WALL SET FOR THE SUMMER

Celebrate the season at Coney Island with giant murals, food, freak shows and a supermodel

A blazing afternoon sun beats down on Coney Island native Marie Roberts. In the shadow of Nathan’s Famous, a stone’s throw from the Cyclone, with the Wonder Wheel glistening in the distance and the smell of saltwater in the air, she gleans inspiration for her art.

Roberts’ almost-finished painting, due to be completed next week, is one of 33 large-scale murals at a summerlong project dubbed the Coney Art Walls. The colorful show, opening Saturday, features food vendors and live entertainment that changes every weekend.

Visitors Saturday can catch a freak show (supplementing the subway ride out to Coney) featuring a sword swallower and tattooed lady as well as DJs. New food options include Venezuelan street food via Patacon Pisao, Chick’n’Cone’s fried chicken in waffle cones, Southeast Asian-style tacos from Coney Shack, and twisted bar eats (such as

General Tso’s cauliflower) from the Hop Shoppe.

Another treat: Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and reigning Mermaid Day Parade queen Hailey Clauson will be on hand to welcome the walls and their visitors. “Coney Island’s always a great stop on niceweather days,” says Clauson, an eight-year Williamsburg resident. (She’ll be signing autographs Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m.)

“I’ve ridden the Cyclone 10 times in a row and loved it,” Clauson says. “Today I’m going to check out the art, go for it with the food and try to break my record on the Cyclone!”

The open-air gallery is on the site of a former parking lot on land owned by Thor Equities. Joseph Sitt, the firm’s CEO, says, “This is my chance to create a museum and a testament to the New York City that I grew up in during the 1970s and ’80s.”

Now a collector of modern art, Sitt explains that paint-splashed subways helped form his early sensibilities. “Graffiti was not all ugly,” he says. “Some of it was beautiful and creative. I am bringing that back.”

In addition to New Yorker Roberts, other artists also hail from the city, as well as Paris, Los Angeles and London.

“People don’t think of Coney Island and art in the same breath — but they should,” says Roberts, standing up and taking in the 50,000-square-foot space that now throbs with brightly colored creations. “I’m the kid who never got out of the neighborhood and always wanted to go to museums. Now I can walk to one.

“Come to the walls, see the hip and unhip, have a beer and enjoy the art,” she says. “Plus, on Friday nights you can watch fireworks from here. That’s a new one. I’ve never been in a museum or gallery where you can see fireworks exploding over the art.”

Open Saturday and Sunday, noon to 10 p.m., and daily through end of summer starting next Saturday. Coney Art Walls, 3050 Stillwell Ave., between Bowery Street and the boardwalk, Coney Island. ConeyArtWalls.com

Among the 33 handball-wall-size murals at a giant outdoor gallery in Coney Island are: 1) a comic-inspired work by Crash, who cut his teeth spray painting graffiti on subway cars; 2) Bronx-raised John Ahearn’s 3-D homage to the beach; 3) Nina Chanel...

Shantell Martin is known for her “stream of consciousness” drawings. Her mural debuts Saturday at the Coney Art Walls.

Street artist Dface puts a ghoulish twist (above) on a Coney Island date. Chris Stain’s “Out to Live” (right) is a handball wall painted to depict a scene at a handball court.