BEFORE setting off on a Ridgewood and Bushwick walkabout recently I was pacing on the Myrtle Avenue elevated M train station (I pace back and forth like a caged animal whenever I have to wait on a subway platform) when I noticed some interesting art pieces on the nearby buildings. Ridgewood and Bushwick have been premier locales for interesting art on buildings, a cut above the usual spray can offerings by the local youth; some are professional pieces that were authorized by developers. One such is the above piece at #1510 Gates Avenue, opened in 2021. A one bedroom rents for $3090, which is actually reasonable by current Brooklyn standards, but also means it wasn’t built with incomes in the immediate area in mind; they’re seeking gentrifiers. The large mural on the side of the building has been there from the beginning. Some looks at the interior are provided by New York Yimby.
Two pieces by artist Dave Hollier. that have been on their respective buildings since 2015. The portrait of Muhammad Ali, on Gates Avenue, is only visible from the elevated platform. Both portraits employ famous speeches and quotation from their subjects.
Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing. — Ali
The other, on a wall facing a White Castle parking lot at Broadway and Linden Street, depicts the founder of non-apartheid South Africa Nelson Mandela:
Can we say with confidence that it is within our reach to declare that never again shall continents, countries, or communities be reduced to the smoking battlefields of contending forces of nationality, religion, race, or language? Shall we rise to the challenge which history has put before us, of ensuring that the world’s prodigious capacity for economic growth benefits all its people and not just the powerful? Will future generations say of us: indeed they did lay the foundations for the eradication of poverty; they succeeded in establishing a new world order based on mutual respect, partnership, and equity? — Mandela
This mural, on Broadway near Wyckoff, depicts Tā moko, the tattooing practiced by the Maori of New Zealand.
This political mural, visible from the platform, can be found on the corner of Gates and Irving Avenues.
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9/24/25