It’s not a dress; it’s a different sky

Our eyes caught on this vibrant mural on 18th Street and 10th Avenue, which debuted a few weeks ago and is perched right above a High Line staircase. Called “Time for a New Sky II,” this isn’t quite what you thought at first glance, if what you thought is that it shows a human in a yellow bellowing dress set up against a vibrant summer sky.

Rather it shows an individual trying, in vain or not, to pull an artificial almost dusk-toned sky over the natural one behind him. From the High Line’s description:

In Time for a New Sky II, a solitary figure stands atop a painted scenic sky backdrop, attempting to pull this artificial scene over the actual sky above him, as if ushering in the dusk. Reflecting Mitchell’s ongoing interest in bodily suspension and one’s relationship to the sky, this dreamlike work captures a tension between the natural and the constructed, mirroring the High Line’s own identity as an invented landscape suspended above the city. With the monumental New York skyline visible behind it, Time for a New Sky II is, ultimately, a work about self-possession and possibility: the whole sky gathered in one figure’s hands.

The artist is Brooklyn resident Tyler Mitchell. It will be in our neighborhood through this September (summer always goes so fast…).