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MTV Moonman Designer KAWS and David Byrne to Transform Empty Ft. Greene Lot

By Janet Upadhye | August 30, 2013 9:33am
 BAM Bike Park is a new space across the street from the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Once an empty lot, the space will now be home to murals and David Byrne-designed bike racks.
BAM Bike Park
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FORT GREENE — The desolate, fenced-off lot across the street from Brooklyn Academy of Music has a new name and a new look.

Painters recently finished a vibrant mural by Brooklyn-based artist KAWS in the newly named "BAM Bike Park."

And custom-designed bike racks by David Byrne, lead vocalist for the Talkings Heads, are coming soon.

An unveiling of the revamped lot is set for Sept. 4.

“BAM is at the center of a neighborhood that is brimming with bike activity and we are excited to offer this inspiring new bike lot to our audience and the community,” says BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins in a statement. “It is our mission, as the home for adventurous artists, audiences, and ideas, that everything connected with BAM reflect our creative spirit and the David Byrne Bike Racks and KAWS mural are in perfect alignment with that philosophy.”

BAM plans to allow a series of murals on the new 24-foot-high mural wall. KAWS was allowed first crack at the wall and other artists will paint over his work to create their own in coming years.

KAWS' mural, completed Thursday morning, features geometric shapes, bright colors and his signature use of "X"'s also found in place of eyes on the MTV Video Music Awards moonman statue he designed this year's show.

“It’s exciting that BAM has developed this new platform for the visual arts and it has been a great opportunity for me to create a public work for Brooklyn,” he said in a statement.