The former public defender and NYU Law professor Rick Finkelstein now creates amazing miniaturized fantasies that are worlds removed from his old job of trying homicides, drug conspiracies, and mob cases (rickfinkelstein.net). He gave me an exclusive tour of his Soho studio, filled with drawings, paintings, bell jar dioramas, and works-in-progress like the fascinating Elizabethan-style cabinet on the next slide.
One of Rick’s latest creations, a literal cabinet of curiosities seen both closed and open. Peeking through the portholes, you’ll see a variety of dioramas filled with figures found on on eBay and at flea markets, as well as some made by Rick himself.
These are some of the viewing boxes Rick designs and fabricates using particle board, circuit boards, lights, and optical lenses. He has collected roughly twenty lenses of varying strengths and sizes.
The scene inside one of the boxes: a trio of bicycle riders (not from E.T.!) in the night sky.
Another image from one of his installations, of flying Superman, also makes for a fun workshop poster.
A miniaturized taxidermy shop placed inside of a Plexiglas box.
A detail of a dollhouse with indoor and outdoor vignettes, such as this polar bear peering into a window.
This comical bell-jar installation is called The History of the Jews From Egypt to Miami.
This one’s called The Baseball Player.
The finished piece.
Address, date, or similar info here.
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Address, date, or similar info here.
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Address, date, or similar info here.
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Address, date, or similar info here.
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Address, date, or similar info here.
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Address, date, or similar info here.
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Address, date, or similar info here.
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Address, date, or similar info here.
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Address, date, or similar info here.
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.
Address, date, or similar info here.
For me, the high point of the show is this, which manages simultaneously to be a painting, a force field, and an electromagnetic visual discharge. This is an artist sloughing off old consciousness, making something he doesn’t even know is art, giving up nearly all known languages of painting, and maybe violating the laws of nature by making something that seemingly puts off more energy than went into making it.