East River-Inspired Art Installed Under the Manhattan Bridge in Dumbo

The Dumbo Improvement District and the Department of Transportation have chosen a pretty awesome public art piece for the base of the Manhattan Bridge — “Watergate,” a massive 275-square-foot painting by the Brooklyn artist Casey Opstad. The piece covers the corrugated metal fence in the archway under the bridge, and it’ll be on display through May of next year. It took two weeks to install, with the artist hand painting (not printing) more than 100,000 half-inch squares according to an eight-color schema inspired by the East River. According to the Dumbo Improvement District, “The pixelated design is a nod to the digital designers of Dumbo and the wave-like motif transports onlookers straight to the Brooklyn waterfront, as if it is just beyond the gate.” If all those pixelated squares were laid in a straight line, they would stretch for more than a mile. Hop over the jump to see some closeup images.

Photos via the Dumbo BID