BY GABE HERMAN | Several works of street art have recently gone up on Varick Street as part of a program from the Hudson Square Business Improvement District (BID) to mark its 10th anniversary.
The street art program is called “Hudson Square Canvas” and features work from four artists along one of the neighborhood’s busy pedestrian areas.
One of the artists is Greg Lamarche, a New York native who put up a colorful mural of typography at 200 Varick St. that features graffiti-style fonts and is an homage to the area’s history as a printing area.
Another work, by Claudia Ravaschiere and Michael Moss, uses 5,000 pieces of neon acrylic to stretch along a 90-foot span of Freeman Plaza East’s fence.
Katie Merz, a Brooklyn artist, has two works, at 161 and 181 Varick, that include hieroglyphs and other patterns. And JMikal Davis, known as Hellbent, has a design up at 131 Varick that features layers of colors and patterns in a quilt-like design.
“Like the people that make up Hudson Square itself, this original and cutting-edge art will contribute to the vibrant and energetic feel of our neighborhood,” said Hudson Square BID President Ellen Baer. “It’s this same energy within the community that has attracted businesses like Disney, Google, Edelman, Horizon, Squarespace and New York Public Radio to the neighborhood and we’re thrilled to share that spirit with the world through Hudson Square Canvas.”
The art will be up through the summer of 2020, and the BID will hold tours of the works throughout this fall.
