The sidewalk hearts seen last year (and noted in this post) at the eastern end of Monterey started reappearing near the Detroit crosswalk recently. A passerby happened upon the artist, who has recently moved to Sunnyside.

His name is Amar Pai and he works as a software engineer. He was working from home today and this was his lunch break.

“I started out drawing hearts on the sidewalk and at some point I noticed other people drawing more, that helped me to keep it going. Kind of brightens up your commute, when you’re walking to work.”

He uses strongly pigmented artist’s pastels, so the colors are more intense.

“The project is called #HeartsProjectSF, that’s a tag on Instagram. It started the day after Trump got elected. I was depressed so I drew a big ole heart and wrote Don’t Give Up.”

“That said, I don’t think it’s an especially political project. It’s more about public space. I love public art. It’s a great way to meet your neighbors, brighten up the environment you live in, and just fun to draw on the sidewalk. I encourage everybody to do it.”

He moved to Sunnyside from a more well-known neighborhood just east of here because the rents were too high there. “I appreciate that you guys [SNA] wrote about me before.”