October Free Art Friday!

DISCLAIMER: if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you will most likely have seen most of the following pictures.

So Free Art Friday NYC has come and gone for October, and once again I come out of the experience excited for the next one. It felt like a day-long game of cat and mouse and the sense of community I spoke of last time seems to be growing.

The day started early (seeing as how I needed to get to my Freelance Job on time) so I quickly made my way over to Little Skips to drop off business cards and find a good hiding place for my first hidden piece of the day. I ultimately decided to place a framed Pikachu Nüdtendo Trading Card where it's original was hanging: just outside Little Skips:

One goal I give myself for FAFNYC is to find interesting, distinct places to hide my work that also makes for good compositions and images. The graffiti currently painted on the side of Little Skips was perfect for that, and I was extremely pleased with the image that I got out of it. When it comes to how quickly this particular Free Art was found I honestly have no idea. At the end of the day the piece had been taken- but it was the only one where the person who found it didn't post to Instagram, so the recipient remains a mystery.

The next piece I decided to put up was a Canvas Print of "Shackled," and since I was working in Soho most of my subsequent pieces were hidden in that general vicinity. I found this really beautiful, dilapidated door leading to a storefront that had been converted to an apartment. I thought the white spray paint and black grate would make for a fantastic backdrop. The resulting image was fantastic:

Ultimately "Shackled" was found within twenty minutes and the person who found it was awesome enough to post a picture of his winnings:

I got to have a bit of back and forth with the scavenger and honestly that is the best part of this event: getting to congratulate those who get there first and to encourage others to keep their eyes peeled throughout the day for more.

Once lunch rolled around I went out with a destination already in mind. This time I wanted an easily recognizable, heavily populated area to hide my framed Link Nüdtendo Trading Card. What better place than the Apple Store on Prince Street?

I was excited to see how long this would take to be found, and it turned out not very long at all. After about five minutes someone replied to my posting on Instagram that they had snatched it up, while another participant had been just across the street about to grab it themselves.

On the walk back home I found a really fun set of graffiti on Broadway and decided to place another one up, this time Samus:

This one was also found and taken almost immediately.

The next piece was an hour or two later, and I was especially excited about its location:

It was a small street, on a numberless door; this phenomenal poster of Princess Kitty (Bojack Horseman reference) placed on top of vivid black and gold graffiti. The color palette was gorgeous and the screaming cat face perfect on that lady body. It was distinct enough to recognize easily, yet placed somewhere obscure enough to be a little tough to find. So Bowser got a place of honor betwixt her cleavage. This one took 30 minutes or so to be found.

Kirby found a home on the window of one of my favorite Art Supply stores in the city (Soho Art Supply). I thought their hand-painted sign would look good in an image, and also that they deserved a shout-out as a contributing factor in the making of my art. Tetris T found himself on the side of the Angelika Movie Theater, and both him and Kirby were found by the same person:

This left only one piece left to be hidden, and I wanted this one to count. All day I was posting mostly smaller pieces (with the exception of the Canvas Print of "Shackled") with the knowledge that I wanted to end on a high note. Enter my art book Flow 2.0:

I've been meaning to make a gallery of my art books for some time now. I may be motivated to do it now. For a few years I've been creating long, continuous compositions that incorporate sketches and paintings I had completed over the course of the previous year. In the beginning I would print them, archivally, onto Moleskine Japanese Album Sketchbooks. Due to the process being imperfect (and the length restrictions on my printer requiring me to print them from front to middle and then end to middle) I was forced to "correct" the mistakes by drawing into every single book I made. As such each book was unique, each one had original work in it, and each one came in VERY limited supply. So when I decided to make this a piece to hide on FAFNYC- it really meant something to me. I wanted it's hiding place to be special. So I devised a plan that required me to wait until I got out of my freelance job: I'd hide it amongst the trees of the Highline:

Using the twine I had purchased earlier to hang "Shackled" from the grate on the door I suspended the book from two trunks of a delicate, lovely tree at the very, very beginning of the Highline in the Meatpacking District. I loved the almost magical quality of the location, and it really did look lovely floating there with the spotlight glowing through the leaves. I was so excited about this particular piece I sat myself down on a bench a short distance away and waited, trying to hold out to catch whoever managed to find it. I wanted to thank them for participating and maybe take a picture with them- yet it was ultimately not to be.

You see, throughout the day I had become accustomed to my pieces getting snatched up within minutes of me putting them in their hiding places. However it was getting late. It was getting cold. And I sat there for nearly an hour before my stomach forced me to leave, worried that I had waited too long to put it up and fearful of it not being found before the park closed at 10pm (especially since it was supposed to rain that night). I began posting less cryptic hints and just flat-out telling people where to go to find it.

Finally, halfway through my dinner, someone responded saying they got the book! I was both elated I wouldn't have to walk all the way back and take it down myself and a bit depressed I wasn't able to wait it out to greet the person who found it. But that will be my goal next month. If the weather allows I want to stake out the spot of my most important piece and try to get a picture with the recipient.

Anyways it was a fantastic day of giving. #FAFNYC is one of my new favorite activities so keep posted next month for hints on what I'll be putting up!

OCT 7 2014

September Free Art Friday!

I meant to do a write up about Free Art Friday after my first experience with it last month (September) but completely forgot. SO! I will do that now, with pictures, and a preview of what I will be putting up for my second FAF (this coming Friday!)

Lets start from the beginning: the day after arriving home from Dragon Con I went to Little Skips for a sandwich. While waiting for my "M-Train" I sat down and scanned the room. It was then I spotted Jeannine Ortiz (@imamaker on Instagram) drawing adorable one-eyed mickeys covered in hashtags that read "FAF" and "Free Art Friday NYC." Being who I am I immediately sat down next to her and asked what she was doing. She smiled and proceeded to explain the concept of Free Art Friday, how it was something going on in other cities for a while now (Atlanta being one such city) and how DEGA (@__CB23__ on Instagram) has been slowly getting things rolling in NYC. I was excited at the prospect: a city-wide scavenger hunt every first Friday of the month where artists hide pieces of their work, photograph them in their new setting, and then post them along with hints to the location on Instagram (or simply exactly where it can be found). You then hashtag the hell out of the image with every version of "Free Art Friday" you can so people can look it up and rush out to find your free artwork.

It's the best kind of game: artists get to feel generous and giving while gaining exposure/new fans while people who normally can't afford artwork have the opportunity to snatch up a piece of art for free. I was completely into the idea and rushed home to assess what I could use. I eventually settled on three prints:

The first was "Heightened Id," a painting I completed just this summer whose original sold at Dragon Con. I sketched my name, signature, and various forms of the FAF hashtag on the matte and, once Friday rolled around, proceeded out to find a fun and unique spot that would be easy to distinguish:

The next two were much older pieces: hand-stretched and mounted works I have had for a long time and have recently retired from my show rotation. One was titled "Beneath the Trees," which I placed on a light post above a lovely newspaper dispenser . . .

. . . and next was an illustration I did my senior year of college titled "The Gift." This particular piece I decided to put up in Manhattan (having put the other two up in my own neighborhood) and stuck it on the corner of Howard and Broadway:

All three were eventually snapped up, some quicker than others. What made the experience even more exciting was that people who were setting out to find them kept me apprised of their progress on Instagram. I got to converse with the winners and other artists participating (including Jeannine) and it really did feel like an event with a fantastic sense of camaraderie.

My first Free Art Friday could have ended there and I would have been excited for the next one- but it only got better the following day. Apparently the Wall Street Journal sent someone to follow an artist around in order to write up a piece on Free Art Friday for their online and print publications. And it just so happened that this artist was one of the people who managed to snag one of my pieces (Beneath the Trees)- and when it came time to take a photo for the article the artist (John Neri) held up both my piece and one other for the shot:

So not only did I get to have fun with this- I got a lot more exposure than I expected. Ultimately I had to temper my enthusiasm because the publication failed to mention either my name or my Instagram handle in either the physical or digital articles (both of which featured my art), but it was still exciting to know I officially have artwork in The Wallstreet Journal- all thanks to Free Art Friday.

(PS: I've sent emails trying to ask them to add my name in to the digital version, but haven't heard anything back. I'll update this if something comes of it. As of writing this my name is still absent.)

So moving on: this very Friday (tomorrow) is the first Friday of October and I will once again be participating in Free Art Friday! And I'm thinking I'll want to go a little crazy: I may try to hide all 36 Nüdtendo Cards throughout the city for people to find (though I may only do a few), along with a canvas print and one other, big ticket item:

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That's right! I'll be hiding this bad boy somewhere in the city- my first official Free Art Friday piece that has original artwork in it. This is one of VERY few copies of this hand-made art book I created a couple years ago as a compilation of work I had completed during the year. SO STAY TUNED AND KEEP AN EYE OUT! And if you find it and take a picture of yourself with it- post it to Instagram, tag me (@aedanroberts) in it and I'll post it here in my blog!

OCT 2 2014

Set-up at little skips!

Just wanted to share some pictures Jon took while I was setting up the show. In order to get straight, even lines and equal spaces between each shadowbox I had to hammer nails through solid brick:

Seeing how this was my first experience setting up my work on such a complicated wall I was wholly unprepared for it. I assumed making things line up would be cake since the bricks form a grid. However I did not account for the fact that this was older brick and completely uneven- so following the lines of the mortar would result in a mess of a hanging. Luckily a fellow artist who has previously shown at Little Skips was there and willing to share with me the knowledge she gained from her own trials with the wall (her name, by the way, is Shakhed Hadaya and her work is FANTASTIC, so check it out). I bought some twine and hung it across the wall and used it as a makeshift reference point and Voila! Success! The top left and right are missing in the above image because two Nudtendos sold that I have yet to have the time to re-create. I'll tackle that this weekend.

Once that was finished (which was the brunt of the work) I just had to populate the opposite wall with my Inner Demon pieces:

I spent the previous night mapping out my layout and honestly it worked out nearly exactly as I planned - and I'm ultimately happy with the result. Because this wall was a regular plaster number I had a much easier time getting exactly what I wanted. The only thing that proved troublesome were the dozens and dozens of nails and anchors that were left in the wall by the previous artist (who had taken down his art while I worked on the Nüdtendo wall)- but even with that is went fairly smoothly.

Anyways just thought I'd share. Always fun to see process and such!