Hell’s Kitchen’s murals are getting louder — and more numerous — as the neighborhood continues its transformation into one of New York’s most vibrant open-air galleries. From the swirling geometry of Carlos Rosales-Silva’s Shape Stroll on W34th Street to eco-conscious works like Botanical Pulse in Hell’s Kitchen Park, murals have become a defining feature of the West Side’s streetscape. And now, another wall is ready to join the conversation.
An artist puts the finishing touches on a mural on W37th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues. Photo: Phil O’Brien
The Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance (HYHK) has released a new Request for Proposals seeking an artist to create its seventh mural, this time on W36th Street near Dyer Avenue, with installation scheduled for Spring 2026. The chosen artist will receive up to $7,500 to design and install the piece, with HYHK preparing the wall in advance. Proposals are due November 7, 2025, and must include a project concept of up to 200 words, a sketch or rendering, artist résumé, images of past work and an itemized budget.
The design should be ambitious, site-specific, durable and legible from street level — HYHK encourages bold colors and movement, while avoiding white or pastel tones that fade quickly. Logos and profanity are off the table, but creativity is not.
Current and previous iterations of the murals commissioned by HYHK on the bridges over Dyer Avenue in the West 30s. Photos: Phil O’Brien and Catie Savage
It’s no accident that the mural will rise along a corridor that has quietly become a showcase for public art. HYHK has made a mission of transforming blank infrastructure — railroad bridges, retaining walls, tunnel approaches — into canvases that reflect the neighborhood’s character.
What once were grey walls now pulse with color, narrative and community pride. The 2,000-foot Shape Stroll on W34th Street turned a once-overlooked stretch above the Lincoln Tunnel into a joyful spectacle of motion and form. The mural was completed with help from volunteers and corporate partners, part of a growing culture of collaboration around public art in the district.
Volunteers from Tishman Speyer helped complete Shape Stroll on W34th Street. Photo supplied
This surge in murals is not limited to HYHK. Nearby in Hell’s Kitchen Park, the Italian artist Fabio Petani’s Botanical Pulse uses Airlite, an eco-paint that scrubs pollutants from the air, fusing environmental action with visual art. Yourban2030 followed that with Strength, a towering root-themed mural on W45th Street exploring belonging and sustainability.
Street Art for Mankind has brought large-scale climate murals to the walls of Manhattan Mini Storage and the Javits Center — including whales soaring above 10th Avenue and a confrontation between Ladybug and a plastic-built robot. Even infrastructure like the railroad bridges of the West 30s has become a patchwork of color through partnerships with the NYC DOT Art Program.
Street Art for Mankind has commissioned numerous murals on the West Side. Photos: Catie Savage, Dashiell Allen, Renee Stanley.
The neighborhood has a deeper artistic lineage too. Long before developers embraced murals as placemaking tools, artists were using walls as platforms for activism. Arnold Belkin’s 1972 mural Against Domestic Colonialism at Mathews-Palmer Playground was a bold, anti-gentrification statement rooted in Hell’s Kitchen’s working-class struggles. Though lost to construction, residents are still fighting to restore or recreate it — a testament to how deeply public art is woven into the neighborhood’s identity.
Proposals for the new mural are due Friday, November 7, 2025 at 5pm, and the winning artist will be announced by the end of December. Installation must be complete by June 30, 2026, with the artist responsible for materials, execution and carrying temporary liability insurance. HYHK will provide priming and support — and an enthusiastic audience.