Office Art Office

Done

2010-07-29T02:34:00.000-04:00

After 13 weeks of posting office art, there just wasn't the kind of interest we'd hoped for, and so we're ending Office Art Office. Thanks for those that submitted works, and I hope some other place has better luck bringing your art to a wider audience. Thanks, Joe

Week 13

2010-07-18T18:15:00.001-04:00

Denied (Statue of Liberty sculpture, cloth)

Nicholas Carr
Mechanic
Chicago, Illinois

"Found on the way to my shop. For me this about sums up Arizona's new policies on immigration."

Week 12

2010-07-11T19:00:00.001-04:00

PART 2 OF 2 WEEKS

The Ballad of Mason McSwain (pen & ink, photoshop); Backstage at the Sunken Head [with Landon Webb] (pen & ink, photoshop); Ship Burial [with Landon Webb] (pen & ink, photoshop); House of Acid (pen & ink, photoshop)

Jeremy Haines and Tim Farnham

Waiters

New York, NY

Week 11

2010-07-04T08:10:00.000-04:00

PART 1 OF 2 WEEKS

Maybe Partying Will Help (pen & ink, photoshop); Bushmeat (pen & ink, photoshop); Exception to the Rule (pen & ink, photoshop); Sketch of Family Tree (pen & ink); Family Tree (pen & ink, photoshop)

Jeremy Haines and Tim Farnham

Waiters

New York, NY

"Tim and Jeremy are both waiters at The Cafe Loup located on W 13th St. in New York City. During slow times at work, to stave off boredom and also to block out annoying people, the two young men draw pictures. These pictures are made using ink and what is called the "Triple Dupe Pad," a book of paper used to place orders in the kitchen. The drawings usually take about a week to make, all the while also being used by fellow employees to take orders; this sometimes leads to other collaborators or in a couple cases, to the loss of the work. The drawings are then scanned and colored in Photoshop where they come to life in stunning technicolor! The subject matter varies from piece to piece, as they are made over a long course of time and under various moods and states of mind. They all retain a playfulness that serves as a coping mechanism after spending a night catering to the endless needs of hungry patrons."

Week 10

2010-06-27T12:52:00.001-04:00

The Anxieties of June (cupcake, transparency film on scanner)

Maria Elena Murguia
Photo Researcher
New York, NY

"An unhappy office, two passive aggressive emails, and a crashing deadline fills one day to the brim, but later when it becomes still and dark, these melt away and become completely insignificant compared to the joy of mushing a cupcake on a scanner bed."

Week 9

2010-06-20T07:00:00.002-04:00

Xsan Rules (pen & ink)

Kelly Evers Jackson
Executive Assistant
New York, NY

"During meetings, it's more my place to record rather than speak. Therefore, when notes are not being taken, I find myself occupying my mind by drawing. After assisting on a project rebuilding our xsan server, I attended the final presentation and did a portrait of my team. The drawing was something they enjoyed very much."

Week 8

2010-06-13T07:00:00.001-04:00

Dogwood (receipt tape, rubber bands)

Danny Coeyman
Ticket Monger, The New Museum
New York, NY

"I sell tickets at a contemporary art museum in New York. I make my own artwork as well, and I had this idea when the receipt tape ran low one day. It gets a pink edge, to remind you to change the roll, which looked just like the dogwood flowers in our arrangement at work. This was fun because it was something everyone looked at, but no one noticed, which kinda captures the feeling of working the front desk at the museum."

Week 7

2010-06-06T23:55:00.001-04:00

Untitled (plastic spoon, marker, telephone); Untitled (pen, marker, Post It, computer); Untitled (pencil, pen, Post It)

Adam Roger Greene

Nurse

New York, NY

"I make little things at work because it is natural. Under normal circumstances they remain free from other eyes, and criticism (even self-criticism). They live a moment and are tossed in the trash. They come with the regularity. A few scribbles, aware or unaware of my actions; and then back to work. Small unruly beasts to infiltrate the rigidity of routine."

Week 6

2010-05-30T14:48:00.000-04:00

Cyclops & the Chastity Belt (obliterated baseball, chain w/paint, paperclip holder?)

Anonymous

Admin Asst, Tech Firm

New York, NY

"The 16-year-old son of my boss visited the office last week and left behind this very strange collection of items. I was going to throw them out but went to lunch and when I returned I found them arranged on my desk this way (I work with all sorts of fun demented people). It read very Tracey Emin to me. You be the judge."

Week 5

2010-05-23T11:47:00.003-04:00

Word Mountain (paper, red pen)

David Hirsch

Lawyer

New York, NY

"This work arrived quite unexpectedly. During the writing of a rather long and tiresome document I found myself unable to formulate another sentence; the well was completely dry. I had taken a poetry course at Duke years ago and find the "spontaneous writing" I enjoyed doing then still helps clear my mind on occasion. I began writing, not sentences but words, careful not to repeat any. I was searching for rhythm, or more precisely, variables for synthesis, "little land mines," as someone once said. Forty five minutes later this lay on my desk. Nothing profound but the experience was memorable and very helpful."

Week 4

2010-05-16T09:26:00.002-04:00

Untitled (Radiohead CD [OK Computer], Tie, Strunk and White [The Elements of Style], acrylics, shoe box, nails, glue)

V. Sasha Cowell

Translation Editor, Independent Publisher

Brooklyn, NY

"I work long hours with interesting people."

Week 3

2010-05-09T11:38:00.006-04:00

Pictographs (Post Its, red oil marker, red pen)

Corey Hart

Student/Asst Manager, Game and Comic Book Store

New York, NY

"For my friend's bachelor party we did a six day canoe trip down the Pecos River in Texas. It was 50 miles long and full of canyons. Some of these canyons had hidden 10,000 year old native-american petroglyphs and pictographs. It was seriously amazing work. A lot more abstract than I would have imagined truthfully. There were snakes and shamans and deer-headed gods and even a few UFO looking pieces, but the image that caught me off guard was the one of a human hand, where some guy had put his hand up there on the wall and painted around it. Our hands were the same size! Back at work whenever I could I started drawing on little pads of Post Its. The shapes/images are from things I see everyday, little things here and there. They probably will not last as long but to me they're a way to mark what is happening now, and who knows with the interwebs."

Week 2

2010-05-02T10:04:00.013-04:00

City of Half-Beginnings (paper, crayon)

Lacey Koethe

Former Chimp, Music Industry

New York, NY

"I drew this on the table at lunch while my boss was firing me. They give you crayons. I was an intern for three months at a record label--Midtown, days/nights, I worked until 3 in the morning for next to nothing. I really wanted this job. I gave up weekends, almost lost a boyfriend, spent all my savings renting a 500 square foot apt in Hell's Kitchen thinking things would pan out, which they didn't. Suckville. It wasn't really a firing, they just picked someone else. He was nice about it and left me to finish my drawing. If you look closely you can see the names of every company I ever worked for and the names of all the dogs I had in my life. I'm from Ohio and remembering my dogs made me feel better. Then I drew what I guess now is a emotional rendering of NYC, all the buildings, all the dreams, etc. It was pretty pathetic and I must have looked like a total mess sitting there crying and crayoning. In the end I gave myself an A+ for busting ass though. It's lame I know but it made me feel better :P When I got back to the office I put my drawing on the break room fridge. I took pics for my b-f. I have always liked the koala magnet so when I left later that day for good I kept it. We still have him. His name is Arthur."

Week 1

2010-04-25T05:00:00.001-04:00

Icarus (Feathers, metal binder loop, leaf, foil from cigarette pack, plastic lamination card); Insecticon (Flower, staples, paper, pen, lamination card); Untitled IV (Flowers, lamination card)

Joe Pan

Former Copy Editor, Ad Agency

New York, NY

"I made 250 of these pieces (called Weathers, as a group) over a span of 6 months, using items I found at work or on my way to work. Once I finished a composition within the plastic sleeve, I ran it through a lamination machine, which always changed the work somehow. Within the project, which I consider a single work, I was able to explore a multitude of strategies while borrowing from various aesthetic camps. It really allowed me to test my range and play around with everything from Surrealism to Erasure Poetry, sculpture to collage. It kept me going during the more aggressively boring hours at work."