 Orchard St. between Stanton and Rivington. 

Here is a nighttime view (via Stacie Joy)...

The wall here is curated by the Lisa Project.

Sunday's opening shot

Artist BKFoxx wrapped up the new mural outside the Second Avenue F stop this past week... a homage to John Carpenter's 1988 cult classic "They Live."

The Lou Reed Mosaic Bandit of St. Mark’s returns

As we reported earlier this week, two men used a ladder early Monday morning to remove Invader's nearly 10-year-old Lou Reed mosaic from the upper floor of 110 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

Residents called 911 and later contacted the 9th Precinct. Neighbors linked one of the suspects to a similar Invader mosaic theft above Ralph's Famous Italian Ices on Avenue A and Ninth Street last summer.

Invader himself has condemned these rip-offs, noting that once pried from the wall, the tiles are worthless. 

Now comes a stranger twist: on Tuesday night around 11, a neighbor says the same suspect returned ... this time to chip away at the few scraps of tile still clinging to the wall.

"The tapping on the wall woke us up," the resident said. 

Half-asleep, they fumbled for a photo, but the flash went off, ruining their chance to stay hidden.

A call to 911 followed, but the thief managed to slip away with the remaining tiles. 

An array of Invader's mosaics arrived in NYC and the East Village, some in collaboration with the LISA Project, in 2015.

Magic and loss on St. Mark’s Place: Invader’s classic Lou Reed mosaic stolen

Early Monday morning, several residents saw two men removing Invader's nearly 10-year-old Lou Reed mosaic from an upper floor at 110 St. Mark's Place, between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Just after 1 a.m., a resident noticed the men outside with a ladder and caution tape. 

Neighbors inside No. 110 said they were awakened by banging on the exterior wall — then saw one of the men climbing the ladder while the other acted as a spotter.

The residents called 911 and later contacted the 9th Precinct to report the theft. We're told that the landlord of the building hired the French artist for the work, and they may pursue charges. 

Neighbors did some sleuthing afterward and believe one of the suspects is the same man seen last in June 2024 removing another Invader piece above Ralph's Famous Italian Ices at Avenue A and Ninth Street. 

At that time, witnesses also reported two men prying Invader's mosaic tiles from walls around the city.

Invader himself addressed the thefts in an Instagram post last summer:

For the past few weeks, some guys in New York have been destroying my work by trying to rip it off the walls, probably to resell it. Shame on them! Street art belongs to the street, and in my case, once ripped from the walls, it is nothing more than broken, unsigned tiles that you could find in any tile store. They will never be authenticated. Buyers should think twice of what they buy, not only are they being duped but they are also depriving other people of enjoying free art on the street.

The French street artist mentioned that the mosaics probably have little resale value anyway — especially the later ones, which used thinner tiles designed to chip apart if tampered with. Said one EVG reader: "They were chipping away at it so I'm pretty sure it's destroyed."

An array of Invader's mosaics arrived in NYC and the East Village, some in collaboration with the LISA Project, in 2015. A few were immediately vandalized. 

Here's an EVG pic of the Lou Reed art from December 2021...

Key Food gets the fine art treatment on Avenue A

Photos by Stacie Joy 

We met local artist Steve Cosentino today at the southwest corner of Avenue A and Fourth Street, working on an oil painting of Key Food, often referred to as the Palace of Versailles of the East Village.

 

This is a work in progress. The light changed, so he started packing up for the day... and will be back soon to finish the painting.

Godzilla: King of the (aluminum foil) monsters on 4th Street

EVG reader Lisa R. shares these photos from Fourth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... in the school yard next to Manhattan School for Career Development (751M). 

Here, there's a cool aluminum foil Godzilla(ish) creature. It looks like someone hand-twisted a bunch of pieces and put them all together...

It’s a little neighborhood surprise best seen firsthand.

Croc stump tree well gets a refresh on Avenue A

Yesterday, we discussed the status of the incoming Corner Bistro at 94-96 Avenue A and Sixth Street. 

A reader later informed us that work was happening in the tree well outside the storefront. (The initial report was that the stump had been completely removed.) 

It turns out that workers cleaned up the area, added a barrier, and moved (and anchored) the crocodile-shaped tree stump...

This is the work of Ian Dave Knife, who has created art from dead tree stumps around the neighborhood and other locations. The croc arrived in December 2019. 

In August 2020, the owners of the now-closed August Laura reportedly painted the stump green and gave it a pink tongue. None of this pleased the artist. Article here. The paint has mostly worn away over the following years.

Anyway, we're happy to see that someone values the street art enough to keep it here. 

Tuesday's parting shots

Photos by Stacie Joy 

About the art that has been up on the fence for a few weeks along Second Street at Second Avenue...outside the currently stalled development. 

According to the artist (who wishes to remain anonymous), these are guardians, standing firm to resist development and preserve homes.

This post has more about the pending development here.

Saturday's parting shot

On First Street near Second Avenue, "Trainspotting" street art by The Postman...

Sunday's parting shot

Photo by Jose Garcia

Dirt Cobain and Outersource refreshed their U Get Me So High mural on St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue today... the mural first arrived here in January 2018.

Off the wall: Longtime 'Alphabet City' mural erased

After nearly 11 years as a colorful fixture on the southwest corner of Sixth Street and Avenue C, the "Alphabet City" mural is gone. 

A reader reports that on Monday, an anti-graffiti crew power-washed the artwork from the one-story RCN Cable building — a windowless structure as mysterious as it is nondescript. 

The creative mural of the alphabet letters was created by Brooklyn-based artists The Yok and Sheryo, who were then working for the Jersey City-based arts group Green Villain. 

It arrived in late 2014 (and with some controversy). 

Someone tagged the mural in August 2022 (it took eight years)... and it got worse from then on. 

Here in better days, via Carpe City...

We'll be curious to see what, if anything, shows up next.

Tuesday's parting shot

Tats Cru created a new set of murals on the SE corner of Second Street and Avenue A (their usual spot) several weeks back.

We tried, without much success, to get a shot of new panels... so thanks to Salim for getting the job done today.

BTW, U.K.-based artist Nick Walker joined Tats Cru to do the panel on the far left.

Saturday's opening shot

Pigeon Lady up for January outside the Second Avenue F stop... art by Caryn Cast...

Trump sculpture draws attention on 2nd Street (and elsewhere)

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

On Wednesday morning, we received a few reader messages along the lines of "There is a sculpture of former President Donald Trump having sex with an American-flag-clad woman in the back of a pick-up truck on Second Street." 

Not the usual queries that arrive in the inbox first thing in the morning.

Upon arriving on the scene, we discovered this work by UK-based artist Alison Jackson, who has long skewered celebrities, politicians, and royals in art and photography, blurring the line between fact and fiction. 

As Artsy noted in 2016: "... past works have pictured Obama having a cigarette, and Bill Clinton getting a nude massage as Hillary delivers a speech on TV. They're uncanny manifestations of stories and personas that are ever-present in the public imagination, visions of what may or may not occur among public figures behind closed doors." 

She planned to take the statue to Trump Tower on Wednesday for her latest piece (she has done Trump-related performance art in NYC in recent years). "It's a gift for Donald Trump," she told us. "It's quite a gift to leave for him, isn't it?"

According to her site, "she made the sexually charged sculpture to raise questions about how this powerful leader, ex-President Donald Trump, treats women and gets away with it." 

And why was this on Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C?

Turns out the sculpture staging ground was outside 233 E. Second St., where Gio Tocco Productions was lending a hand. The address has storage space that Gio Tocco rents. 

The pick-up truck bearing the sculpture eventually left for a trip through Times Square and eventually a Trump Tower drive-by over the past two days ...

A copy of this hyper-realistic, life-sized sculpture is also currently on display at a gallery in London.

About 'Empty Beds,' a photo memorial that honors Ukrainian children abducted during the war

Photos by Steven 

Saturday saw the arrival on the NE corner of Second Avenue and Second Street of "Empty Beds," a 100-foot-long, 8-foot-tall memorial "to the over 19,546 children abducted by Russian forces" from Ukraine since the invasion in 2022.

Brooklyn-based photographer Phil Buehler recently returned from Ukraine, where he was capturing the war's impact on civilians. 

Here's more about the subject matter: 

These children were taken to Russia or Russian-occupied areas without consent, leaving their beds empty or destroyed by bombs. 

Buehler, though not Ukrainian, felt compelled to return and bring these stories to the U.S. through this powerful public artwork.

When the photographer is present, the exhibit includes discarded toys alongside the photographs... 

From a piece on the memorial via The New York Times:

"I think every parent can imagine there's some loved child there," Buehler said, referring to the bedroom photos. He hopes the mural, spanning an entire block, creates space for viewers to reflect on loss and waiting. 

"I wanted it out on the street, where anyone passing by could stop and engage with the work," he said.

The work will be on display through November. 

Last November, Buehler shared an exhibit on Second and Second titled "Irpin Ukraine: Please Don't Forget Us," a 60-foot-long photograph of the cemetery of civilian cars destroyed by Russian forces at the beginning of the war.

Saturday's opening shot

A new mural for October outside the Second Avenue F stop... work by MOTOMICHI. 

P.S. 

There's a QR code on the wall if you want to try an AR-enhanced version.

A place in the Sun: An installation series on St. Mark's Place celebrates the daylight

Starting tomorrow for the fall equinox, The Flint Collective NYC unveils a temporary installation series titled "Suncast" that maps "memory and daylight moments" along St Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

Here's more via the EVG inbox: 

Six artists from the Collective responded to the challenge of creating works that 1) transform our perception of the street; 2) "catch" light rather than produce light and 3) use minimal material to allow the light effect to take center stage. 

The experimental format was devised as an inversion of the electric light art festivals common to other major cities. In contrast to the spectacle of the typical light festivals that extend the night culture, the daylight interventions presented an opportunity to celebrate small moments in our Everyday and contribute to the character of streets before sundown.

The opening festivities start tomorrow at 11 a.m. at 97 St. Mark's Place... followed by an artist walk at noon. 

The work will be up through Sept. 29. This link details the different installations and timing on events.

Sunday's opening shot

Audrey Hepburn art on Avenue A and Seventh Street by Free Humanity ... who has a solo show now at CLLCTV.NYC on Third Street (No. 209 just east of Avenue B) through Sept. 26. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• A visit to CLLCTV.NYC

Sunday's opening shots

As seen on the NW corner of Houston at Second Avenue...

The art, which arrived here late last month, is by fuck.with.love. (H/T @catscoffeecreativity)

A quartet of murals for 2nd and A

Photo by Stacie Joy

This quartet of murals went up over the weekend on Second Street at Avenue A (NE corner)... a collaboration with (on the top) @outersource and @cramcept and, below, @scrambledeggsit and @ratchinyc ... a nice use for a blank wall that gets tagged after every fresh coat of paint.