From Animal New York, September 22, 2008:
Bushwick Building’s Mural Draws Inspiration From the Hood
Artist Erik Burke recently finished painting this two-story mural for Jeremy Sapienza, editor of BushwickBK.
It incorporates visual characteristics from the surrounding area including specific buildings, the elevated JMZ train, and actual people from the neighborhood, which could account for it taking so damn long.
From Eric Burke:
Just finished this mural for Jeremy of BushwickBk. What seemed like it would only take a few days took almost a month as more and more people from the neighborhood came by to get their portrait added and chit chat. It was very Jane Jacobs-like hanging out the[re] and getting to know the neighborhodd through and through. I’m really going to miss them now that it’s done.
From Jeremy Sapienza:
I naively thought I could keep the mural I commissioned on my house from infecting the blogosphere, but no: I am simply too interesting to be left alone! But seriously, wtf was I thinking, it”™s fucking awesome, and I am so lucky to have made contact with artist Erik Burke, the wunderkind of Bushwick murals (who worked on the Jefferson/Wyckoff mural). He made my vague ideas about what I wanted (“make it Bushwicky”¦something with maps”) into a beautiful piece that mixes street scenes and abstract treatments. I tossed ideas at him mid-painting and he incorporated them in.
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. You can see better photos here.