Madonna and Child Neon-Look Mural by Straker on East 3nd Street at 1st Avenue (All Photos By Gail)

Hello and welcome to week two of my ass-kicking East Village Life. In this week’s edition, we will walk through a virtual gallery of assorted street art and public art pieces that I’ve passed by on my weather-permitting daily walks in and around my neighborhood. Enjoy!

Hektad is a name that you’re going see a few times in this post, as his optimism-infused artworks are all over the East Village, especially in the First Street Green Art Park, located on First Street at First Avenue. Since this photo was taken, I believe the park has temporarily closed due to the Covid as it was attracting crowds. And we can’t have that.

Here are a couple of additional Hektad pieces on 11th Street just East of First Avenue. These are side by side, adjacent to this monumental piece by Kobra.

It does not get much more NYC than this mural of King Kong by French graffiti artist Moi One (@moi.one). Find it next to David’s Cafe on St. Mark’s Place near Tompkin’s Square Park.

This colorful tile mosaic by Jim Power, known locally as the Mosaic Man, marks the intersection of Avenue A and St Mark’s Place. Jim composes all of his intricate pieces from up-cycled china, glass, pottery and found objects to create unique, site specific works of art. His mosaics are all over the neighborhood.

More Art, After The Jump!

I never pass one of these old school red fire alarm boxes (this one is on First Avenue and 12th Street) without stopping to examine it for some kind of street art or attached stickers, or even art that’s been built inside of them. In this case, you can see a cute caricature spray-painted along the front. I’ve no idea who the artist is, so if you know, kindly leave it in the comments.

An ecstatic Sponge Bob splayed against a psychedelic background is part of mural painted on the side of PS/MS 188 (aka The Island School) on the Lower East Side.

Also spotted on the LES: this sculpture of a pair of kissing Mosaic Tile Rams. This piece is part of a series of tile mosaic sculptures that are scattered along Montgomery Street, which eventually turns into Pitt Street, and then Avenue C.

Oh, what fun it was to discover the East River Park Sea Lions Sculpture Garden, adjacent to the Grand Street Overpass. A source tells me that, during summer months, the “garden” is flooded, so that the sea lions appear to actually be frolicking in a pool. It seems unlikely that this water feature will be happening this year. And that is just a shame.

Update: The ‘pool’ has water in it! I snapped these two new photos on August 28th, 2010:

Another lovely piece of public art was discovered in Stuyvesant Town: this Veterans Memorial in the form of a Metal Tree sculpture. Very nice.

The Mural at the F Train subway stop at Second Avenue and East Second Street  changes every few months. This is what it  looks like right now!

Mural by Claudio Picasso (@cpwon) outside Oddfellows Ice Cream on Houston.

Mobil Station with art by Madvaillan located on 8th Avenue in Chelsea.

Dirt Cobain’s NY So High and this mural of a Bird in a Beanie wielding a spray paint can (by Muebon) are part of the East Village Walls on East Second Street near First Avenue.

Batsu Asian schoolgirl mural by BK Foxx on East Fourth Street near First Avenue (also part of the East Village Walls project.)

Hug Make You Strong mural by Eyebrows, on 6th Street near Avenue A. Who else misses hugging people? I sure do.

Next Week’s Theme: Flowers and Trees (aka Covid Spring)!