After I wrote about the painting of the Tribeca Grand Hotel that he’s working on, artist Borbay (real name: Jason Borbet) invited me to Bevforce—the company that commissioned the painting, and where he’s painting—to get a look at the work in progress. Bevforce is at 393 Broadway between Walker and White, on the third floor of one of those buildings with stairs leading in a long, straight line; when I finally caught my breath, I asked Borbay about the shift from representational painting (see his take on the Woolworth Building) to a more non-representational style that incorporates, at least in the Tribeca Grand portrait’s case, headlines from the New York Post. “I broke my leg playing hockey in December,” he says, “so I got back into exploring collage.” Having worked for Trump, he’s always been interested in architecture, and he sees it as a marketable niche. “I want to travel around, say to Vegas, and do a painting on the strip for a company while Tweeting about it.” While being commercially aware isn’t necessarily traditional, Borbay sees it as realistic. “I’m not keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll end up in the Met.”

The painting is coming along beautifully—it has a lot of energy, more so than this photo does justice—and he expects to be done by next week. You might get your own chance to see it if/when he organizes an exhibit of his and other artists’ work in the Bevforce office. Just spend some time on the StairMaster first.