Video: NY Times / East Village Blog

Art In Odd Places 2011 from Christine Jenkins on Vimeo.

Money can't buy you happiness, but you can find it on Jan Sokota's coins

I told you!
Our featured artist this week has a very special place in Art in Odd Places' heart. She has been part of the festival for not just one, not two, but four consecutive year since its 2005 inception. If there is one person aspiring artists should listen to regarding becoming part of this year's festival, that person is Jan Lynn Sokota. Jan is enough of a veteran to impart wisdom on how Art in Odd Places has grown through the years and impacted not only 14th street but the New York Art scene in general.


She chose to talk about her work during Art in Odd Places 2008: Pedestrian, where she used minted "happiness" coins displayed in "random" places along 14th Street. The concept of randomly placed coins is such a great topic to discuss since it definitely oozes this year's theme of "CHANCE". Perhaps this should spark creativity among artists still currently working on their proposals as the deadline of submission approaches (May 14).

Without further adieu, I give you Jan Sokota

Aiop: Tell us about you?
JS: I was born and raised in NY where I received my MA from NYU Gallatin School and BFA from SUNY Purchase. For twenty years I have worked full time in television while spending the other part of my life making art. Each informs the other and it is a very interesting mix of endeavors. I studied photography all my life but my current work, since 2005, is minting coins.
Aiop: How was your Art in Odd Places experience?
JS: I began showing work with Art in Odd Places since its inception in 2005. Thereafter, I was included in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 shows. Ed Woodham is a pleasure to work with as are the curators he chooses for each show. The curators concepts for the shows are always interesting, providing a platform for creative inspiration. Since 2005 I have watched Art in Odd Places grow significantly in many ways. Each year I look forward to this art event whether I am a participant or a viewer.

Aiop: Where did you place your coins along 14th street?
JS: For Pedestrian in 2008, Find Your Happiness 2008e coin was shown at the South West corner of Union Square in the park as well as on 14 Street between Broadway and University.









Aiop: Walk us through your thought process in creating your piece for Art in Odd Places.
JS: My work for each show depended on the concept created for each show. For instance in Pedestrian 2008, I considered how people interact with art on the street. I saw this as a meeting place between them. From there I had to figure out a way to integrate my coins within this space and determine what kind of exchange could take place. There were various incarnations of the final piece which when finalized included visual, auditory, interactive and hidden devices within the exchange between the viewer on the street and the art I produced. For this show I created the Find Your Happiness 2008e coin. The figure on the coin was based on international symbols that instruct people as seen in airports, bathrooms and parks. The text was a short poem of sorts announcing that perhaps a bit of happiness had come their way. The piece included three elements: finding a coin on the street which is fairly commonplace in a large city, secretly disbursing the coins to passersby who would then casually find a coin at a later time in their shopping bag or pocket and having people watch me place the coins in the environment for them to pick up or not. I wanted to use the idea of happiness as something you chance upon in an ordinary day, as in finding a lucky penny.



I receive responses from people all over the world who have found my coins. One email that was particularly interesting stated that finding the coin helped them to make a decision
to go to another country and do volunteer work to help another community. This made me very happy.



Aiop: Any words of wisdom for artists who are interested in becoming part of this year's Art in Odd places festival?
JS: I think the most important ingredient in making art is to be true to your vision or idea and then be objective about what it is that you are making. Try to put yourself in the place of the viewer and see what different perspectives are contained in that alternate view. I think perspective is a very important element when making public art as the general audience who happens upon it is a vastly diverse population of people.

Aiop: What projects are you currently working on?
JS: Currently, I am working on N-DENT (Nix-Dubious Exchange of our National Trade) 2009d which is a series of 50 Statehood Quarters plus D.C. and U.S. Territories totaling 56 quarters that I have engraved with graffiti commemorating a slightly different perspective of each state. I love working on this new piece and the first 6 can be seen at Fuse-Works:




Aiop: I am sure a lot of people would love to contact you. Where can you be reached?
JS: I can be reached at the contact page on my website: http://www.coinartist.com/

Aiop: Any final words?
JS: Art in Odd Places is great! I love the show and hope it continues as an annual art event in New York City for many years to come.

Thank you, Jan! Your responses definitely brought everyone happiness. We hope to see you on this year's festival.

Just a reminder: The deadline to submit artists' proposal is on May 14. Here at Art In Odd Places, we hope that featuring artists who were previously part of the festival on our blog help inspire and motivate people as they go through the application process. Good luck everyone!

As always, the application can be found in the Art In Odd Places website.

Visit the blog for more artists!

Art in Odd Places 2008 Artist:: Alicia Grullon

Next stop on our featured artist series is Alicia Grullon. She hails from New York City, but spent a significant amount of time traveling. Alicia was part of Art in Odd places in 2008 with her piece called "Revealing New York City: The Disappearance of Others" where the theme was "Pedestrian". Her projects tends to be in public spaces, focusing on the dynamics of human interaction in relation to her work.

She does not to talk during her performances, but she did have a lot to say when Art in Odd Places asked about her work.


Aiop: Tell us about Alicia Grullon

AG: I was born and raised in New York City and had a great time growing up here. The world was always at every corner in the people and rhythm of the streets. I went to Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. After graduating, I decided to take a job in South Korea teaching English because I wanted to travel and have a larger context of life on which to base my art. I lived abroad for 4 years in Korea and in the Netherlands and travelled almost everywhere in between. After getting back to the US, I got my MFA at SUNY New Paltz and now live and work in the Bronx. I've exhibited at Mount Holyoke College’s Five College Women’s Studies Research Center, Raritan Community College, Masur Museum of Art, the Peekskill Arts Festival, Samuel Dorsky Museum at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Hunter College Gallery, The Point Community Center, Lower East Side Festival of the Arts and The University of Rhode Island. Awards include: Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art 2007-08, Chashama Visual Arts Award 2007, Research Associateship at Mount Holyoke College 2006 and Arts Council Korea International Artist Residency at Stone and Water Gallery in Anyang, South Korea in 2009.

Aiop: How was your Art in Odd Places experience?

AG: I think one of the best experiences I've had performing has been for Art in Odd Places. It is always exciting to be at a new location because when doing public performance you never know what is going to happen. The thrill of the unexpected is one of the components I base my work on. I see my projects are never complete until the audience is there interacting with me. The week before I started my first performance for AIOP, I broke my elbow riding a long board. It was awkward moving my arm, not to mention painful, but the show had to go on and it added a new layer. Doing this piece on 14th street was special. I love the people from the East Village, the folks who have been there since forever. They've seen everything throughout the decades and know how to sieve through inauthenticity. So when I got they're approval for what I was doing, it felt incredibly wonderful.

Aiop: Where was your work located on 14th Street?

AG: My piece was on 14th street between First avenue and Avenue A in front of the post office. I performed for 4 Sundays in October from 12 to 5 each time.

Aiop: Any words of wisdom for artists who are interested in becoming part of this year's Art in Odd places festival?

AG: Visit the site you're interesting in doing work at. Sit awhile and imagine the work there. It will help with writing the proposal.

Aiop: What projects are you currently working on and where can people reach you?

AG: I am currently a participant in the first Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Art & Law Residency Program. The inaugural session of the VLA Art & Law Residency will be celebrated with an exhibition and symposium of participant work at Maccarone Gallery in NYC this August. The residency is led by an incredible team: Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, Esq. VLA Associate Director, Program Director and Faculty Elena M. Paul, Esq.VLA Executive Director, Advisor and Program Faculty and Erin Donnelly Exhibition Coordinator and Curator.

On April 10th, I will be presenting “Revealing New York: The Disappearance of Other”,
as part of the Jamaica Flux ‘10 curated by Hen-Gil Han, Jamaica Flux:
Work Spaces & Windows, a project of Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning
(JCAL). “Revealing New York: The Disappearance of Other” is a sequel
to my Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art project An Auto-ethnographic Study: The Bronx. The first held in 2008 for Art in Odd Places: Pedestrian in Manhattan. For Jamaica Flux, I will focus on the foreclosure crisis affecting Queens.

My piece “Decolonizing the Image” was selected for publication in the
academic journal Performing Ethos from Intellect Books Issue1/Volume1.
Short Abstract:
Photography has completed the racialization of identity as a vehicle
in colonization throughout modernity. With the emergence of immaterial
art such as performance, the artist has been able to use the body in
order to de-construct identity. As a result, performance documentation, like Adrian Piper’s Mythic Being, begin to unmark
imperialist overtures embedded in images.

My project from this past summer in Korea has been published in “Doing
Art in the Market” from Achim Media. It contains all the exiting work
from the Arts Council Korea’s and Stone and Water Gallery’s
International Residency in Anyang’s traditional Seoksu Market. At the
moment it is only available in Korea.

People can reach me at: http://www.blogger.com/becomingmyth@gmail.com


Aiop: Any final words?

Thanks so much for inviting me to do this. AIOP is such an incredible festival. It follows in the tradition of Fluxes and Happenings that started in NYC. It brings thought back to the masses on such an intimate scale. I loved being a part of it.

Thank you, Alicia! Your responses were definitely wonderful and inspiring.

To visit the artist's website, go to http://www.blogger.com/www.aliciagrullon.com
Email her: http://www.blogger.com/becomingmyth@gmail.com
Don't forget Alicia upcoming show at JCAL on April 10, 2010.

What's coming up next time: Aiop 2010 curators Yael and Petrushka, performance artist Lulu lolo and more Aiop artists.