This morning, the photographer Daniel Arnold captured something amazing in an empty lot on the Lower East Side. The mysterious installation above, which appeared some time last night, is the work of the anonymous British street artist Banksy, who is in the midst of what he is calling “an artists residency on the streets of New York.” When I spoke to Arnold, he wondered, “How long until the rumors start that Banksy has spent the past twenty years secretly designing all of the Lower East Side? The installation, ripped and drippy and alive with violent unpleasantness, looks dropped in from Ludlow Street’s recent past …. Or future.” He added, “Without a puzzle box to reference, it’s hard to say which aspects of the scene are part of the city and which are Banksy’s installation.”
Banksy has been chronicling the residency on his Web site, “Better Out Than In,” which takes its name from a Cézanne quote: “All pictures painted inside, in the studio, will never be as good as those done outside.” He has posted a photograph of a new work almost every day since October 1st, when the project began, and each picture is accompanied by a clue about the location of the piece and a short audio description. Above is Arnold’s quick snap of the installation, taken with his phone. We’ll be adding new images throughout the afternoon. You can follow Banksy’s New York work on his site and on his Instagram feed, @banksyny.
