Heartbroken East Village artist Jim Conboy could not give his brother Edd — who died of a stroke March 20 — a proper funeral due to the coronavirus outbreak, so he erected a public memorial for the world to see.
Now the tribute to his 70-year-old brother — a full length mirror atop a block of styrofoam resting against a Tompkins Square Park pillar at Avenue A and 10th Street— has evolved into a global homage to all who have succumbed to COVID-19.
Atop the pillar sits a wooden base with a styrofoam abstract sculpture that Conboy titled “Transfiguration.” A handwritten message in paint on the mirror reads, “U are not alone, We all reflect your spirit.”
Above the message are grim fatality tallies, which the artist updates daily. A sign next to it, reads: “Stay 6 feet apart or be 6 feet under.”
“I didn’t want these people to be alone. My thoughts are cherish the living and honor the dead,” Conboy, 67, told The Post.
Edd Conboy was a Philadelphia psychologist who spent many years helping people and tending to the homeless, brother Jim said.
The elder Conboy died at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Pennsylvania with Jim, his wife, Jane, and Edd’s son, Matthew, at his bedside.
“We held his hand until the end. This was in the beginning of all this. The hospital was starting to go into lockdown,” Jim Conboy explained.
He soon learned there could not be a memorial service or burial “and then I realized all these other families are going through a similar situation.”
Conby said the response to his tribute has been positive. Some people cry, others “are proud and come up and thank me.”
Edd’s name was on the art piece for a few days, but it has since been removed.
“It has become bigger than him,” said Conboy. “I paid my respects. I had my closure.”