Serge Miquel making art on a NYC street corner

I was walking north on 10th Avenue in NYC when I crossed 23rd Street to find this guy making art on the corner. He had taped up some big pieces of paper to the sides of a phone booth connected to some newspaper bins, and just went to work making his art.

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There were plenty of people walking by, most of whom weren’t paying much attention, and the artist was painting while talking on a cell phone. It was like no one thought this seemed unusual except for me, so I paused to watch him and take some pictures.

street artist Serge Miquel on the corner of 23rd and 10th, NYC

I would have chatted with him, but he stayed on his cell phone the whole time I was there, so I took a few more pictures and went on my way. I only found out his name after getting home and seeing the pictures large enough on my computer to see his name on the art work below.

artist Serge Miquel making art at 23rd Street and 10th Ave, NYC

artist Serge Miquel on his phone while making art

From what I can gather, he's been doing this in random locations around NYC for a few years now. Sometimes he just tapes up finished art work for impromptu shows, as opposed to this occasion where 10th Ave and 23rd Street was his "studio." One would think that an artist who works as publicly as this would be a promotional machine to sell the work, but I can't find an artist's website for him anywhere. I do see a protected Twitter feed and a YouTube account with a few short videos, more of them showing him playing music as opposed to making art. I guess he's a bit of a mystery man, but I do like the work.

drawing on paper by artist Serge Miquel

detail of drawing on paper by artist Serge Miquel

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