Being a street artist, now that my leg is unbroken, it’s time to hit the streets. This summer, I will be creating a series of 30″X30″ collage paintings focusing on two concepts: The Void, and being “Inside The Box”, aka, the Anti-Graffiti. My first work of street art will be The Apple Store in Midtown (above.) This location was chosen by the headlines, Steve Jobs, his thoughts on Flash, and my past as a business director for an agency built upon their landmark work in Flash. More after the jump….
Exploring each concept…
Inside The Box
Street art is a subjective term. I create on the street, off the wall, and on the canvas. My approach is the anti-Basquiat-foundation… I am tagging the canvas directly, skipping the walls and jail cell – going straight to a gallery. Of course, on the latter, I organize, promote, market and hang my own shows… primarily because, art can be created, shown, marketed and sold by the same source – and I love ownership.
Shooting you straight, if a contemporary Ivan Karp or Henry Geldzahler came knocking on my door with the Beckhams in tow, I wouldn’t shake a stick at him/her. But hey, this is the real world. If you paint and hold your breath for the Guggenheim to snap up your pictures, you will probably be waiting your whole life.
The Void
My work is process driven. I love the early stages as much as I love the finished work; this does not go unnoticed. In my new series, I will be focusing on the void… leaving select portions of the canvas bare, and partially finished. This will provide a DNA of the process in the final, which should create a positively charged void. Until the series is done, it is hard to say if this will make any sense, but, we won’t have to wait long.
Reading Material
I read everything I can get my hands on about Art, Art History and Artists. Besides Warhol’s books, I love anything written by Calvin Tompkins, and could only be so fortunate to have him pen a profile on yours truly one day. Richard Polsky’s “George Costanza-esque” take on the art world is always entertaining, and he is terrific about answering emails. My current read is “Painting Below Zero” by James Rosenquist. He is an artist I truly connect with on many levels. Besides an obvious advertising connection, we share a love for New York and general approach to the business of making it happen.
Life is funny, people always say, “follow your dreams, and don’t listen to the people saying you can’t do it.” This is all well and good, but when you actually find yourself chasing the dream, it DOES feel impossible. People DO tell you it’s stupid and second guess constantly. I am now at peace with this. From here to Tuesday, I will either make it huge, make it a little, or go down as a hard-working, well educated failure… I can live with any of these outcomes.
I will answer any comments/questions you leave below, so fire away.
[...] headlines pointed my easel toward the Apple Store, on 59th Street. This picture, as mentioned in my last update, is both a work in progress and an exploration of refining the [...]