Research Archive

John Fekner and Don Leicht were invited to participate in the outdoor street exhibition Welling Court Mural Project organized by Ad Hoc Art in Queens, NY. After a preliminary visit to the site, they decided to paint on a wall directly facing the Two Coves Community Garden and the NYCHA Astoria Houses Development.  The location of their collaborative site-specific work was important for two reasons: not only did it connect with the communities’ thriving volunteer-run urban garden; it also provided a platform to address the catastrophic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Read the rest of this entry »

Press Review and Catalog Essay Read the rest of this entry »

John Fekner Exhibition Statement

Following statement was written on the occasion of the first solo exhibition at Hundred Acres Gallery, Soho NY October 1974 Read the rest of this entry »

How It Began

In 1968, Fekner enters the undergraduate Fine Arts program at New York Institute of Technology. He studies with a number of artists who are associated with 55 Mercer co-opt that opens in 1969. Fekner becomes an assistant to Martin Bressler, a teacher and artist who has a studio on the Bowery. Fekner is attracted to the raw loft spaces and cast-iron architecture of Soho, as well as the rebellious work of the artists involved with 112 Green Street, which has a significant impact on his subsequent move to outdoor work. Read the rest of this entry »

In the summer of 1985 without a studio to work in, John Fekner turned a Sunday painter using his car as a traveling studio and setup shop at a few of his favorite locations alongside a highway in Queens and a parkway in the Bronx. Fekner said it was the best place to work outside without being disturbed; no phone calls, only the birds and the whizzing of cars and trucks. A favorite spot was under the Long Island Expressway at the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway exit where he previously spray painted Trees, Toxic, and RUA Vidiot?

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