A professional nurtures the talent of a group of self-taught, home-grown painters and sculptors.
By Tatyana Gulko
tgulko@hunter.cuny.edu
Photo by Tatyana Gulko
“Jazz Quartet Playing for a Lady Singer” by Tiara Stewart.
Tiara Stewart shuffles through sketches in the portfolio she has carried with her to The Point—the community center on Garrison Street that is the neighborhood’s hub for local artists. When asked where she does her painting, she replies, “My bed is my studio.”
Her words capture the essence of life for a group of local Bohemians, whose lives contrast sharply with the conventional image of Manhattan artists painting or sculpting in spacious lofts.
A longtime resident of Hunts Point who recently moved to Flatbush but still makes The Point her artistic home, Stewart is part of a group that includes other local residents who are dubbed “outsider artists.” Self-taught, with little or no formal training, they live mostly on Welfare and disability checks, adding a bit to their income by selling their work for prices well below what Manhattan artists command.
Nevertheless, their art reflects natural talent, demonstrated in paintings like those of Stewart and Chen Carrasco and sculptures like those carved by Augustine Cruz or the lifelike guitar Jose Rivera constructed from 14 boxes of crayons over a nine-month period.
Though the outsider artists may not share a common source for artistic inspiration, they are united in their affection for their mentor Carey Clark, the director of the visual arts program at The Point.
After earning her BA from Kirkland College and a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, in the 1970s Clark moved to a Manhattan loft, just south of Washington Square, where the low rent made the space an ideal studio for herself and a couple of roommates.
A figurative painter, Clark tried her best to balance painting with her day job at a nearby art gallery. In 1980, she started a framing business in her loft. It became and remains her primary source of income.
As time passed, Clark found the downtown art scene less and less appealing: “I didn’t feel comfortable in that world,” she says. In 1989 she discovered the Bronx while working on a temporary subway mural installation.
Five years later, when The Point opened, she volunteered to help. Back then she worked informally with young children interested in art. Today she spends most of her time nurturing the outsider artists through her Wednesday night workshops, or by simply providing guidance to those who seek it.
In 1997, her framing business moved to a studio in the American Banknote Building on Tiffany Street and Lafayette Avenue. Now she commutes to the Bronx from a loft in Tribeca. She says she “bridges the boroughs,” providing an important connection for the local artists.
Though she earns most of her living from framing the work of a few prominent customers, including the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, she has a new project in the making: Clark hopes to provide framing lessons for the “outsiders” and other local artists. By framing their own work, they can cut their costs by 60 percent, she says.
Clark’s ultimate goal is to help the artists achieve independence. She shows them what she calls the “nuts and bolts” of the art business, “shooting pictures, catalog listing, pricing, etc.” and she encourages the area’s artists to show their work as often as possible, whether it is at a neighborhood art gallery or on the orange wall of The Point, where, she says, her policy as curator “is to say ‘Yes.’”
For Chen Carrasco, who is father to six children, she is a godsend. Carrasco relies on Clark to take care of these practicalities, while he devotes his time to his children. Sizing-up a recent piece, a surreal portrayal of a woman floating in midair with a backdrop of high-rise buildings, Clark calls his work “humorous,” but adds that Carrasco urges “people to find their own meaning” in his work.
Stewart calls Clark her “outlet.” The two collaborated in selecting a piece entitled “The Angel Victoria” to enter in the upcoming “Magical Mystery Tour: Reflections of Inner and Outer Journeys.” Billed by its sponsor, Fresh Art, as “an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by artists with special needs from New York City social service agencies and supportive housing residences,” the exhibition will run from May 3 to June 2 at the Gallery at HAI in SoHo.
Clark also introduced Rivera, who suffers from bipolar disorder and gout, to HAI. His illnesses have not hindered his work as an artist. He remains focused and prolific, earning him recognition for “outstanding contributions to the arts” from Congressman Jose C. Serrano.
He and the other artists meet regularly at the Point to connect and talk about their work, exchanging ideas, providing valuable advice, and inspiring one another. Clark refers to it as the local “tertulia,” a Spanish word describing a place of social gathering for the flow of artistic ideas.
At one such recent gathering, Cruz listened carefully as Rivera instructed him not to sell his sculptures too readily, but to hold out for a fair price for the time and talent Cruz has invested in carving sculptures ranging from tiny kittens to presidential heads. “Work takes a lot of money,” Rivera reminded him.
Rivera’s own work often uses recycled materials, because, he explained, “They are free and open the artwork to opportunity and chance. ” Growing up around drugs, Rivera used art as a form of protection—an eternal shield, “something that would always stay with me,” he said.
Working with these talented artists, Clark emphasizes the benefits of small art communities. Quite a few professional artists have migrated to Hunts Point’s Bank Note Studios and are forming their own circle. “These communities need to get interfaced with one another,” Clark argues. Though these professionals have yet to establish a strong connection with the outsider artists, she thinks their presence will mean something for the future of Hunts Point’s art scene.
Carey Clark will be the connecting thread.
To view a slide show of the “Outsider Artists” work, click this link.
To view a video of Carey Clark and the “Outsider Artists” work, click this link.
Photographs of more work, some available for purchase, are at http://www.thepoint.org/programs/programs.html