On the uber cool streets of Bushwick, even a homeless guy’s camp can become art.
Elias Avellaneda’s home is on a Bushwick sidewalk. He even has a little living room, complete with a sofa. He says his home is a “living installation” composed of found objects. The cops say he is a bum.
“They came by complaining and trying to get me to leave at least 50 times,” the 34-year-old “artist” told the New York Post. “I stood my ground.”
“I never asked for permission from fucking anybody. I told cops there’s nothing they could do to stop me, and now I have immunity,” he added.
The Plattsburgh transplant began creating his “installation” home out of furniture, broken machinery and discarded detritus in mid-August near the corner of Jefferson Street and Wyckoff Avenue. It now stretches 20 feet long.
“Gentrification is destroying history, and I’m preserving it. I’m keeping those memories alive,” Avellaneda told the New York Post.
Obviously, many disagree with his combination art project/street-level apartment.
“It’s dirty, it’s disrespectful and it shouldn’t be there,” a warehouse worker said, calling its creator and the people it attracts “cockroaches.” [NYP | Bushwick Daily] —Christopher Cameron