The Bowery Wall stands as one of the city's most coveted spots for public art, with a history that stretches back to 1982, when Keith Haring cleared out piles of trash from the sliver of a lot and gave the city one of his iconic, day-glo murals.
Haring's original piece was destroyed, but in 2008 developer Tony Goldman (who owned the lot) and downtown gallery owner Jeffrey Deitch hired an artist to replicate the work on the site, and a succession of commissioned murals have followed. Among the all-star street artists who have put their stamp on the highly visible corner are Futura 2000, Swoon, Shepard Fairey, Os Gemeos, Revok and Pose, Aiko, Cope2, Retna, JR, Faile, Maya Hayuk, and Kenny Scharf.
And now it's PichiAvo's turn, and their piece, mostly finished yesterday afternoon after a full week of work, is a stunner. The mural follows the Spanish duo's signature "Urban Mythology" style: they spray on a layer of old-school tags and throw-ups, then lay down an epic Greco-Roman-looking classical scene, then finish up with more graffiti on top.
At the moment, the never-ending construction along that stretch of Houston Street has turned the space directly in front the wall into a parking lot, but you can still get a good view of PichiAvo's piece from the sidewalk. It will be on display for at least another three months.