To the Moon with Gazoo

"Neither snow, nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" ...  nor apparently the artist Gazoo from making his art!

Walking home from the subway from work last night around 8 PM on the coldest night of the winter to date,  Jean passed an artist hard at work trying to cover the entire storefront at Ideal Glass on East 2nd Street. The space is a rotating outdoor art gallery featuring the work of emerging and established artists.

Impressed by his zeal and work ethic in 28-degree weather in less than pleasant conditions, Jean had to pause and look. When the artist noticed her, he stopped and smiled and she said: "You definitely picked the wrong month. You should have picked August to post your work here." That elicited a goodhearted laugh and a confession that it wasn't so bad. He methodically painted just blue arrows in every other space in a row. Then he would switch brushes and paint just orange arrows. Here is a closeup of the pattern.

On the way to work this morning, Jean stopped to document how much he'd gotten done before calling it a night. Not bad! He'd covered more than two-thirds of the wall.

At 8:30 PM this evening on her way home (in 15-degree weather!), Jean was thrilled to see that he'd completed the entire wall, aptly named "Temporary Distortion." The western-most section was titled "Temporary".  (Lighting was less than ideal because the street light was partially obscured by tree limbs.)

The eastern panel titled "Distortion" was much more brightly lit. It gives you a much better idea of the overall pattern. Don't you think this would make a terrific pattern on a fabric for a jumpsuit or caftan or turban?

So, who was this mysterious artist-in-the-night?

He tagged his work "To The Moon Gazoo 15". Don't you just love the internet? We were able to track him down. The artist is none other than Montserrat-born painter and performer Jason "Gazoo" Allen. To learn more about him and his art, click here.  This is just one more reason why we love living in New York City!