Keith Schweitzer

During the Spring of 2014 I directed “FABLES,” a public art series produced by Fourth Arts Block to explore the Lower East Side’s living cultural heritage, rich historical legacies, and current issues in public storytelling through visual art. “FABLES” was supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts/ Art Works and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in participation with The City Council. “FABLES” was presented in celebration of LES History month, the inaugural celebration of the rich and diverse history of the LES, which will now take place each year during the month of May.

Artists: Lexi Bella, Tamara Gayer, Theresa Loong & Laura Nova, Levan Mindiashvili, Miguel Trelles & Juan Fernando Morales-Nazario.

Artists were selected by a jury comprised of Legacy Russell, Ethan Vogt, John Bowman, and Molly Garfinkel.

Project Director: Keith Schweitzer (Director of Public Art, Fourth Arts Block)

As Director of Public Art for Fourth Arts Block, and curator for SUSTAIN (Steering Urban Sustainability Through Action, Innovation & Networks), I worked on a variety of projects that aimed to harness and focus the talents of artists, architects, engineers, residents, small businesses, and activists towards development and implementation of creative solutions to the challenges of urban sustainability for one city block — E. 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery in Manhattan’s East Village. SUSTAIN was a two-year program made possible by a generous award from the Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation Fund and was in partnership with Cooper Union’s Institute for Sustainable Design.

In September of 2013, we unveiled a large-scale fabric installation over the facade of a building on East 4th Street by artist Amanda Browder. The fabric used in the artwork, titled “Good Morning!”, was donated by people from the neighborhood with support from Materials for the Arts. Browder held a months long series of Public Sewing Days that invited the local community to contribute towards the production of the piece, with participation by youth groups and senior citizens alike.

“WOLFBAT WAVE”
Art & Skateboards with artist Dennis McNett 
in The Pit @ Sara D. Roosevelt Park (at Broome St., NYC)
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013

I organized an outdoor afternoon of art, skateboards & songs on the Lower East Side where kids 17 and under were invited to “trick out” blank skateboard decks through an art workshop led by Dennis McNett. The event included live music, outdoor exhibitions and guest appearances by professional skateboarders Andrew Allen, Julien Stanger & Tony Trujillo. Following the outdoor event, an indoor reception and exhibition of Dennis McNett’s artwork took place at The Lodge Gallery

In May, 2013, I co-organized Terry Smith’s “Capital Revisited.” The large-scale project was exhibited along 5 outdoor locations within my public art program with Fourth Arts Block. Jason Patrick Voegele, my partner in Republic Worldwide, led as Project Manager during the multi-site installation.

“Capital Revisited was commissioned by The Drawing Center in collaboration with the New Museum during IDEAS CITY 2013. The project was initiated by David Thorp. In 1995 I made a work at the British Museum called “Capital.” In New York 2013, for IDEAS CITY I revisited this work in a series of fragments focused on buildings in the East Village, just off the Bowery.

The project lasted twenty three days and began with an intensive period of drawing in my temporary studio in the basement of LaMaMa.

The work is a 54 ft x 38 ft drawing made in mixed media, broken and assembled in sections and relocated in five locations around the Bowery area of New York using wooden fences, outside walls and windows…

Capital Revisited was made possible through the help, support, expertise and good humour of Jason Patrick Voegele and Keith Schweitzer of Republic Worldwide.” – Terry Smith

I curated and organized an outdoor mural with South African artist FAITH47, titled “The Weight of Air”, on a building exterior located at 22 East 2nd Street slightly west of 2nd Avenue. This was a component of Fourth Arts Block’s outdoor visual art program around the Cultural District in Manhattan’s Lower East Side (in partnership with MaNY Project). Location: Ideal Glass

In June of 2012 I curated “Saints of the Lower East Side” by artist Tom Sanford. The outdoor exhibition features seven painted portraits mounted 14 feet above street level on a scaffolding bridge located at 70 East 4th Street. The array of large gilded paintings are intended as an homage to cultural icons who lived and worked on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In the artist words, “These seven individuals [Martin Wong, Joey Ramone, Miguel Piñero, Ellen Stewart, Charlie Parker, Arthur Fellig and Allen Ginsberg], along with hundreds more, make the Lower East Side the crucible of the American avant-­‐garde and a neighborhood that captivates my imagination as a New York artist.”

This exhibit is part of a series of temporary art installations in atypical locations in the Lower East Side produced through FABnyc’s public art program, of which I am Director. Many thanks to Jason Patrick Voegele of Republic Worldwide, for managing the installation and project overall, and to Graham Preston for working closely with Tom on the paintings. Produced in collaboration with MaNY Project. Photo by Udom Surangsophon

In May of 2012 I curated “Music Machine“, an outdoor mural installation in the alley behind CBGB’s former location in Manhattan’s East Village. Featuring a 1,000 square foot ground mural by Argentinian artist Sonni, the exhibition was presented by Fourth Arts Block in partnership with MaNY Project.

I curated and organized an outdoor mural with artist CAKE, titled “Truth Implies the Good”, on a building exterior located on East 3rd Street slightly east of Bowery. This was the 2nd mural of the 2012 season for Fourth Arts Block’s outdoor visual art program in Manhattan’s East Village (in partnership with MaNY Project). Location: La MaMa

During Armory Arts Week 2012, I organized an outdoor mural with artist Know Hope on a building exterior located at 22 East 2nd Street. This mural launched the 2012 season for Fourth Arts Block’s outdoor visual art program in Manhattan’s East Village (in partnership with MaNY Project). I documented Know Hope, which can be seen in the video below:

In November of 2011 I co-curated “Groundbreak“, an outdoor exhibition in the alley behind CBGB’s former location, with Joyce Manalo. Featuring artists Jon Burgerman, Ellis Gallagher, and Abe Lincoln Jr., the exhibition was presented by Fourth Arts Block in partnership with ArtForward and MaNY Project. “Groundbreak” marked the inauguration of a rotating public art program in Manhattan’s East Village.

I was a consultant for “The Dumpster Project” by artist Mac Premo. The exhibition, installed within a 30 foot dumpster, is a magnificent work of transportable art. Constructed using over 450 personal items collected over the course of 20 years, The Dumpster Project was called the artist’s “Magnum Opus, the biggest and strangest art project of his career” by the New York Times. Conceived by the artist, who can alternatively be described as a “collagist, animator, (emmy-award winning) film director or carpenter”, the exhibition was produced by The Frank Collective. Production of the dumpster was hosted by Macro Sea. The Dumpster Project is fiscally sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). Mac is represented by Pavel Zoubok Gallery.

In August 2011, I curated and organized an outdoor exhibition entitled “The Grassy Lot” on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (145 Ludlow Street) with Joe Franquinha of Crest Arts, the MaNY Project, and Brooklyn Street Art.

Participating Artists: Bishop 203, Creepy, Gaia, General Howe, Jake Klotz, Laura Meyers, Nanook, OverUnder, QRST, Quel Beast, Shandor Hassan, Travis Simon, Veng, XAM, and Yok.   (photos by Mike Pearce)

I documented some of the artwork as it was being painted, which can be seen in the video below:

In mid-June, 2010, I organized an outdoor mural with artist Depoe at Allegra LaViola Gallery (179 East Broadway, NYC) as a component of an exhibition titled  “Draw The Line”.  The exhibition opened on June 29th, 2011, and ran until August 6th.

In April of 2011, Coney Island invited me to organize a series of large scale murals throughout the amusement park as part of No Longer Empty‘s ongoing mural program.  Beginning with the main entrances to the park and working our way inward, six artists covered more than 4,000 square feet of exterior surfaces with artwork referencing Coney Island‘s legendary iconography and the surrounding beachfront boardwalk’s imagery. I captured the above video during the first phase of the project.

Featured Artists: Ephameron, ND’A, OverUnder, Radical & Veng

In March of 2011, I worked with the MaNY Project and artist duo “How & Nosm” to organize this street facing mural on the exterior roll-down gate of a storefront located on East 14th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.

In September, 2010, I curated “Watch This Space” with Manon Slome and Jodie Dinapoli. The site-specific exhibition, which united two indoor spaces with a related series of outdoor murals on construction scaffolding, referenced Dumbo’s intensive ongoing construction in its march to gentrification and it’s storied history as a manufacturing and transportation hub.

In Cal Lane‘s installation, crushed steel from the remains of an automobile explosion has been hand cut – using a blow torch – into a delicate lace pattern. Her transformation of a destroyed motor vehicle into fabric-like drapery mimics Dumbo’s former industrial and current residential purposes; a shift from strong to delicate, from utility to frivolity, from functional to ornamental.

Michel de Broin‘s installation, “Bleed”, positioned an electric hand-drill as a precarious fountain. The construction tool placed upon a fine art pedestal, it’s cord plugged into an electrical outlet, as endless streams of water gushed from five holes in its damaged body. The piece poses unanswerable questions of its creation and destruction. Might the object have been left out accidentally by construction staff before opening the exhibition? Is it really part of the exhibition? (see video HERE)

Through a repeating woven pattern, Jordan Seiler‘s 950 square-foot mural concealed the all-too-familiar rectangular shape of exterior construction scaffolding by shifting perspective with an effective optical illusion. The mural continued through and behind the scaffolding’s front facing wall, forming an additional artwork altogether which could only be viewed from behind within the indoor exhibition spaces.

Lincoln Schatz‘s multimedia installation secretly captured security camera footage of all who visited the exhibition, constantly storing, recalling, and displaying video of it’s unwitting subjects as they became part of the “Cluster”, a nod to the omnipresent surveillance cameras in modern urban society.

Alejandro Almanza Pereda‘s sculptural works levitated solid construction cinderblocks over fragile household lightbulbs. The inclusion of Alexandre Arrechea‘s watercolor and sculptural works make a whimsical comment on the ubiquity of development in Brooklyn and the impossible ease with which buildings seem to be erected.

Artists: Alexandre Arrechea, Michel de Broin, Helen Dennis, Cal Lane, Alejandro Almanza Pereda, Lincoln Schatz, Jordan Seiler, Chris Stain.

Invited by the organizers of Dumbo Arts Festival, I organized and curated four large outdoor murals throughout the festival grounds in Dumbo, Brooklyn. This outdoor component of No Longer Empty’s “Watch This Space” featured artists Chris Stain, Imminent Disaster, Jordan Seiler and Helen Dennis. The site-specific murals were inspired by Dumbo’s rich industrial history and its hulking architectural elements and were installed on large lengths of wooden scaffolding and construction shedding.

 

 

Concurrent to No Longer Empty’s “Re-Purpose” exhibition, I organized and documented a mural on the roll-down gate at the store-front’s exterior, with artist GAIA, as a continuation of NLE’s ongoing site-specific mural program.

In October of 2009, I initiated and co-organized a massive 2,000+ person “mission” with Charlie Todd and his legendary organization, ImprovEverywhere. This incredibly humorous collaborative stunt helped to celebrate the grand opening of The Invisible Dog Art Center along with No Longer Emtpy‘s exhibition entitled “Something Out of Nothing”. The resulting online video, which can be seen above this text, has been viewed more than 3,000,000 times.

The Invisible Dog Art Center is located at 51 bergen street, Brooklyn, NY

more photos of the event can be seen at this LINK

In the autumn of 2009, I organized this mural by London-based artist D*FACE across 3 large roll-down gates on the exterior of a vacant building located at 200 Clinton Street in Manhattan. The artwork is part of my ongoing mural project with No Longer Empty and was produced in participation with Jonathan LeVine Gallery, coinciding with D*Face’s solo exhibition “Ludovico Aversion Therapy / All Your Dreams Belong To Us”  September 12 – October 10, 2009

In July of 2009, I organized a mural on the street-level exterior of the Hotel Chelsea (222 West 23rd Street, NYC) to commemorate our first exhibition as No Longer Empty.  Israeli artist “Know Hope“, in collaboration with Chris Stain, created this site-specific artwork directly upon the roll-down gate of NLE’s inaugural exhibition. I documented the artists at work by creating the time-lapse video below:

No Longer Empty began exhibiting at two storefronts at the Chelsea Hotel, the historical art heart of Manhattan. Artists such as Michael Bevilacqua, Alina and Jeff Bliumis and Diana Puntar filled economy-ravaged spaces with installations while responding to the present dire financial straits and its effect on the urban landscape and national psyche. Resident artists at the Hotel Chelsea also exhibited.

No Longer Empty´s first exhibition took the name of its location. The Chelsea Hotel offered a forum for artistic dialogue. The spaces here were not gallery or museum locales and the resulting works and conversations were not defined by such conventional exhibition spaces. Indeed, the exhibition was the pioneer of No Longer Empty´s new model of community art. The project strived to stem any potential neighborhood decline resulting from unused and abandoned buildings by lavishing them with art.