Eclectic Creative Experience

interactive art is the creative theme of FIGMENT, a multi-day event that bypasses the traditional gallery wall and celebrates creativity for all. Participants were often costumed, a ten year old girl on stilts made the perfect pink flamingo. There were inflatable sculptures in an interactive blow-up sculpture garden. Artists designed and constructed a miniature golf course. The assembled submissions created an eclectic combination of ideas, as well as a challenging par 36. My favorites included The Yellow Brick Road (The Wizard of Oz), Just Dreaming is Not Enough (alternative energies and sustainability), and Hotel Atlantis at Bikini Bottom (left), a tribute to The General Motors ‘futurerama’ pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. FIGMENT was absolutely free to attend, and describes itself as “an alternative to many of the shortcomings of the commercial art world— exclusive, expensive, impersonal, untouchable and often simply boring”

Bushwick Open Studios is an opportunity for Brooklyn artists to open the doors of their studios (and more often their homes) to the public for a weekend in a true celebration of creative diversity. Bushwick is certainly one of the real artist communities in New York. Painting, photography, installation art, sculpture, performance art, happenings and more were all available from the sidewalk. Fresh inspiration was provided by hundreds of different artists. Some of which were not even registered for the event, in true anti-establishment fashion. An 80s happening from BabySkinGlove included an awesome Jane Fondaesque body roll experience, a glamorous photo shoot, drawings on paper with thread and needle, and a man rolled up in a carpet (that was blocking the entrance that you had to step over in order to enter and leave). And that was only during the few minutes I was there. Visual creative samples (left) provided by Hilary Doyle, Chris D’Acunto, Josh McCutchen, and Christy Singleton

creative exercises can help you find a new perspective, try collaborating with friends. Collect of old magazines, a few acrylics, and a scrap surface. I asked my friends Kevin Rubino, John Cotter, and Nick Cotter to assist me in this collaborative collage. I asked Kevin to name the subject off the top of his head; his response was girls, and more specifically playboy bunnies— very mature Kevin. So we began to create a playboy photo shoot image. I asked Nick and John to start going through magazines cutting or ripping out various imagery they found interesting as Kevin primed the back of a board with blue acrylic. I quickly applied each element, yelling out things like “I need a leg”, or “give me some hair”. Collage, with layers of clear acrylic medium binds everything together which acts as a glue and dries rather quickly. I then added detail with thin black airbrush acrylic, crayon, and marker

prolific MTA subway graffiti artist installation invites collaboration by placing blank word bubbles over posters and bills, inviting others to fill in the blank. Placement of each talk bubble goads the viewer into participation, and breaking the law for that matter. Freshly placed word bubbles during the morning commute are rarely blank during the afternoon rush hour. The Power Rangers Movie poster in my Brooklyn apartment building stairwell may have been hung by this anonymous artist as well as the blank talk bubble. It was taken down a few days later, not by my overly lazy super, but most likely by the artist that hung it as “Help me!” may have not been the compelling statement the artist was hoping for

on paper with dice, using imagination in lieu of rendering engine – that was the D&D 80s craze. Kids gathering against Orc had guidance, in the form of the monster manual originally published by the late Gary Gygax. Inside lay a bizarre collection of creatures like the Brain Mole, Gelatinous Cube, and the Beholder, left. The diverse and sometimes primitive illustrations influenced some of my earliest attempts at art, and was a brilliant escape from the all too real monsters of adolescence