Jim Power (and Bloomberg the Scrooge who Stole our Culture)

For over 20 years, Power has dedicated himself, his artistic skills, his own money and his time to make the city and public spaces of NYC more human, more beautiful, more neighborly, and more of an artist colony. He always saw his mosaics as gifts to the city, as vehicles for positive change, and as a way of making the community safer, less intimidating, and more friendly. Many of the names on the poles are dedicated to people who have given public service to the city: NYPD, FDNY, EMS, Sanitation, Dinkins, Abraham Lincoln, and so on. He has also built a memorial planter to the victims and heroes of 9/11. Power is making public art. This is not esoteric, special knowledge art; this is art for the people, all people. Everyone can understand the mosaics. His first lampposts were more crudely crafted and they looked like the early broken plate Schnabal paintings. One can follow the changes in his style and craftsmanship from the early work to the later poles, such as the Fillmore East pole.

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