All Photos By Gail
Legendary street artist and social satirist Ron English’s Hulk Baby Mural has been on display at the corner of Houston and Bowery since late April, but you know sometimes we arrive a little late to the party, because so much else is going on. Because, NYC!
The selfie-friendly mural shows English’s Hulk Baby character (AKA Temper Tot) set against a patchwork American flag, featuring reproductions of the many scathing corporate/brand parodies, memes and unique characters he has introduced over the past two decades as “guerilla” billboards, paintings and collectible art toys. Here are a few of our favorites.
The Missing Link
But it wasn’t Big Foot, it was Gay Foot.
You Are Not Here
Kiss Kidz on Coke
The child model in many of Ron’s paintings is actually his son, Mars English who is perhaps a teenager by now, and an artist in his own right.
King of Jews, King of Beers
You Are Not a Clone
The Grinning Skull is one of English’s most famous images.
Light My Fire
I could be wrong, but I think Ron might like to smoke pot.
Clearly not.
This is one of my favorites.
You could spend hours discovering new images on the Hulk Baby billboard and it’s certainly worth paying a leisurely visit.
Since Keith Haring, this is the best mural to grace Bowery/Houston. And to all “street artists” who don’t do much more than wallpaper the town with the most obvious images of famous icons, please study this mural and Ron English’s art to get a lesson on what effective street artist is.