Ovenbird by Cern

Location: Hamilton Discount Wine & Liquor, 3607 Broadway, New York, NY 10031

Painted: August 24, 2016

About the Bird: The Ovenbird’s distinctive ‘teacher, teacher’ song makes it easy to hear even if it’s nearly impossible to spot strutting through leaf litter in northeastern forests. With 3 degrees of warming, the bird’s song could go silent in the southern part of its breeding range; it could shift north into newly suitable climate conditions if current tundra transitions to forest.

About the Artist: A native New Yorker, Cern got started with street art by graffiti-ing his way through the early 1990s. He continues to develop his skills as a visual artist and musician by painting murals and exhibiting works throughout South America, Europe, and South Africa. Cern’s work has also been featured at the San Diego Museum of Art, Museu Brasileiro De Escultura in Sao Paulo, and Los Angeles MOCA. “The use of the Ovenbird for my mural was drawn from visual and sonic inspiration,” he says. “The abstract, organic forms developed from graffiti infused with shapes of invertebrates and the Ovenbird’s home and what I think is the species’ unheard song joining the noise of the urban world.”

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