Monday, April 19, 2010

LINK to the Facebook event page


http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112403562121865&ref=ts


Andy Delivers



Check out a few of Andy Smenos' images for Single Fare! Freshly dropped off this morning....

An Act of Inspiration



Last year Imogen Slater, a student of mine at the New York Academy of Art, came to a homework crit with a slightly guilty look on a her face. The project I'd given was to do a small self-portrait everyday for two weeks. Don't get too precious with them, I said. Be bold and accurate, but don't be timid. Asking to see what she had done, I watched Imogen take a small envelope from behind her back as she sheepishly replied, "I'm really sorry, but I've been sick for the past week and couldn't leave the house to get any surfaces to work on.... So I painted them on old MetroCards."

Out came the portraits, and the seed of "Single Fare" was planted. Imogen's little paintings beautifully transformed her own image while transcending the MetroCard's utilitarian purpose into something curious and wonderful. Art, on a very basic level, is just a visual document of the way the artist views the world and we hope that you join us in sharing your world with us on this most common of surfaces.

We will be posting a selection of the images for the "Single Fare" Show as we receive them to whet your appetites and to get your creative juices flowing.

For Immediate Release



April 19, 2010

Since its founding in the 17th century, New York City has been one of world’s most prolific producers of global culture and a witness to some of humanity’s most profound events. Art, Music, Finance, Politics and the never-ceasing wave of cultural overlap and transfusion truly make this city a profound experience for anyone passing through its gates. For over 100 years, amidst the chaos, the cacophony, and the change, the city has one constant that has linked its many geographical and cultural extremities… Its Public Transportation.

Join artists Jean-Pierre Roy and Michael Kagan as they celebrate one of the most ubiquitous icons of the NYC landscape, the MetroCard, in “Single Fare”. Open to all artists who want to participate, “Single Fare” places one constraint on the creative process: all work must be submitted on a used MetroCard. Drawings, paintings and tiny sculpture will be on display in one of the greatest combinations of hand-made and found art that New York City has ever witnessed.

New York’s cultural institutions have always succeeded on the strength of their communities and the Art World is no different. While inspired by the notion that the city’s subways and buses allow for a kind a creative interchange unmatched in human history, “Single Fare” seeks to create an art event outside of the Standard Gallery Model where Art and Artists will come together to form a monumental event made from a tiny, innocuous piece of plastic: The MetroCard!

The event will take place on Saturday, May 8th at 4pm until late. The artists’ studio at 224 Grand will be transformed into the “Single Fare” exhibition space through May 12th. Send all MetroCards to 705 Driggs Ave # 3 Brooklyn, NY 11211 or drop them at the “Single Fare” Drop Box at 224 Grand st.