Blog – Art in Odd Places

The deadline for this year’s Art in Odd Places artist proposal submission is this Friday (May 14, 2010). I hope everyone is gearing up in putting the finishing touches on their applications.

For those who are still working on their proposals, allow this blog to give you inspiration as it features another Art in Odd Places veteran.

Kenny Komer (left) and Boris Rasin (right)

For this entry, we are going back to the basics of why Art in Odd Places exists: to provide a non traditional way of viewing art. There are no other artists who express the same sentiment more than the duo Boris Rasin and Kenny Komer, Art in Odd Places artists for 2008 and 2009. The collaborative work they create is very far from traditional, and they have no plans of coming near the term anytime soon. You may have seen the “Monty Burns for Mayor” posters last year, which was their brainchild. Their work poses the question: Should the space inspire art or is it the other way around? As we approach this year’s festival, the artists selected will take a CHANCE and attempt to answer this question. Perhaps it goes both ways? Either way, having art displayed along 14th continues to captivate people’s attention. These two know a thing or two about getting your attention.Although they work in tandem, Boris will be speaking on behalf of their work.

AIOP: Tell us about Boris ?
BR:I am a Ukrainian-born, NYC-raised artist. I’ve been making art as long as I can remember. I graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music and Art and the Performing Arts and then from the Cooper Union School of Art. I have been making site-specific sculpture and installation in collaboration with Kenny Komer since our days at Cooper Union.

AIOP:How was your Art in Odd Places experience?
BR: My experience with AiOP has been terrific. I really love the concept behind the festival and I think it dove-tails perfectly with my interests of bringing art to a wider audience than just those who actively seek out art. Kenny Komer and I have worked with AiOP for the last two years.

The first project we did for AiOP 2008: Pedestrian was Project Midas. This project involved us looking peripheral architectural elements along the full stretch of 14th Street that have become obsolete and abandoned by the city, and bringing attention to them by covering those objects in bright metallic paint. We painted fire-call boxes, art deco subway vents, and odd pipes that seem to randomly come out of buildings.

For AiOP 2009: Sign, we created a multi-media satirical political campaign to challenge Michael Bloomberg’s run for a third term as mayor. Our candidate was the Simpsons character Monty Burns, Bloomberg’s fictionalized evil twin parallel. We made a website (burnsformayor.com), created propaganda videos, issued press releases and plastered the city with campaign posters and stickers. We also set up a “campaign office” in Union Square in the form of a fold-out table with American flags and campaign literature, and drove a campaign van around ABC studios during one of the televised election debates, from which we broadcast our message straight to the people. This was a very special project. It beat all our expectations by becoming one of those paragraph-long news stories that went viral and found itself in national and international press. The campaign was covered (briefly) by CNN, NY Times, NBC, Crains, Forbes, Huffington Post, Daily News, and others. After all was said and done, Monty Burns gathered 27 write-in votes, crushing the dismally low write-ins for incumbent Michael Bloomberg and main challenger Bill Thompson.

AiOP’s director Ed Woodham, and curator Radhika Subramaniam were the perfect combination of supportive and hands-off, keeping up with our progress and helping us out with whatever support they could offer, while letting us do our thing.

AIOP: Walk us through your thought process in creating your piece for Art in Odd Places.
BR: For me personally, the most interesting part of AiOP is that it aims to introduce art into the public space, skirting traditional protocol. This approach inevitably depends on a level of subversion, where the artist does not ask the city for permission to create his or her artwork. The act of re-appropriating public space without official authorization has been a major part of my thought process when proposing ideas to AiOP. Another factor I always consider is that the artwork inhabits the shared space of all the city’s inhabitants. It is not there for an art-saavy public, but for the general population, and that the artwork is placed in a situation where it is not expected. This leaves open the possibility of creating a hybrid experience that can exist somewhere in between art and real life. For instance, the Monty Burns for Mayor campaign referenced the recent election of Barack Obama and the (at-the-time) current election of Michael Bloomberg, incorporating the unsanctioned practice of wild-posting advertisements and stepping into the real political dialogue about the current and future state of the city.

Kenny and Boris during the Festival opening

AIOP:Any words of wisdom for artists who are interested in becoming part of this year’s Art in Odd places festival?
BR:I think art gives you superpowers. The process of making site-specific installations has forced me to speak to people I would have never approached, learn modes of production I would have never tried to learn, and take chances I would have never thought I could take. When I know what I want to create, I stop at almost nothing to see that it gets done. This is the most exciting part about being an artist for me. In a way I feel bigger as an artist than I do as a person.Also, I would recommend that people not underestimate how much others appreciate art. I have found that if you are passionate about and devoted to a project, others will pick up on your energy and try to help you realize your dream. Officials let you off with a warning when you do something illegal, friends give you free labour, and your efforts are respected, whether or not people understand what it is that you might be doing.

AIOP: What projects are you currently working on and where can people reach you?
BR: In collaboration with fellow artist Scott Goodman, Kenny Komer and I have just completed a visual art component to an Earth Day music festival hosted by NYU and the environmental organization Solar One. We built “Happy Bearthday” party-themed props for the audience and performers to interact with. Andrew W.K. smashed open an Earth-shaped pinata filled with crap from 99 cent stores, and the LA based band Health had two of their friends jump out of a big birthday cake butt-naked. It was a lot of fun!

Also, I’ve also been working on some paintings at home which are influenced by Masonic symbolism andBatman
You can reach me by email: boris.rasin@gmail.com

AIOP:Where was your work during the festival?
BR: In both AiOP festivals which we were part of, we planted our pieces in various places along 14th Street. I really like the idea of spreading a project over a large area. The distance between Avenue C and the Hudson offers an opportunity to reach very different populations and lets the artwork interact with a huge number of people.

AIOP: Any final words?
BR: AiOP, keep growing!

Thanks Boris! Art in Odd Places wouldn’t mind if you and Kenny decided to run for a third term for our festival.

You can get more information about this duo by visiting http://ronkom.com/

Now finish your Call for Artists application. Best of luck to everyone!

I told you!
Our featured artist this week has a very special place in Art in Odd Places’ heart. She has been part of the festival for not just one, not two, but four consecutive year since its 2005 inception. If there is one person aspiring artists should listen to regarding becoming part of this year’s festival, that person is Jan Lynn Sokota. Jan is enough of a veteran to impart wisdom on how Art in Odd Places has grown through the years and impacted not only 14th street but the New York Art scene in general.

She chose to talk about her work during Art in Odd Places 2008: Pedestrian, where she used minted “happiness” coins displayed in “random” places along 14th Street. The concept of randomly placed coins is such a great topic to discuss since it definitely oozes this year’s theme of “CHANCE”. Perhaps this should spark creativity among artists still currently working on their proposals as the deadline of submission approaches (May 14).

Without further adieu, I give you Jan Sokota

Aiop: Tell us about you?
JS: I was born and raised in NY where I received my MA from NYU Gallatin School and BFA from SUNY Purchase. For twenty years I have worked full time in television while spending the other part of my life making art. Each informs the other and it is a very buyoemsoftonline interesting mix of endeavors. I studied photography all my life but my current work, since 2005, is minting coins.

Aiop: How was your Art in Odd Places experience?
JS: I began showing work with Art in Odd Places since its inception in 2005. Thereafter, I was included in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 shows. Ed Woodham is a pleasure to work with as are the curators he chooses for each show. The curators concepts for the shows are always interesting, providing a platform for creative inspiration. Since 2005 I have watched Art in Odd Places grow significantly in many ways. Each year I look forward to this art event whether I am a participant or a viewer.

Aiop: Where did you place your coins along 14th street?
JS: For Pedestrian in 2008, Find Your Happiness 2008e coin was shown at the South West corner of Union Square in the park as well as on 14 Street between Broadway and University.

Aiop: Walk us through your thought process in creating your piece for Art in Odd Places.
JS: My work for each show depended on the concept created for each show. For instance in Pedestrian 2008, I considered how people interact with art on the street. I saw this as a meeting place between them. From there I had to figure out a way to integrate my coins within this space and determine what kind of exchange could take place. There were various incarnations of the final piece which when finalized included visual, auditory, interactive and hidden devices within the exchange between the viewer on the street and the art I produced. For this show I created the Find Your Happiness 2008e coin. The figure on the coin was based on international symbols that instruct people as seen in airports, bathrooms and parks. The text was a short poem of sorts announcing that perhaps a bit of happiness had come their way. The piece included three elements: finding a coin on the street which is fairly commonplace in a large city, secretly disbursing the coins to passersby who would then casually find a coin at a later time in their shopping bag or pocket and having people watch me place the coins in the environment for them to pick up or not. I wanted to use the idea of happiness as something you chance upon in an ordinary day, as in finding a lucky penny.

I receive responses from people all over the world who have found my coins. One email that was particularly interesting stated that finding the coin helped them to make a decision
to go to another country and do volunteer work to help another community. This made me very happy.

Aiop: Any words of wisdom for artists who are interested in becoming part of this year’s Art in Odd places festival?
JS: I think the most important ingredient in making art is to be true to your vision or idea and then be objective about what it is that you are making. Try to put yourself in the place of the viewer and see what different perspectives are contained in that alternate view. I think perspective is a very important element when making public art as the general audience who happens upon it is a vastly diverse population of people.

Aiop: What projects are you currently working on?
JS: Currently, I am working on N-DENT (Nix-Dubious Exchange of our National Trade) 2009d which is a series of 50 Statehood Quarters plus D.C. and U.S. Territories totaling 56 quarters that I have engraved with graffiti commemorating a slightly different perspective of each state. I love working on this new piece and the first 6 can be seen at Fuse-Works:

Aiop: I am sure a lot of people would love to contact you. Where can you be reached?
JS: I can be reached at the contact page on my website: http://www.coinartist.com/

Aiop: Any final words?
JS: Art in Odd Places is great! I love the show and hope it continues as an annual art event in New York City for many years to come.

Thank you, Jan! Your responses definitely brought everyone happiness. We hope to see you on this year’s festival.

Just a reminder: The deadline to submit artists’ proposal is on May 14. Here at Art In Odd Places, we hope that featuring artists who were previously part of the festival on our blog help inspire and motivate people as they go through the application process. Good luck everyone!

As always, the application can be found in the Art In Odd Places website.

Visit the blog for more artists!

Will Boris Rasin and Kenny Komer do a 3rd term for Art In Odd Places? We hope so

Money can't buy you happiness, but you can find it on Jan Sokota's coins