Two pieces for ArtBridge

thirtythree, 1' X 3', acrylic and ink on canvas, 2010



better together, 1' X 3', acrylic and ink on canvas, 2010

These are two submissions for ArtBridge which is an organization based in New York which chooses artwork for the scaffolding while a building is being built.

I have a friend who is an artist whom I feel is largely responsible for this endeavor. Several years ago, she lived in DUMBO, one of the coolest parts of Brooklyn. I met her when she was doing a mural in my neighborhood in Park Slope. I was unemployed at the time and she was recruiting volunteers. I volunteered and as the weeks passed, the volunteers dwindled and we practically painted the mural ourselves with help from the kids in the neighborhood.

Anyway, to get back to the story, she would do these little paintings and leave them in different parts of DUMBO. She didn't care if people took them. She wanted to anonymously give a 'present' to a passerby, perhaps make them smile or perhaps, her work would just be ignored. She simply wanted to share her work and they were placed amongst a few broken bottles, or on a bricked up window sill. Well, one day, this super tall monstrosity of a building was being built on a corner that she loved, the first of many to inundate the once little neighborhood of DUMBO. All of a sudden, it was cool to live there which meant more buildings, the taller the better.

One morning, she placed one of her little paintings against the blue wall which normally indicates the start of a building project. She expected the painting to be gone the next day. Instead, a construction worker liked the piece so much, he nailed it onto the blue wall. She was then asked by a higher up of the project if she can paint the whole blue wall which wrapped around a whole corner through the duration of the project. Little did they know she placed her little painting there in silent protest of the whole project. She let them know that and they were okay with it. She had free reign on what she could paint even if it meant boldly painting her protest on the walls. From that project on, there were to be several more throughout the city, mostly in Brooklyn.

The artwork that gets accepted for ArtBridge will be blown up to four times the size of the original. There will be several artists represented at each building. Whether or not my friend had anything to do with this idea, and whether or not my artwork gets chosen, I'm thankful that this exists.