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Our Creative Spirit

Queens had a vibrant contemporary arts scene well before the Museum of Modern Art graced our side of the East River (albeit temporarily).

Struggling artists, whose work flows in a continuous stream onto the canvases and performance spaces of our borough, have toiled endlessly under the radar, honing their crafts, perfecting their pieces and then moving on to their next undertakings.

Present in every corner of Queens is the pounding heartbeat of the men and women who fiercely fight to turn the images and words in their heads into works both tangible and fleeting; their brushes move, their feet step in time with this undulating beat.

Take a peek inside this other world. Some faces may seem familiar – as most of what is now considered mainstream in Queens started in this very underground – yet others may be quite alien, seeming perverse, scary or confusing.

Art is not pretty. Art’s intention is not to bring joy; it is a release of a soul onto a canvas or some other media. Turn the pages, and stare deep into some of the most expressive souls of the borough, see the people who work to bring the art to the public and see what is in store for the future of Queens.

 

 

 

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Queens Tribune.com


Artists use several media throughout the space of the Chocolate Factory in Long Island City for a piece titled "Audit."

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Arturo from the Lower Lights Collective works on a chair at the Chocolate Factory in Long Island City.

The Cutting Edge

Obviously not every artist takes the term the cutting edge as literally as this one, but the spirit of discovery, the desire to push the envelope of understanding, form and decency, and the ability to convey new thoughts to a public that won’t know what hit it clearly rules the arts scene of Queens.

The borough’s artistic underground carries with it a current that courses through the streets of Long Island City, spreads into Flushing, heading north of College Point, east toward Douglaston and south toward Forest Hills before it ends up overflowing into the Flushing River, Jamaica Bay and Newtown Creek.

It is all around us. It slices through us. It makes us stop, think and react.

Take a piece of the Queens art scene with you as you hold on to this special edition of the Tribune. Then go out and explore the illuminating brilliance hidden in some of our borough’s darkest corners.