BY SARAH FERGUSON | Look out! Pete zMissing is back in town and putting on shows — and murals!
And unlike his ubiquitous upside-down-cocktail-glass graffiti, these are even sponsored murals!
On Saturday, Missing and co-conspirator Cyril Hazard performed a rhythmic and not-too-riotous metal jam at the First Street Green Art Park before the 60-foot stretch of mural they recently painted.
Missing and Hazard— two of the original members of the infamous noise band Missing Foundation— performed with Lawry Zilmrah, an experimental instrument maker. Zilmrah played a contraption made out of a bicycle wheel miked to numerous pedal effects. He strummed the bike spokes with a violin bow, to jarring effect, as Missing bonged on a Native American drum and Hazard and bandmate Paul Saint Savage jammed on metal stuff.
The group performed against the backdrop of unending heavy construction on Houston St. —probably the only place Missing Foundation could put on a show without getting shut down for noise complaints.
Their mural, which is titled “Current Obstruction,” was sponsored by the East Village arts group Fab NYC, in conjunction with the Green Art Park (which is hosting its own fundraiser on May 31 at the park, with live-action painting from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.).
Prior to performing, Missing gave a brief rant: “I live in Copenhagen,” he declared, gesturing to the high-rises cropping up around the East Village. “In Copenhagen, we have very low buildings. I grew up in the Bronx and the Lower East Side. We’re the creators, the creative people that was pushed out.”
Hazard, who speaks with a sexy French accent, was more diplomatique.
“It was a very enjoyable experience to create in a place where life can be as beautiful as it can be expensive,” he told the crowd of MF fans and curious passersby who gathered in the park.
The mural was created as part of Fab NYC’s annual LES History Month celebration during the month of May.
“It is fitting because behind it lies the Lower East Side I knew,” Hazard said. “It is important to get the record straight, so that when all things come full circle, you are left with a happy ending and a joyful beginning.”
Now that’s pretty Zen for a MF show.
