Look! Erik Burke's Building-sized Mural In Bushwick

Jeremy Sapienza, of the fabulous BushwickBK.com, recently commissioned local artist Erik Burke to cover the entire facade of his building with a two-story mural...

The finished piece incorporates street scenes from the neighborhood with abstract treatments; Erik even included several portraits of kids from the block, eager to see themselves in the work. From Erik's Flickr, "every time i thought it was almost done a new kid in the neighborhood would come over and beg to have their portrait added. big thanks to jeremy for letting me paint his building and loiter on the stoop."

Jeremy has this to say about the process: "Why a mural? I can’t afford the $40,000 it would take to restore my facade back to how it looked in the 1930s, so in the meantime, instead of just another coat of boring paint on the crappy stucco, why not a piece of art? It’s probably the only full-size residential mural in Bushwick, at least that I know of, and the neighbors have been supportive and even enthusiastic. It’s been a great experience."

All images via Erik Burke's Flickr

Comments (4)

lovely idea and great mural. but to me it looses points due to the fact that the owner has a tree whole but has not planted a tree....

posted by Anusha73 on September 30th 2008 at 10:50am
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i think i see a baby tree in the hole

posted by maxx on September 30th 2008 at 12:10pm
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cool

posted by LaurieLu on September 30th 2008 at 4:31pm
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have you been to bushwick? there are no trees. it's sort of an industrial wasteland. although, a local organization, trees not trash, and the bigger non profit, nyrp, are slowly working to fix that. for now we all are living a tree-less existence, unfortunately.

posted by bushwack on October 1st 2008 at 3:52am
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