Back to Main Projects Page
12 SUBLETS IN 12 MONTHS
A DIFFERENT BOROUGH EACH MONTH
A rut.
A rut the size of my life.
A rut the size of the largest city in the United States.
I found myself after almost three years of living in the most diverse town on the globe,
stuck in a mind numbing ritual of commuting in a giant U.
Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Lower Eastside, Midtown, the Museums and back.
A giant horseshoe of comfort lulling me into making the same things
by thinking the same things over and over and over again.
I am a firm believer in the ideas of John Cage.
One of the platforms that I've tried to build my practice around is
his idea that comfort is not your friend.
Good taste makes for great interior design, but it is the pitched fulcrum
that is keeping people, me, from making truly new art.
The choices that I am making that keep me in line with the easier route,
the way that I am used to, the worn path, these are the choices that feel like mamas tit,
but are in fact the conventional fangs of mediocrity!
Using the classic song, 'All of Me' by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons
(I am fond of the classic Billie Holiday version, but Louie Armstrong does an impressive rendition,
and while I am a fan of Ol' Blue Eyes, Sinatra’s cover is trash)
as a springboard, I decided to try and shake up my cozy feeling a bit
and see what new ideas will fall out in the process.
I believe that location does matter.
Context influences content.
Sometimes it outright dictates it, but at the very least it has a heavy hand in skewing the dice.
So it stands to reason, that if one was willing to spin the wheel of where one lays their head,
then consequently the ideas inside that head would spin as well. And hence, I begin this project.
I made three ground rules, to be followed as sign posts rather than mandates,
to help with determining the parameters of this intentionally disorienting project.
1)
I will move each month to a different location in a different borough.
(I split NYC up into 6 boroughs. Manhattan was cut in half at a 110th street
due to the extremely disparate character of these two halves)
2)
I am looking for neighborhoods people haven't heard of or if they have,
they say something along the lines of,
"Hey, seriously Zefrey, don't go there man!"
3)
The place should be on average more than a 10 minute trek to a train line.
Each of these conditions was specifically designed to get me outside of my routine and
farther from the ideals of middle class stationary ladder climbing static mobility and
the art it inspires and values.
My aim is to become without a look, without a favorite, without a neighborhood
and to realize my favorite lyric from the namesake song of the project,
Top of the page
Back to Main Projects Page
A DIFFERENT BOROUGH EACH MONTH
STATEN ISLAND
23 Sands Ave.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Top of the page
Back to Main Projects Page
A DIFFERENT BOROUGH EACH MONTH
BRONX
1829 Topping Ave.
More to come soon....
.
1829 Topping Ave.
Top of the page
Back to Main Projects Page
A DIFFERENT BOROUGH EACH MONTH
UPPER MANHATTAN
974 St. Nicholas Ave.
More to come soon....
.
.
.
Top of the page
Back to Main Projects Page
A DIFFERENT BOROUGH EACH MONTH
BROOKLYN
Venice Marina
Aboard the fine and seaworthy vessel "Arcadia"
More to come soon....
.
.
.
.
Top of the page
Back to Main Projects Page
WHY NOT TAKE ALL OF ME NYC?
12 SUBLETS IN 12 MONTHS
A DIFFERENT BOROUGH EACH MONTH
A rut.
A rut the size of my life.
A rut the size of the largest city in the United States.
I found myself after almost three years of living in the most diverse town on the globe,
stuck in a mind numbing ritual of commuting in a giant U.
Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Lower Eastside, Midtown, the Museums and back.
A giant horseshoe of comfort lulling me into making the same things
by thinking the same things over and over and over again.
I am a firm believer in the ideas of John Cage.
One of the platforms that I've tried to build my practice around is
his idea that comfort is not your friend.
Good taste makes for great interior design, but it is the pitched fulcrum
that is keeping people, me, from making truly new art.
The choices that I am making that keep me in line with the easier route,
the way that I am used to, the worn path, these are the choices that feel like mamas tit,
but are in fact the conventional fangs of mediocrity!
Using the classic song, 'All of Me' by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons
(I am fond of the classic Billie Holiday version, but Louie Armstrong does an impressive rendition,
and while I am a fan of Ol' Blue Eyes, Sinatra’s cover is trash)
as a springboard, I decided to try and shake up my cozy feeling a bit
and see what new ideas will fall out in the process.
I believe that location does matter.
Context influences content.
Sometimes it outright dictates it, but at the very least it has a heavy hand in skewing the dice.
So it stands to reason, that if one was willing to spin the wheel of where one lays their head,
then consequently the ideas inside that head would spin as well. And hence, I begin this project.
I made three ground rules, to be followed as sign posts rather than mandates,
to help with determining the parameters of this intentionally disorienting project.
1)
I will move each month to a different location in a different borough.
(I split NYC up into 6 boroughs. Manhattan was cut in half at a 110th street
due to the extremely disparate character of these two halves)
2)
I am looking for neighborhoods people haven't heard of or if they have,
they say something along the lines of,
"Hey, seriously Zefrey, don't go there man!"
3)
The place should be on average more than a 10 minute trek to a train line.
Each of these conditions was specifically designed to get me outside of my routine and
farther from the ideals of middle class stationary ladder climbing static mobility and
the art it inspires and values.
My aim is to become without a look, without a favorite, without a neighborhood
and to realize my favorite lyric from the namesake song of the project,
"You took the best, now why not take the rest... Why not take all of me?"
Top of the page
Back to Main Projects Page
WHY NOT TAKE ALL OF ME NYC?
12 SUBLETS IN 12 MONTHSA DIFFERENT BOROUGH EACH MONTH
STATEN ISLAND
Stapleton
23 Sands Ave.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Top of the page
Back to Main Projects Page
WHY NOT TAKE ALL OF ME NYC?
12 SUBLETS IN 12 MONTHSA DIFFERENT BOROUGH EACH MONTH
BRONX
Tremont/Echo Park
1829 Topping Ave.
More to come soon....
.
1829 Topping Ave.
Top of the page
Back to Main Projects Page
WHY NOT TAKE ALL OF ME NYC?
12 SUBLETS IN 12 MONTHSA DIFFERENT BOROUGH EACH MONTH
UPPER MANHATTAN
Washington Heights
974 St. Nicholas Ave.
More to come soon....
.
.
.
Top of the page
Back to Main Projects Page
WHY NOT TAKE ALL OF ME NYC?
12 SUBLETS IN 12 MONTHSA DIFFERENT BOROUGH EACH MONTH
BROOKLYN
Sheepshead Bay
Venice Marina
Aboard the fine and seaworthy vessel "Arcadia"
More to come soon....
.
.
.
.
Top of the page
Back to Main Projects Page