Client: The Good People Of New York City | Glickman Schlesinger Architects | Abracadabra Magic Diner

Overview

Cool shades (2024) is an ecosystem that invites public interactions with sculpture and light. My studio in NYC is a storefront. It looks like a shop, but it’s not. When people walk in, the conversation quickly turns from shopping to art. People make connections between disparate works in the studio, and experiences from their own lives. They come in for shades, and leave with ideas. I love wordplay and talking about art. Lovitt is my middle name; its a 19C surname. New York is full of creative people; a lot can happen here. I recently met a local video editor; we discussed The Cloud Chamber (2011) and came up with ways to visualize 24 hours of cosmic footage in the heart of New York City. I’m totally into it. You should come by. These undocumented conversations are the real artwork. In October 2023, In Lily Sullivan bought one for her flat and wrote about it in her blog about a week before images appeared in Architectural Digest online. May, Glickman Schlesinger purchased three lights for a modest, exquisite townhouse renovation. In June I was interviewed by Jared Blake of Lichen. In August Abracadabra Magic Diner installed them throughout, with a Philips Hue bulb in each, for a stunning polychromatic effect that completely transforms their space. Anything is possible.

Goals

“OMG I love it.”

Process

It's hard to live here. You need beautiful things. One side of pergamenata parchment is scored from a digital file by The Universal Studios Sign Shop in Greenpoint; the other side is scored by hand, in my storefront studio in Ridgewood Queens. This processes physically inserts the drawing into the paper without making pencil marks; erasing disappears. The paper is completely clean. It can be folded along these lines, into peaks and valleys that create infinite combinations of spans and parabolas. Pages are joined with jade PVA to change the size. The forms are constrained reflective thread. The electrical components and ring shades come from Grand Brass Lamp Parts. It started in October as a gift for Tom Butter. Watching Lichen across the street inspired me to scale the work up, for the good people of New York City.

Additional Information

Two years ago the design collective Lichen moved their showroom across the street. Last summer a hip spot Salty Lady Lunchonette opened next door. I opened my studio as Lovitt NYC, in August 2023 to see how people off the street might respond to my work. People come from all over the city to shop and eat. The conversation starts with an expectation about commerce and shopping but quickly moves to ideas about art and making things in general. Undocumented conversations are the most unpredictible / interesting / memorable part of the project. This project participates in the cultural life of the neighborhood. It would be great to fill an interior atrium with hundreds of unique, handmade shades.