Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 mountain poster, recreated

Andrew Cuomo is one of New York’s 20 most influential politicians of the past 20 years. See the full list.

“I love history. I love poster art.”

Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared this in a COVID-19 briefing just six years ago. It was a political lifetime ago.

At the height of his power, Cuomo was swimming in adoration for his handling of the pandemic. Criticisms of his policies at nursing homes hadn’t reached a critical mass, and the allegations of sexual harassment – which ultimately led to his begrudging resignation a year later – had yet to drop.

With COVID-19 cases starting to fall, Cuomo unveiled an original work of art to mark the state’s progress.

Like Cuomo himself, the COVID-19 mountain poster was boastful, ambitious, sprinkled with wince-inducing humor. At the time, the Cuomo administration refused to name the artists behind it. City & State can exclusively report it was a joint effort between artist Alex Fyock and creative director John Battista De Santis.

The artists declined to revisit their iconic work, so City & State called on artist RJ Matson for a new interpretation. In one of the 56th governor’s favorite mediums, we present the history of Cuomo’s climb to power and his precipitous tumble from the mountaintop.