Hizzoner has been immortalized by a Bronx artist.
But Mayor Bloomberg just doesn’t know it yet.
Allerton businessman Harjeet Sandhu has crafted a mosaic portrait of Bloomberg that he wants to present to the 3-term mayor.
“Everyone knows me as the sign guy, but now I’m going to be the sign guy and the artist,” said Sandhu, 63, who has run Boston Signs at 2528 Boston Road for the past 18 years.
The heavy, 2-foot size portrait is a head and shoulders shot of Bloomberg inspired by a photograph.
It took Sandhu five months to complete the piece, comprised of bits of tile glass molded with a chisel and sander.
His passion to complete the job was so strong that he bled from his thumbs.
Sandhu said he drew his inspiration for the mosaic from his love for the Big Apple.
“I am from New York, he’s the mayor of a city I’m proud to live in,” said Sandhu.
Before immigrating to the United States in 1985, Sandhu was a gym teacher in his native Punjab, India.
But then he answered his calling to be an artist by attending Punjab University to earn a master’s degree in fine arts.
“I’m a born artist,” Sandhu said he realized.
He later held four art exhibitions in India before settling in America.
His works on Baba Farid Ji, Punjabi’s first saint, now hang on a wall in northern India.
With his Bloomberg mosaic completed, Sandhu is focusing on creating mosaics on India’s Golden Temple, Mother Teresa and President Obama.
Sandhu reached out to Bloomberg’s office.
“They ask me to email them a picture,” said Sandhu. “I’m hoping to get an answer.”
He is now looking to set up an exhibition “anywhere in the Bronx”.
Reach reporter David Cruz at 718-742-3383 or email him at dcruz@cnglocal.com.
