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NEW YORK (AP) – Two painters are temporarily working out of an empty storefront at the landmark Brill Building, allowing thousands of passing pedestrians to watch them create scenes of Times Square.

Andy Hammerstein and Tom Christopher are painting each weekday until July 17. The artists, who are known for their New York cityscapes, have been working on the pop installation six hours a day since June 17.

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Pedestrians watch artists work in NYC storefront – By ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Andy Hammerstein paintings from Brill Building Project

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Tom Christopher paintings from Brill Building Project

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The Brill Building at 49th Street and Broadway is famous for the generations of songwriters, including Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington and Carole King, who peddled their wares to music publishers there. The owner offered the vacant space to the artists free of charge. The two painters capture the staccato rhythms of weaving bike messengers, the blaring horns of taxis, blasting lights and constant energy of the epicenter of our great city, live from Times Square. Summer 2014.

A bus tour supervisor and one of the tour company’s employees pause in front of artist Tom Christopher, right, who has set up a temporary studio in the Brill Building with Andy Hammerstein in Times Square in New York, Wednesday, July 9, 2014. The artists, who are known for their New York cityscapes, have been working on the pop installation six hours a day since June 17.

A bus tour supervisor and one of the tour company's employees pause in front of artist Tom Christopher, right, who has set up a temporary studio in the Brill Building with Andy Hammerstein in Times Square in New York, Wednesday, July 9, 2014. The artists, who are known for their New York cityscapes, have been working on the pop installation six hours a day since June 17. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
A bus tour supervisor and one of the tour company’s employees pause in front of artist Tom Christopher, right, who has set up a temporary studio in the Brill Building with Andy Hammerstein in Times Square in New York, Wednesday, July 9, 2014. The artists, who are known for their New York cityscapes, have been working on the pop installation six hours a day since June 17 (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

I think the incongruity of a working art studio in the heart of Times Square just stops people. Unexpected. The process of going from sketches and photos to canvas, seeing an artist lost in thought, many people find interesting. You often hear “Ah ha. So that’s how they do it.” They can either watch or cross over to M&M World. Stiff competition that. Or a hundred other attractions. The noise of Times Square, the movement, color and energy has a dramatic effect on the new paintings.

Many thanks to Eric Hadar, Allied Partners and Galerie Tamenaga.