Meet the Artist - Mr. Nilsen

When Mark Nilsen wanders around his eyes often point down scanning for a fresh structure. Sometimes concrete from construction has been spilled on a cover, or ancient dirt has built up thick. In those cases Nilsen gets his hammer, chisel and wire brush out and cleans the manhole to recover its original features.

Once Nilsen has found the right spot, he goes out on the street in the middle of the night to paint it. Between midnight and 4 o'clock, when the city slows down a bit, he feels he can concentrate best.

First he puts down a thin plastic drop cloth to protect the surface from paint. Then the street gets covered with raw canvas, leaving Nilsen with a blank in front of his eyes and a vague memory of the relief in his head. The work can begin. The first paint roller gets covered with acrylic color and travels over the beige canvas. Suddenly the whole painting starts revealing itself in wet paint. Just like magic.

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Meet the Artist - Mr. Nilsen
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Look at Mark Nilsen's paintings»
More photos of sewer covers»

With a roller Mark Nilsen
applies the first layer of black
paint onto the beige canvas.

Suddenly the beautiful relief
of the 'NYC Sewer' cover
reveals itself on Nilsen's painting.