Portrait of an Artist, in Midtown

Photo by myself in Midtown.

Walking down the street during lunch on Friday, I spotted a truck plastered with fantastic black and white drawings of New York City.

I ran to the office, grabbed my camera and ran back. I met the driver of the truck, who turned out to be the assistant to the artist himself.

Krikko, the artist (above, right), was trained as an architect. His black and white pencil drawings start out as regular drawings which he then redraws at huge sizes. Some of the drawings measure over 20 feet long.

Krikko researches the buildings in his drawings through books and photographs. The aerial view of Manhattan, to the right, took four years to complete.

During our brief chat, Krikko said he is currently working on a huge drawing of the United States. When finished, the original large drawings are exhibited in a museum in New Haven, Connecticut. Krikko designed and financed the museum completely from his drawings and private donations.

Reproductions of Krikko's drawings are on sale in souvenir shops along Fifth Avenue, near the Empire State Building.

For Krikko's website, click here.
For Krikko's Wiki page, click here.
To order prints, call (888) 756-ARTS.

The Portrait Series is a once-in-a-while installment, featuring New Yorkers encountered on the street.

Related posts: Portrait of an Artist, on the Upper East Side, Is it Art? on the Lower East Side and Portrait of a Film Shoot, in Brooklyn Heights.