Celebrating Chico Garcia

After 112, I stopped by China I on Avenue B to say goodbye to Chico Garcia who was leaving New York City for
Tampa, Florida. Chico’s friends, neighbors and co-workers were throwing him a farewell party to thank him for the
hundreds of murals he painted throughout his Lower East Side neighborhood over 30 years. His colleagues at the
New York City Housing Authority presented him with a plaque that read “In recognition of dedicated and inspired
service to the community in which he has lived and worked for more than 30 years this plaque is presented to
Antonio Chico Garcia, Graffiti Artist Extraordinaire, with extreme gratitude and appreciation for decades of
impressionistic and powerful messages, murals and paintings you have contributed to on Manhattan’s Lower East
Side at the New York City Housing Authority. Job Well Done!”. That must be the first time a city agency has
celebrated a graffiti artist!

I first saw Chico’s murals in 1982. Here are my earliest photos of two of his earliest works.

Chico was a true community artist. His work found a wide audience because, in addition to being an adept
draftsman with a spraycan, he specialized in a crisp, straight letter style that could be easily read by everyone.
In addition to murals painted for the fun of it, Chico tirelessly painted shop fronts, bodegas, and memorial walls.
His entire neighborhood on the Lower East Side was an ever changing exhibition of his work.

Good Luck, Chico! We are sorry to see you go and hope you’ll find some good walls that need painting in Tampa.