Paintings of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Quiara Alegría Hudes and More on Display in Madison Square Park

Artist Roberto Lugo has brought a celebration of Puerto Rican culture and history to Madison Square Park in a new public art exhibition commissioned by Madison Square Park Conservancy. Presented Roberto Lugo: Alfarero del Barrio (Village Potter) expands the artist’s practice to its largest scale yet, featuring new interactive works, including monumental sculptures painted with colorful motifs and figures that reflect both the struggles and triumphs of Puerto Rican communities as well as their resilience and creativity. Alfarero del Barrio is on view from May 20 to December 6, 2026.

An acclaimed artist, ceramicist, activist, poet, and educator, Lugo reimagines historical ceramic forms through the lens of his Puerto Rican heritage, North Philadelphia upbringing, background as a graffiti artist, and love of hip-hop. Through portraiture, ornate patterning, and references to European and Asian ceramic traditions, he creates hand-painted vessels and sculptures that bring overlooked histories and lived experience into forms historically associated with prestige and power.

Anchoring the exhibition are two new hand-painted sculptures: a 15-foot-tall fire hydrant and a 20-foot-tall urn, titled Para Los Días Caliente (This Is For The Hot Ones) and Capicú de Cariño (I Heard It Both Ways), respectively. The urn features hand-painted vignettes of Puerto Rican luminaries, including Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Roberto Clemente, Bad Bunny, Quiara Alegría Hudes, and Lemon Anderson, as well as Lugo’s parents, Gilberto and Maribel Lugo. Lugo invites parkgoers to explore these sculptures up close and even walk through an archway in the urn, effectively becoming one of its vignettes.