Art Explosion was developed by the Free Art Society and I in 2010 and involved blasting one city block with concentrated, site specific street art overnight and then, after slipping away into obscurity, returning at 7 in the morning to flood the same block with interactive performance art and public spectacle.
The idea stemmed from mural vision, a condition I’ve diagnosed myself with, in which my mind naturally and regularly super-imposes imagined murals and paintings onto blank spaces that i come across in my day to day existence. Essentially I see frames everywhere or the potential for art anywhere. Art Explosion evolved from a vision I had walking down my street in the East Village. I was living on 2nd st. between Ave A and B at the time and the block possessed great potential to be “art-ed.” I imagined the wonder it would create to fill one block on one street with art and to have it appear over night. How many people would notice? How would it affect them?
We in the Free Art Society discussed the idea and then decided to put it to action. First came the process of gathering the artists. We managed to enroll over 60 different artists to each make a piece for the street. We met several times over the next months to brainstorm strategy and solidify ideas for the artwork.
Then the appointed night arrived. We all met up at a warehouse in Brooklyn, the only place we knew that was large enough to handle all of us. In the end about 40 showed up. We waited until the peaceful hour of 4:00am, the drowsiest hour of the night. I was nervous but wouldn’t show it. I was also thrilled and excited.
Putting up one of the larger installations later that morning
(Photo by Rachel Esterday)
(Photo by Rachel Esterday)
We took the subway to the Lower East Side and our lookouts checked out the street and called us in. We were split into four groups and we came in like an army, an art army from four different directions. Everyone did their thing, put up their art and then helped the others finish. We were done within 15 minutes and then fled in the four directions we’d come from to meet up minutes later at Remedy diner on Houston Street for a victory breakfast.
Thrill
Rush
Adrenaline
Transformation
Eggs, sunny side up please.
We hung out there until 7, sharing pancakes, eggs, stories and laughs. When the clock struck 7 we returned to the block. People were just coming out of their apartments to go to work. It was Monday. The wind was crazy and the sky was grey.
The street, however was full of color. Dreamcatchers and poems hung from the trees, paintings were glued into empty advertising frames, and attached to lamp posts.
People walked out of their houses and looked around curiously at their freshly altered enviroment. The artists lined the streets, some with interactive installations, some dancing, passing out flowers, making art out of leaves on the ground, playing accordion, reciting poetry to the passers by. One of my favorite elements of the performance side of Art Explosion was something we called the Compliment Gauntlet. Eight of us stood in a line on the sidewalk. 4 on each side and as people passed between us we bombarded them with compliments. “Nice hair, Great Smile! You look like you have a winning personality.” Then we gave them a daisy and a doughnut and they were off to work.
I have never seen so many smiles on an cold and windy Monday morning.
Here is a little video from that day.
The Art Explosion opened a door in my head. It taught me that with many people you could make big art on the street in a very small amount of time. I called it FLASH ART.
From The Art Explosion came the possibility of The Rainbow Bridge… next post…