Have some pop art with your pasta!
A four -story mural of a lime-colored creature in cutoff jeans has gone up on a parking-lot wall in the heart of Little Italy.
The not-so-jolly green giant frowns upon Mulberry Street, across from the Church of the Most Precious Blood, a 125-year-old Roman Catholic parish that hosts the Feast of San Gennaro.
The Little Italy Merchants Association wants to splash the tradition-bound neighborhood with avant garde art, hoping to breathe fresh air — and draw new customers — to the food and souvenir mecca.
“We hope the murals will attract younger New Yorkers and tourists,” said president Ralph Tramontana. “Some old timers were skeptical, but they’re already drawing crowds.”
The business group plans to unveil the green “Temper Tot,” by street artist Ron English, and other whimsical murals during a New York Comedy Festival event starting at noon today.
“Temper Tot” depicts a grouchy child before or after a tantrum, said RJ Rushmore, co-curator of the street-art project.
“Every angry kid is also really sweet in a different context,” Rushmore said. “It’s sort of this funny thing, but also has a sentimental value.”
Reaction on Mulberry Street ranged from “hideous” and “disgusting” to “funny … creative.”
“It doesn’t belong here,” griped Joe Battz, 55, host at Cha Cha’s restaurant, whose owner had a part on The Sopranos. “Would you put a nude in pre-school? Hitler in Borough Park? I don’t think people will come to see ‘Baby Hulk.’”
But chef Mark Barbiere, 34 of Brooklyn, approved. “Good local flair — it stands out. Large murals catch my eye. It’s striking.”
Passersby gawked at the green brat, many snapping photos.
Some residents half-jokingly blamed the mural, which went up shortly before Hurricane Sandy hit, for bringing the storm’s wrath.
“It looks like an angry God blowing a big wind.”said Brian Chung, 60, who lives on the block.
Last April, the merchants group nixed plans to put up another surreal mural –of a child filled with snakes, tigers and other beasts –on a wall overlooking the Most Precious Blood church after longtime priest Father Fabian Grifone blasted it as “pagan.”
This time, the merchants group did not ask his blessing. Grifone declined to comment.
The “art crawl,” a tour of several new murals, starts at 12 noon today at the sidewall of Caffe Roma, at 385 Broome Street, which displays a painting titled “Stark and Recreation,” by Hanksey. It’s a cartoon-ish cross between Iron Man alter-ego Tony Stark and Tom Haverford, a character of the TV sit-com Parks and Recreation.
The tour will proceed up Mulberry Street.