good luck + bad luck spots of NYC
Artist Felix Morelo's meaningful chalk art
The first time I stepped into a “bad luck spot” in Union Square, I was already having an exceptionally shitty day.
“who would even make this… and why are there so many?!?”, I thought to myself.
As I became more aware of the ground in front of me, I realized they were everywhere… they were unavoidable!
As time went on, I began seeing different circles: good luck spots, screaming spots, hugging spots, kissing spots, etc… I grew to appreciate the varied nature of these chalk circles. Some days positive, some negative, and others a mix of both. I found myself looking forward to seeing them during my daily commute to class.
Eventually, I stopped hating the bad luck spots and instead found a deeper level of gratitude when I came across the good luck spots.
If you too have found yourself curious, Felix Morelo — Columbian American artist based in New York City — is the man behind the varied chalk art. He studied painting at Parsons School of Design and attained his BFA in 1994. Nicknamed “the face guy,” Morelo is best known for his “prolific chalk faces drawn on the sidewalks of New York City, and his enigmatic and interactive ‘GOOD LUCK’ AND ‘BAD LUCK SPOTS’” found mostly in Union Square and Washington Square Park.
Felix started drawing faces on the street in 2009 but grew disappointed when he felt like his artwork wasn’t being seen. He said in an interview:
I had all this work and energy, and nobody was seeing it. I was getting no shows. I needed to find a way to put myself out there, like, ‘I’M HERE!’
Then, he began drawing chalk faces on city sidewalks. He often draws trails of hundreds, even thousands of faces. In 2017, Morelo told NYU’s Independent Student Newspaper that he once drew 2,156 faces in 13 hours and started having hallucinations.
One day, at the end of these trails, he began adding a “Good Luck Spot.” When asked where this idea stemmed from, he told NYU student journalists:
I was going through a dark place and I wanted to take some time in my life to be positive. I thought, let me work on my relationships and be nicer to people.
Felix received grant funding from City Artist Corps Grants in 2021 so he could paint murals of his iconic Good Luck Spots on donated walls throughout NYC. His dream is to continue painting murals all across the United States. He accepts donations to support his work on his website, and also frequently updates his Instagram with various art pieces for sale.
Ultimately, Felix Morelo’s chalk art is a reminder that you can’t have the good days without the bad. Sometimes the bad days are unavoidable, but it makes the good days even better.