Bradley Theodore Paints Anthony Bourdain Tribute Mural on Delancey Street
Prolific street artist Bradley Theodore last weekend painted a memorial to fallen celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. It’s on the facade of 104 Delancey Street, seemingly the first such tribute mural to the man on the Lower East Side.
Theodore’s trademark is painting skeletal renditions of fashionable pop culture icons. So it’s touching to see a full-bodied tribute to Bourdain, who committed suicide last month at the age of 61. The mural resides on the long-neglected frontage of 104 Delancey Street, the former Chase bank owned by landlord Samy Mahfar that’s been an art experiment for the better part of the last decade.
You’ll recall that Mahfar had “donated” the space to The New Allen arts organization back in September 2016. (The New Allen was created by Baby Brassa owner Franco Noriego, yet they fled Allen Street earlier this year.) That PR gambit lasted a brief period before itself folding the following spring.
So, yeah, art is pretty much all that’s happening here until something big shells out the cash.
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