A small crowd amassed recently at the corner of East Houston and Ludlow Streets, with people squinting in the evening sun, snapping photographs and maneuvering for the best angle. The center of attention was the street artist L’Amour Supreme, who was complementing the brick-and-red-neon exterior of Katz’s Delicatessen with shades of aqua, gleaming pink and gravel gray.

As he worked, a multicolored cat with bulging eyeballs took shape. The cat spans two of the restaurant’s six metal security gates, and the objects of the cat’s desire — a pickle and a stick of salami — were to be added to the other panels, with the final one to be completed on Wednesday during a private event at Katz.