Western Queens is awash with artists and performers this week as pop-up galleries once again invade warehouses, vacant apartments, and unused storefronts for the 4th Annual LIC Arts Open, which kicked off on Wednesday.
The five-day arts celebration is a grassroots event with deep ties to the neighborhood. Its biggest contributor is the Court Square Diner.
Founding Executive Director Richard Mazda says he expects this year to be the festival’s biggest yet, citing the ever growing artistic community in Long Island City. As the owner of the Secret Theatre, he’s been watching the transformation for years.
For Mazda, LIC’s draw was obvious from his very first ride on the 7 train. “I think we all know that if you show an artist a bleak, desolate space, they see a kind of strange beauty in the desolation, and they’re also attracted by cheap rent, always,” he said.
Painter Stef Duffy echos Mazda’s assessment of the neighborhood’s appeal. For him, moving to Long Island City was also an ‘easy choice.’
Duffy’s studio will be one of over 160 artist’s workplaces open to the public as part of this year’s festival. He has also donated three pieces to the 10Squared art auction where original works on 10×10 wooden panels will be silently auctioned off to benefit the Queens Council on the Arts ‘High School to Art School’ program. Bidding on the pieces, which can sometimes be had for as little as $110, begins on May 14th and ends on May 18th at 9pm.
Duffy says he’s looking forward to his third time participating in the LIC Arts Open because he enjoys the invigorating effect it can have on not-so-artistically inclined members of the public. “I think it’s inspiring…because sometimes people are stuck in jobs that they can’t stand or situations that they feel frustrated by and they walk into an artists studio and they think, okay you know, maybe I could start a new business or I could take that class or whatever,” he explained.
According to Duffy, the stream of visitors is exciting for artists, as well. “It’s always a little bit strange.You do get a cast of characters, but for the overwhelming majority, people who come in are really fantastic,” he said.
Duffy particularly relishes the encouragement, new faces, and opportunities for conversation that come with opening his doors to the public.“They’ve been very kind to me. I’ve had a lot of really lovely, supportive people come into my studio, so I’m thrilled. I like that process,” he said.
Mazda, the festival’s director, says he hopes visitors continue to appreciate the event as a way to view art in non-museum settings. He wants to convey “how intensely stimulating it is to be able to see great art close up, almost so close that you could touch it,” adding with a laugh, “although we don’t actually want you to do that.”
More information about the festival, including a complete schedule of events, can be found at licartsopen.org.
By Hannah Sheehan