NAPOLEON mentioned on NewsWorks WHYY
NAPOLEON mentioned on NewsWorks WHYY
Peter Crimmins on Artist-Run by Tiger Strikes Asteroid
On the radio and on the web, Peter Crimmins reports on how “Some Philadelphia collectives find creative way to take part in Miami Art Week.” Talking to Mark Brosseau of Tiger Strikes Asteroid Philadelphia, Natessa Amin of FJORD, and Leslie Friedman from NAPOLEON, Crimmins reported on the “…exhibition housed inside a dilapidated hotel in the North Beach neighborhood where 40 artist collectives from around the world have created art environments in each of the hotel’s abandoned rooms.”
The part including NAPOLEON member Leslie Friedman is quoted here:
Leslie Friedman, founding member of the Philadelphia collective Napoleon, wheat pasted artwork directly onto the walls of room 203, such that it cannot be removed until the building is demolished.
“I do a lot of site-specific work, and I hate deinstalling them,” said Friedman. “The idea I could do something and not have to take it down was just too delicious to ignore.”
Opening night saw a several hundred people come through the hotel, in and out of its 40 rooms. No one bought anything. There were no price lists available.
“The energy in the hotel was really fantastic, which is what we were after,” said Brosseau.
She says the point is not to sell work, but collaborate with other artist collectives. The Herculean effort it took to transform the blighted property galvanized the artists.
“I hear about artist-run spaces, and to actually meet these people and be working together to turn this hotel into something that looks like art, not decay, was really magical,” said Friedman, of Napoleon.
NAPOLEON 