Manhattan Mural at Jake’s Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Avenue, by Borbay & Penn

Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

The owners of Jake’s Saloon commissioned Artist Jeremy Penn and yours truly to create an old-tyme Manhattan scene on the 11X26 foot exterior brick wall at their 875 10th Avenue location, at the North West corner of West 57th and 10th Avenue. We relished the opportunity to make our mark on the Manhattan landscape.

Jakes Saloon From Google Maps Before The Mural

Here is what Jake’s Saloon looked like before the exterior facelift, image courtesy of Google Maps.

Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

This is the after shot.

Jake's Proposal Digital Image

Here is where it all began… with a quick Photoshop comp (you can click on the image above for a larger view).

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

A blank Slate. Jeremy gets to work building a grid, one 1’X1′ square at at time.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Grid complete, we begin working from lower left, to right.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Jeremy in his finest Teamster pose, stands at the base of the unfinished scaffolding. I’ll admit, putting together a scaffold is real mans work, and it made me feel more manly.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Black and white, pure high contrast. See my camera up there? It wasn’t destined to be around for long.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

A view from across the street… starting to take shape. It’s critical when painting something on this scale that you frequently see how it looks and feels from a distance.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Jeremy working off the ground. As you can see, we were able to work collaboratively on, quite literally, every section of the mural.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Drawing in the Jake’s logo…

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Now it’s painted!

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Nailing in the fading skyline to the left of the logo… right about now is when the camera was stolen.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Starting to shape up from afar.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

One unexpected challenge was painting over the elevated concrete archway… it creates a strange perspective point.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

You have to stagger the lines so the shapes read coherently.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Starting to get into shape.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

Now for some sweet pictures courtesy of Luis Pons, who came to snap-up part of the process. Jeremy and me cranking away.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

Great picture of the Jake’s sign. Take a look at this great recap from The Art of Design, courtesy of Matt Drummond.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

Mr. Penn, getting the Sharpie to work for him.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

Working high and low.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

Despite it being “Business Casual Friday”, I decided to dress up anyway.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

A close-up of Penn.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

Get that paint poured out challs.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

Free flowing lines.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

The source.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

The Jake’s logo with a faded me to the right.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

Classic Penn.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

“Sorry, I am covered in paint, otherwise I would sign an autograph for you.”

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

As an artist, it’s important to constantly work on your calves…

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

Focused…

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

Add black and those are the only tones we used for this puppy.

Jake's Saloon Mural Photograph by Luis Pons

Added benefit of having a gut? It’s the easiest way to clean your brushes.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Really starting to come together.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

We had to take the scaffolding down because of Irene… which gave us our first unadulterated view of the progress…

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Fortunately, the mural survived the storm… and eventual earthquake. The locusts never arrived.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

The top left is finally painted in! We had to use a ladder and a cinder block to get up that high, which made for some tense moments.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Scaffold back up, time to push toward the finish.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Some final touches on the carriages and…

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

Fin!

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

A step back to look at the completed job.

Painting Process Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

A mural by Borbay & Penn… this was by all accounts a seamless collaboration from start to finish.

Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

With the overhang lights added, Jake’s facelift is now complete.

Jake's Saloon, West 57th Street and 10th Ave Manhattan a Mural by Borbay and Penn

I would like to sincerely thank Jimmy Cahill and Jimmy Glynn for this terrific opportunity. Another big shout to the entire Jake’s team for treating us like family throughout the entire process. Please stand by for the Mural Opening Party, which will be scheduled soon. Be sure to check out Jake’s, not only at this location, but their other two locations at 23rd and 7th Avenue; and 9th Avenue between 22nd and 23rd.

Become a Borbay V.I.P.

 
You'll be first to hear about new works, pre-sale's, market updates and much, much more.

You've done it!

7 comments

  1. Mark LaRosa says:

    you’re looking pretty rough in these photos jason, and penn is looking all movie star like. i think he might be using you to make himself look better for the ladies. just kidding.
    killer job guys, looks fantastic.

  2. Borbay says:

    Mark, funny you should mention that. We had an agreement prior to kicking off the mural — I promised to dress as dodgy as possible… this included not shaving, wearing the same crappy cargo shorts every day, and carrying myself about in a generally unkempt fashion. Thank you for the shout!

Comments are closed.