Coronavirus NYC: Artist Tributes Light Up Times Square

Artwork by Maira Kalman. Photo: Courtesy of Poster House and Times Square Arts/Ian Douglas

Artists and graphic designers have teamed up to make messages of safety, solidarity, and gratitude for essential workers and put them up all over town. The project is a collaborative effort between Print magazine, Poster House, the artist-activist organization For Freedoms, and Times Square Arts.

“Tens of thousands of essential workers are in transit and risking their lives to sustain this city and keep us safe,” stressed Jean Cooney, director of Times Square Arts. “We wanted to give incredible New Yorkers like Maira Kalman a platform like Times Square not only to highlight artists’ voices, but to communicate the immense amount of gratitude so many of us are feeling while also signaling the city’s resilience and solidarity with their efforts.”

The initiative is centered in Times Square, but it will reach all New Yorkers through 1,774 LinkNYC kiosks in all five boroughs, as well as the Silvercast billboards above the Lincoln Tunnel. Here’s a preview of some of them, which you will run into when you venture outside to refill your supply of quarantine Doritos. (And please wear a mask when you do.)