THE NEW YORK TIMES
February 20, 2017 | by James Barron

The 69th floor at 4 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan has been hit by street artists. There is evidence of spray paint, stencils and wheat paste, clues that artists who go by names like Rubin 415, Stickymonger, Gumshoe and Layer Cake have been there.

The walls, and in one section the floor, pop with colors and shapes usually found at street level — surreal splashes here, images with phrases like “No Brain No Pain” there. There are Statues of Liberty with almost kaleidoscopic faces. There is a giant $10 bill composed of words that theatergoers would recognize from “Hamilton.”

But the art on the 69th floor is different from street art, and not just because it is indoors and several hundred feet above the street. It is different because none of it is illegal. It is different because the artists were not on the run, chased off by a landlord. In fact, the artists were invited by a creative consultant working for Larry Silverstein, the developer of the 72-story building.