Like many artists, I have a whole garage full of artwork accumulating dust, untouched and unseen, even pieces that were floating around in series that were on display and received viewer praise, if it didn't sell it ended up on the shelf.
I started doing some research on where to donate my existing work and came up with a lot of dead ends. Nonprofits, such as hospitals or nursing homes, are looking for very specific donations and my work just didn't fit the bill.
I suppose we can call it desperation when I typed 'What to do with your old artwork?' into the Google search and found 'The Abandoned Art Project'. After watching a couple of videos I was so inspired I reached out to my buddy Jenn, my personal cheerleader, whose first reaction was to laugh the idea. How could I want to deposit my hard work, like highly polished gumballs, around the Neighborhood with no reward.
I told her 'Karma Jenn, that's what this is about.' I know how good it feels to find a gem, it can shift someones whole perspective, change their mood, change the day, give someone a sense of connection to a community that they might feel estranged to.
And so It began. That very day I dropped off 6 pieces of art around Cold Spring NY. It was a rush of excitement and vulnerability, leaving pieces of myself around for either an adoring fan or worst, the city cleanup crew to find. I left each piece saying to myself, 'What ever will be, will be.' and with a little prayer hoped that someone who needed the joy would find what was waiting for them on stairwell steps, stone fences, and backstreet sidewalks.
Jenn became my partner in abandonment, honestly she gets a higher high then I do from leaving the work out in the open, awaiting discovery. She tells me it's like a great rush, like a social experiment, she wants to see the faces of those lucky souls who find it. Secretly I do to, but I'm also ok with not knowing.