New York City
NYC Artist Fixes Cracked Subway Tiles for Free, MTA Sends Investigators
By BSN Staff, . BSN Network. Satire.
NEW YORK, NY -- A local artist has repaired 14 cracked and deteriorating tile sections across four New York City subway stations using hand-painted ceramic inlays, grout, and approximately $38 worth of materials from a hardware store on Atlantic Avenue, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has responded by opening a formal inquiry into the incident.
The artist, Jin Park, 34, began the project in August after noticing a six-inch crack in a decorative tile panel at the DeKalb Avenue station in Brooklyn. He returned the following weekend with ceramic pieces, adhesive, and a grouting kit. The repair took 45 minutes. Seventeen commuters filmed it.
The video, posted without caption, has been viewed 4.2 million times. The comment section is largely composed of people asking why the MTA cannot do this.
The MTA, which received $15.6 billion in public funding last year and maintains an Office of Capital Program Oversight, a Department of Stations, a Division of Quality Assurance, and a Subcommittee on Systemwide Aesthetics that meets quarterly in a conference room in lower Manhattan, has described the unsanctioned repairs as "a potential liability event requiring assessment."
"We want to be very clear that we appreciate the passion New Yorkers have for their transit system," said MTA spokesperson Danielle Howe in a statement issued Thursday. "At the same time, unauthorized modifications to MTA infrastructure, regardless of intent, require a thorough review process to ensure compliance with safety standards, material specifications, and agency protocol, and we take that process very seriously, as it is central to the integrity of the system we are all proud to serve."
The tiles Park repaired had been cracked for between two and seven years, according to commuter photographs that predate his intervention by several winters.
Park said he spent a total of six weekends on the project. He bought his ceramic supplies from a craft store, watched two YouTube tutorials on mosaic grouting, and described the process as "pretty chill, honestly." The MTA's average tile restoration project, when scheduled through official channels, takes 14 to 22 months from assessment to completion and costs between $180,000 and $340,000, figures that include engineering review, contractor procurement, environmental compliance filings, and what one agency document calls "stakeholder alignment."
Park does not have a contractor's license. He has a BFA from Pratt and a MetroCard.
The MTA's inquiry, which has been routed through the Office of Infrastructure Integrity, a subdivision that was not listed on the agency's public organizational chart before this week, will assess whether Park's ceramic inlays meet MTA tile standards, whether the adhesive he used is compliant with the agency's approved materials list, and whether any of the 14 repaired sections now need to be removed and re-cracked in order to be correctly restored through proper channels.
Nick Jonas, who has not been asked about this, was unavailable for comment. New York City Mayor Eric Adams released a statement calling Park's work "a beautiful example of community spirit" before his communications team clarified that the mayor had been briefed on a different story and the statement was issued in error.
Park said he plans to continue.
"There's a big one at Jay Street I've been looking at," he said. "Probably next Saturday."
The MTA said it could not confirm a timeline for when the inquiry would conclude, noting that the review process itself is subject to its own review process.
The tiles look great.
The story we are making fun of: https://nypost.com/2026/10/03/lifestyle/nyc-artist-goes-viral-over-creative-fix-for-broken-subway-tiles/