article about NYC and life as an artist vs. other places

This was an interesting article about living in NYC as an artist. I think this kind of "artist exodus" thing comes up every couple of years, but this struck me because this year I did get to see more of/compare how artists are living like in other places, (berlin, kansas city, santa fe).
Worth reading. anyway all fleeing those people should check out Newark.
Crain's: Artists Fleeing the City

During the term of this residency the project that I am currently pursuing involves an investigation into the varied marks left on the sidewalks in front of the gallery and around the surrounding blocks by chewing gum. My interest here stems from the collective history that each of these marks represent. I’ve approached documenting them as individual compositions whose original authorship is unknown.

Two part silicone ready to be mixed.

Initially my approach was to make castings with flexible silicone rubber molds of the various patterns that I found on the sidewalks outside the gallery space.

Coddles set up to hold the mold rubber.

Silicone curing.

Back in the studio.

Although I liked the idea and process of creating a record of the chewing gum patterns through mold making. When I made castings from these silicone patterns I wasn’t at all interested in the results. The difference in texture between the gum and the concrete was too subtle, to the point of being undistinguishable. I tried adding color and tonal changes in a number of ways to the castings but it always felt like something artificial and disconnected was being added to the surface.

Currently I have begun using photography as a way to document the chewing gum marks on concrete that I was initially interested in. This approach has allowed me to document the random and varied patterns while preserving the high contrast graphic quality of the black chewing gum on near-white concrete.

These are 13" x 19" inkjet prints

hours of happiness below

Really.

http://www.nationalphilistine.com/oh/