For his massive mural project in Downtown Brooklyn, artist BOICUT painted not on a wall, but on the ground.
As he spoke with NY1 recently, he put some primer down on the asphalt at the corner of Fulton Street and Elm Place, in advance of wrapping up thousands of square feet of painting.
“I made this artwork with the idea of an open gallery in my mind, so there’s lots of different artworks per spot, and people can just come here and explore, explore the different shapes,” said BOICUT, who hails from Vienna, Austria.
The ground murals, known as "Asphalt Art," are within the pedestrian priority spaces from the city Department of Transportation’s Shared Streets program, a partnership between the agency and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.
“Downtown Brooklyn is truly a mixed-used area with residence, culture, shopping, office, and what we really want to do is make sure everyone has a chance to come together outdoors and really use the public space in a way that is enjoyable for everyone,” Regina Myer, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, said.
The artwork is there, along with planters, tables, chairs, umbrellas and bike corrals. It’s all about reclaiming streets for pedestrians and cyclists, while beautifying the streetscape. In this case, with BOICUT’S colorful work.
He spent three weeks on it along with project coordinator Zahra Shahabi, who said it was a unique situation to work in the bustling downtown area.
“You need to make sure that you do engage with the people and you do respond to them, because at the end of the day, it’s theirs, and they need to have a sense of ownership, because it’s their streets, and we are just here to add a little bit to them,” Shahabi said.
This is the third year that Downtown Brooklyn’s Shared Streets have been turned into works of art.