Felt Art in Manhattan
Bodegas are the New York version of English convenience stores. They are those kind of stores which stock basically everything you could think of, saving people in all those awkward moments when, after coming back from the organic shop, you forgot to buy the milk your partner needs every morning for breakfast, or when you are enjoying a night out and start craving Twix like your life depends on chocolate.
To evoke those kind of moments, and the feeling of gratitude and appreciation New Yorkers have towards this establishment, Lucy Sparrow created 8 ’till late, a representation of a typical New York bodega where every item on sale was a faithful copy in felt of the original products. And as it happened in London three years before, the response was incredibly strong: the ‘store’ had to close earlier than expected, due to the massive demand for felt candy and fluffy frozen pizza, which the artist’ production could not cope with.
When asked about the success of its previous project, the Cornershop, Lucy admitted she did not foresee such a positive response. And given the fact that the American 8 ’till late had to close one week in advance, we can assume that reality exceeded expectations once again. Why? Mostly because the art pieces on sale were not just aesthetically attractive thanks to the highest level of detail of each item, but also accessible to the big public.
It’s a very important part of my installations that anyone can go into an installation and buy a piece of art. It’s accessible to absolutely everyone. It’s not in any way elitist.
The artist also revealed what part of the installation she enjoyed most doing: the freezer section. In fact, American packaging is much more colourful than its english counterpart, so Lucy relished producing more ‘cartoonish’ fast moving goods. And she even had a felt cat, because every typical bodega has a cat, with no exception.
You can’t make it to the shop?
Order online! Lucy Sparrow’s felt products can be bought online here.
Chiara Avino
Feral Content Creator
