First Fridays this month will feature the art work of Mike McManus, music by Bierwax, beer by US! Come celebrate on the waterfront!

About the Collection

Flowers & NYC I started drawing and painting flowers under the strike of COVID to lift my spirits. An offering of beauty before death and unrest. Flowers in my home as a point of connection and relational refreshment. Flora as a form of self care. Crafted plants surrounding me like a spa day at home. As I witnessed violence played out on the streets - the unjust murder of black folks who look like my best friends - flowers were assigned to my canvases as memorial. Protesting evil ugliness, responding with the loveliest fruit of the earth. A reminder that life will forever outlive destruction. I then began to notice flowers growing everywhere in my beloved NYC: from parks and gardens to blooms surrounding sidewalk trees to lively weeds sprouting straight from the concrete. My flowers grew oneness with the city, a colorful duality of resilience and tenderness. A shifting of perspective. Enjoying the green in the midst of the grunge. It is an eclectic city, we are an eclectic people.

About the Artist

Mike McManus, artist, performer and designer, was born and raised and lives in New York City. With a background in theater, dramatic writing and art history McManus has been performing in live art, theater and film since 1999. Creating in the visual arts McManus works mainly with metal; welding and forging steel and copper. He also maintains a heavy practice of works on paper and canvas utilizing traditional and non-traditional materials. McManus has curated and had his artwork featured in numerous exhibitions in and around NYC since 2009. In May 2022 McManus taught Frida’s Flower Crown making workshop at Hudson River Museum and had his fourth solo exhibition entitled Dirty Flowers: For the Heart of NYC, at LUME Studios, Feb. 14, 2022, with recording artists Infinity Song. His Prayer Language series was featured as part of “Many Ways to Raise a Fist” a dance performance by Jerron Herman at the Whitney Museum of American Art during the 2019 Whitney Biennial. McManus is currently Urban Studio Unbound’s Artist In Residence at Warburton Galerie in downtown Yonkers. Mike McManus is old school Hip-Hop and blue collar. He loves Jesus and loves people. New York City is alive in his blood.