Eduardo Kobra's Einstein Mural in New York
Albert Einstein, Artist: Eduardo Kobra photo by Nadia Bouzid
📍Location: Chelsea, NYC
Address: 212 8th Ave, New York, NY 10011
Artist: Eduardo Kobra
This kaleidoscopic styled Einstein is part of a series of 18 murals that Kobra did around New York.
The series is called “Colors for Freedom”
On the side of a three story building at the corner of 8th Avenue and West 22nd Street, Eduardo Kobra's portrait of Albert Einstein is impossible to miss.
Painted in 2018, We Love NY² was one of eighteen murals Kobra completed across New York as part of Colors for Freedom, a project that took five months to complete. Rather than concentrating the murals in one neighborhood, the project spread them throughout the city, encouraging people to discover them in different parts of New York.
The mural covers the side wall of 212 8th Avenue, a mixed use building dating to around 1900 with retail on the ground floor and apartments above. It is an ordinary Chelsea building, but the mural gives the corner a completely different presence.
Kobra's work is easy to recognize. His portraits combine realistic faces with bold geometric patterns and vivid blocks of color. The first thing you notice is the color. Bright blues, reds, yellows, greens, and oranges stretch across the wall, drawing your attention before Einstein's face even comes into focus. As you get closer, the portrait begins to take shape while the geometric patterns continue to frame the expression rather than compete with it.
Instead of a traditional portrait, Kobra paints Einstein holding a spray can while writing We Love NY². The heart is a reference to Keith Haring, another artist whose work became closely associated with New York.
One of the things I like about murals like this is what they do to a building. The architecture stays the same, but a blank side wall becomes something people remember. It changes how a corner feels without changing the building itself.
The mural is one of eighteen works Eduardo Kobra painted across New York as part of Colors for Freedom. The series includes portraits of John Lennon, Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi, Michael Jackson, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and other historical and cultural figures, each painted on buildings in different neighborhoods throughout the city.
Location: 212 8th Ave, New York, NY 10011
Kobra's creation not only pays homage to these artistic trailblazers but also sparks conversations about the significance of public art in fostering cultural discourse and inclusivity. It beckons viewers to engage with art in unconventional settings, dismantling barriers and making creativity accessible to all.