By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Manhattanites may only need to hail a cab this month to see a few famous works of modern art.
The work of portrait artists Chuck Close and Kehinde Wiley will travel atop 500 taxicabs starting Monday, thanks to a second installment of an exhibition that strives to bring art to the streets of New York.
"The idea is really to bring art out to the public," Doreen Remen, the co-founder of the Arts Production Fund, one of the projects' collaborators, said at the unveling in Times Square Monday.
"We feel that its invaluable to society, and that it's about pure communication, that it opens your mind and elevates your consciousness to something beyond the tangible."
Close, an American artist recognized for re-configuring the human face as a subject for his work, cropped small pieces of his larger works for the installation, using details such as Lorna Simpson's eyes and Lucas Samaras' mustache from the works "Lorna" (2006) and "Lucas" (2007-08).
Wiley, who is known for juxtaposing contemporary and traditional art forms, contributed the racially charged paintings "The Virgin Martyr St. Cecilia" (2008) and "Femme Piquee Par Un Serpent" (2008). The paintings depict contemporary black youth personalities painted with old master's techniques.
Both artists design work aimed to make the viewer think, Remen said.
The taxi advertisement space, valued at more than $100,000, was donated by multimedia company Show Media as a holiday present from John Amato, the company president and avid art enthusiast.
"It's fitting that we're in Times Square, and that there's all this commerce going down," Amato told DNAinfo Monday. "The contrast shows that you don't always have to use the public eye to sell ads."
"I think it's a great idea," New York tour group CitySights manager Colin West, 45, said. "It may cause a decrease in revenue for some, but it's a refreshing change."
Not everyone approved of using advertisement space to showcase bits of modern art, however — including Close himself, who said he felt ambivalent, at best, about the project.
"Luckily, it's not permanent," Close said as he was photographed next to a taxicab with his cropped artwork on it. "In general, when art gets put outside in public spaces it either disappears after awhile, or it gets irritating to a lot of people."
He was, however, excited to get more mileage out of a few of his most thought-provoking paintings.
"At least it will be fun for people to question why it's there," he said.
