Staircase next to 118 East 1st Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, East Village, Manhattan

February 2001

I made this painting for Jan Baracz, who lives next door to this staircase, after the first painting that I had made for him got painted over. The painting was based on Carl Rottman’s Sicyon with Corinth. Jan took almost all of the digital photographs of this project, which we then edited together. He also designed the website and the map.

There is a pillow shop underneath the stairs, and the owner was curious about the project. He was very happy to have a painting, but he was worried that it would be painted over. He suggested fixing a glass plate over it so that it would survive, but I explained that the painting was meant to be ephemeral. He said that he couldn’t see the point of that. When the painting got painted over half a year later, I wished I had taken his advice, because I liked this painting a lot.