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Botched Job: Coney Island Art Exiled by Thor Equities

Posted in art, Photography, tagged Bruce Handy, Coney Island, Ephamaron, mural, NO Longer Empty, OverUnder, street art, Thor Equities, Veng on February 5, 2012| 3 Comments »

No Longer Empty's Artwork Reposted at Shore Parkway. February 4, 2012. Photo © Bruce Handy/Coney Island Photo Diary via flickr

Last week, ATZ reported that the construction fencing at Thor Equities’ Surf and Stillwell lot in Coney Island had come down to reveal a sterile-looking, one-story building. What happened to the blue boards, which were emblazoned with murals by No Longer Empty artists as part of a project sponsored by the City’s Economic Development Corporation? Coney’s eagle-eyed Captain Nemo spotted some in a botched reassembly at another Thor construction site in Brooklyn and posted on the Coney Island Message Board:

The artists who tried to remove the blight that Sitt placed upon Coney Island turning his ugly blue construction fences into canvases of art, can visit their artwork by visiting his close by Bay Parkway project. He sent in the bulldozers to clear that land, and took along his Coney Island blue plywood construction fencing to his latest blight project. The artists work is mismatched and looks like impressionist artwork of the worst order.

This slide show by photographer Bruce Handy shows jumbled sections of the Coney Island murals incorporated into construction fencing at 1752 Shore Parkway in Bensonhurst. The site is Thor Equities’ $150 million Bay Center project, where BJ’s Wholesale Club is expected to be the anchor tenant.

Nobody expects the guys who put up and take down Thor’s construction fences to be art handlers, but couldn’t they at least match up the panels? After all the work that went into the murals, it would have been nice if somebody in charge at Thor Equities–Hey, Joey!– had thought of reusing them to beautify another site.

Thor CEO Joe Sitt, whose self-proclaimed nickname is “Joey Coney Island,” likes to tell reporters “I view Coney Island as a national and international treasure.” If that’s true, why not move the murals, which were created for Coney Island, to one of his other lots in Coney? There’s an unsightly empty lot at Surf and West 12th, where the Bank of Coney Island and concession booths were demolished in 2010 to make way for nothing.

No Longer Empty Mural Project, Coney Island, April 2011. Featured Artists: Ephameron, ND’A, OverUnder, Radical & Veng. Photo © Keith Schweitzer

Last April, the City’s Economic Development Corporation brought in No Longer Empty, a non-profit that curates site specific art exhibitions, to dress up the fences which greeted visitors when they first exited Stillwell Terminal. The above photo shows the finished mural on Thor’s fences surrounding the then empty lot at Surf and Stillwell.

Keith Schweitzer, who founded and curates NLE’s mural project, made this wonderfully edgy video of three street artists’ 48-hour transformation of Thor’s construction fence at Surf and Stillwell. As he explains in his blog: “Beginning with the main entrances to the park and working our way inward, six artists covered more than 4,000 square feet of exterior surfaces with artwork referencing Coney Island‘s legendary iconography and the surrounding beachfront boardwalk’s imagery.” Veng, OverUnder and Ephameron, who are seen painting the boards in the vid, are among the artists whose work has turned up in a jumble on Shore Parkway.

UPDATE February 7, 2012:

As mentioned by one of the commenters on this post, the murals on the Bowery side were also taken down and a few of the mismatched panels were put up to cover the windowless wall of Thor’s new building.

Photo Album: Street Art Down by the Coney Island Bowery

Posted in art, Photography, tagged Coney Island, Keith Schweitzer, ND'A, NO Longer Empty, OverUnder, street art, Thor Equities, Veng on June 1, 2011| 1 Comment »

No Longer Empty in Coney Island: Polar Bear by Veng and ND'A painting Down by the Boardwalk. May 28, 2011. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

On Saturday in Coney Island, we passed by the Bowery side of Thor Equities’ blue construction fence to find an artist working on a Down by the Boardwalk-themed painting. It features a friendly octopus holding a boombox and a note saying “On a blanket with my baby is where I’ll be.” Like the three street artists whose work we wrote about last month in “Photo Album: Whimsical Murals Blossom in Coney Island,” ND’A aka Nick was sent by the art organization No Longer Empty and the City’s Economic Development Corporation to beautify the streetscape.

ND'A painting Down by the Boardwalk. May 28, 2011. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

Keith Schweitzer, who organized the mural project for No Longer Empty, told ATZ about the other new murals: “The polar bear – to the left of Nick’s octopus – is by Veng, the same artist who painted the semi-realistic faces and clown on the Stillwell wall. He’s a quiet, talented man and often full of surprises. He arrived at the wall that morning and said ‘I am going to paint a polar bear.’. It was later I found out that he & his family/friends take part in the Polar Bear Club activity at Coney Island each year. Like I said, he’s a quiet man, and I’m not sure if hearing about Rabbi Abraham Abraham’s recent passing away had anything to do with the subject of the mural.”

No Longer Empty in Coney Island: ND'A painting Down by the Boardwalk... May 28, 2011. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

As for the large CONEY letters guarded by New York’s Finest in the photo below, they were painted by OverUnder, who also painted the Stillwell Avenue side of the fence with Veng. “OverUnder did the whimsical swimmers and the heart ‘Love to Sea you,’ and other elements of the wall,” says Schweitzer. “On one of the days that we were painting Stillwell Ave, a newlywed couple walked toward OverUnder from the boardwalk having just taken post-wedding photos. They were in full wedding attire and asked OverUnder if he would paint something for them. OverUnder obliged, asking their names, and painted their initials H&B inside of a heart. That was not part of the planned composition, but it developed into the wonderful ‘tattoo’ heart and I am happy to see that many people stop to be photographed in front of the heart.”

We’re happy to see these fanciful paintings bringing good vibrations to this decimated block. As previously noted, it’s a good solution to distract people’s attention from the construction fence and the empty lot at the gateway to Coney Island’s beach and boardwalk. Sad to say, the century-old Henderson Music Hall stood here until real estate speculator Joe “Blight for Spite” Sitt knocked it down in January. A pile driver was recently moved onto the lot at Surf and Stillwell. Behind the blue fence, a foundation for a high rise is being built, on top of which a placeholder one-story commercial building will be plopped next season. Nothing can quell my sorrow that we lost the zoning battle to keep high rises of up to 30 stories off the south side of Surf.

Update, June 14th…

Visit Vandalog to see photos of the latest mural on the blue wall: The street artist Radical has painted an ice-cream cone slurping hot dog!

Video: Coney Island: OverUnder x Veng x Ephameron

Posted in art, video, tagged Coney Island, Ephamaron, Keith Schweitzer, NO Longer Empty, OverUnder, street art, Veng on May 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Keith Schweitzer, who founded and curates No Longer Empty’s mural project, made this wonderfully edgy video of three street artists’ 48-hour transformation of Thor’s construction fence at Surf and Stillwell. The artists are Veng, OverUnder and Ephameron. We wrote about the project last month in “Photo Album: Whimsical Murals Blossom in Coney Island,” (ATZ, April 15).