Reaper | Amusing the Zillion

Posts Tagged ‘Reaper’

Banksy Does Bumper Car, Has Yet to Do Coney Island

Posted in art, video, tagged Banksy, Better Out Than In, Coney Island, Eldorado Arcade, Eldorado Bumper Cars, Os Gemeos, Reaper, Steve Powers, street art on October 26, 2013| 4 Comments »

Yesterday, Banksy unveiled a Bumper Car-riding Reaper in Manhattan and posted this video set to the tune of “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” The installation is at Houston and Elizabeth Streets, where it’s on view from dusk till midnight through Sunday. “Welcome to the fair — which life isn’t,” says the audio guide to the piece.

With 5 days left in his “Better Out Than In” tour of New York City, we’re still waiting for Banksy to create a piece of street art in Coney Island. He has chosen locations in the South Bronx, Staten Island and Queens but the majority of his pieces are in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including Brooklyn Heights, Bushwick, Williamsburg, Red Hook, East New York and Sunset Park. How can you visit the City for a month and not do Coney Island?! There’s still time, Banksy– Coney Island’s amusement rides are open through Sunday, but the rest of Coney is open year round!

Os Gemeos Mural on Stillwell Ave, Coney Island. October 30, 2009. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Coney Island has a rich tradition of street art. Guerrilla art by RAE and post-Sandy MERCY graffiti by an unknown artist have appeared this year. OverUnder, ND’A, Veng, Radical and Ephameron painted murals for a project curated by Keith Schweitzer for No Longer Empty in 2011.

Os Gemeos, the Brazilian twins whom Banksy collaborated with on 24th Street in Chelsea have a 130-foot mural on Coney’s Stillwell Avenue that dates back to 2005. Work by Steve Powers, whose Dreamland Artists Club in collaboration with Creative Time brought new signage to Coney Island, can still be seen on the staircase at Coney Island USA, West 12th Street’s Miss Coney Island and Skin the Wire, and the Eldorado Bumper Cars on Surf Ave. Sideshow banners by Marie Roberts have emblazoned the facade of Coney Island USA’s headquarters since 1997.

Tonight at the Eldorado Bumper Cars and Arcade, there’s a “Things That Go Bump in the Night” Halloween party. Free unlimited “Bump Your Ass Off” bumper car rides are included with the price of admission. The DJ lineup includes Groove Therapy artists Bass Age, Chris See, Dali, Hardbass Addicts, Nicky Twist, Steve Nice and TJFX. Time: 9pm – 3am, Age: 18+, Tickets: $20.