July 20, 2018

Meet the man filling potholes with mosaics of NYC vermin (and Donald Trump)

Update 10:15am on 7/20/18: Jim Bachor tells us that the NYC Department of Transportation has already pulled up the cockroach, bouquet, Trump, and pigeon mosaics.  If you recently saw a construction worker filling potholes around Manhattan and Brooklyn with mosaics and thought it was a bit off, you were right. This was Chicago-based artist Jim Bachor in disguise for his latest public art piece, "Vermin of New York." For the past five years, Jim has been filling potholes in Chicago with mosaics of everything from flowers to trash, and after a successful Kickstarter campaign, he recently brought his work to NYC. The series includes a cockroach, a rat, a pigeon, and Donald Trump (yes, you can drive over his face). 6sqft was able to talk with Jim about how he got into such a unique form of "guerilla" art and what the meaning is behind his latest series.
Read on for more from Jim
June 4, 2014

A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On: Is the City’s Development Leading to Its Destruction?

I sat under a canopy of blue sky on the elevated platform of the Sutter Avenue stop in Brownsville, Brooklyn. I like elevated subway stations because they’re, you know, elevated as opposed to that subterranean scene that transpires underground. What I wasn’t liking so much that particular day, high above the busy avenue, was the way the platform slightly vibrated with each passing vehicle below. It was somewhat unsettling. And then the ground really started to shake, so much so that I looked to the distance to see if Godzilla bore down on Brooklyn, smashing cars and pounding through buildings, breathing fire and squawking that awful squawk. But it was only the 3 Train rattling in from East New York. The platform continued to shake more and more until the train, thankfully, came to a stop. I got on board, but I wasn’t all that happy about it. And then I started to think about my dog.
Andrew, on cue from his dog, questions the physical stability of NYC

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