The site of a former Getty gas station once home to an art installation of fake sheep at 239 Tenth Avenue has been quietly overtaken by a new artistic endeavor. The site is currently giving way to abstract 11-story condo The Getty designed by Peter Marino—and now a photo study of a piece of street art neighboring the site offers an unseen perspective of the property's transformation. As the building continues to make its upward ascent, the art itself seems to transform too.
The photo study is the work of NYC artist Rivka Katvan, who has been photographing the street art portrait at the site of a woman named Leda since 2013. The street art itself is from a project by Cuban-American artist José Parlá and French artist JR, who together interviewed and photographed 25 senior citizens that were around during the Cuban Revolution. The photographs were then displayed around the world, with Leda Antonio Machado landing at the corner of 25th Street and Tenth Avenue, where The Getty now rises.
In Katvan's pictures, Leda is depicted in a supervisory stance, observant of all things happening in front of her. As the surrounding construction of The Getty progresses, the street art is obscured and how Katvan captures it shifts accordingly.
A look at The Getty ↓
- All 239 Tenth Avenue coverage [Curbed]