Artist Transforms NYC Garbage Cans into Oversized Flower Vases in Pop-Up “Flower Flashes”

Trending in the news since NBC News reported this past weekend on the pop-up floral work of floral designer Lewis Miller, the artist’s “Flower Flashes” reuse the flowers from large events as “gifts to New Yorkers.” Though he has done remarkable flash work around John Lennon’s Imagine mosaic in Central Park and on sculptures like Alice in Wonderland (which get a flower boat), LOVE, and the Crosby Street Hotel cat, the giant vases he’s transformed from street garbage cans may be the most compelling. In these works, he truly transforms waste into art, if only fleetingly.

Lewis tells Gothamist he hopes that it gives New Yorkers “smiles and a feeling of surprise and wonder.” When describing the first foray into his “Flowers for the People” project at the Imagine mosaic, Lewis wrote on his company blog, “We are in the business of fantasy and flowers; transforming key life moments in our client’s lives into magical, everlasting memories. My desire yesterday was to recreate just a sliver of that sentiment and offer it up to the city dwellers and tourists of this great city.” The work involved 2,000 flowers, loaded into a van at 4:45 AM. Worried for a moment that “the only audience that would have seen it was a squirrel and two early morning joggers,” the team was gratified by both the in-person and social media response.

“Keep your eyes peeled New York, these flowers are for you….,” Lewis writes on his website suggesting there are many more to come.

Join us to learn how famous NYC sculptures, like the Alice in Wonderland in Central Park, are created at a Queens foundry and witness a live bronze pour:

Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Modern Art Foundry

Next, check out 12 outdoor art installations not to miss in NYC this month.