Pearl Paint

Product Description

Pearl Paint by Randy Hage

22.5″ x 22.5″ x 10″, 1/12th Scale Model, Miniature Sculpture, unit comes housed, framed and lighted

Material Used: Wood, Metal, Styrene, Glass, Paper, Cloth, Resin, Acrylic, Spray, Oil Paints, Water based and Petroleum based Adhesives

Pearl Paint Storefront Address: 308 Canal Street, New York, NY 10013

Current Exhibition at Flower Pepper Gallery: Facade by Randy Hage from October 10th to November 18th, 2015

Previous Exhibitions at Flower Pepper Gallery:
- 3rd Year Anniversary Show from December 6th, 2014 to January 6th, 2015
- Group Show: Minuscule from May 3rd to June 6th, 2014
- Solo Show: Fleeting Moments – The Art of Randy Hage from October 5th to November 15th, 2013
- Solo Show: NYC Store Fronts by Randy Hage from May 19th to June 21st, 2012

Pearl Paints is a beloved business rooted in the arts community, located on Canal Street in New York City. Some even would say that this store helped SoHo transition from being a worn down industrial neighborhood to the thriving artistic community that became an anchor for the arts in the 1960s and 1970s. After Pearl Paints’ closing, past patrons were very vocal about the void being left in its absence. We can feel this sentimentality within Hage’s piece as it pays tribute to a place that was like a second home to so many artists over the years.

Artist Biography:
Visual artist, Randy Hage, has always been fascinated by the character and often overlooked beauty of aging structures. In the late 90s, he began photographing the cast iron facades in the SoHo area of New York as possible subjects for future art projects (The cast iron and brick structure on this site is a product of that original research). His interest soon moved to the unique street level Mom & Pop storefronts with their hand painted signs, layers of architecture, wonderful patinas and intriguing history.

As he continued to photograph these storefronts, it became clear to him that this was becoming more than an art project; it was becoming a documentary project as well. These neighborhood storefronts were closing at an alarming rate, falling victim to large-scale redevelopment that was exceeding a normal pace for neighborhood change.

Hage’s work not only seeks to preserve a vision of the past, but also to call attention to the loss of established and diverse neighborhoods as urban renewal and gentrification displace the store owners and the area residents who make up the tapestry of these communities. Over the past 12 years, Hage has photographed more than 450 storefronts and in that time, more than 60% of those have closed or have been torn down.

Hage’s storefront project reflects a love for these iconic structures, as well as a passionate interest in the communities that they serve. His sculptures represent more than fading facades, they honor the very soul of the city, its people.

Randy Hage has been creating sets, models, and props for the TV/Film and small-scale hobby industries for over 25 years. He is a former instructor at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, where he taught set and prop fabrication.

Artist Website: http://newyorkstorefronts.com

New Mini New Works by Jeremiah Moss at Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York Blog on September 14th, 2015: http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2015/09/new-mini-new-yorks.html

News & Articles About Randy and His Works:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/09/29/nyregion/album-storefronts.html?_r=0

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=9275290

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2013/09/secret-life-new-york-storefronts-miniature/6846/

http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2013/09/new-work-from-randy-hage.html

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/09/10/its_a_small_world.php

http://gothamist.com/2013/09/10/photos_amazing_miniaturized_nyc_sto.php#photo-1

http://laist.com/2013/09/25/river_cats.php

News on actual store: Pearl Paint

TimeOut New York

New York Art World Landmark Pearl Paint may be closing
After 71 years on Canal Street, time and gentrification seem to have caught up with another New York icon

By Howard Halle, April 10th, 2014

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/art/new-york-art-world-landmark-pearl-paint-may-be-closing

The New York Times:

Patrons of 2 Stores Ponder a Loss of Music and Color
J&R and Pearl Paint Reflect Changing Retail Landscape

By James Barron, April 10th, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/nyregion/patrons-ponder-neighborhoods-without-j-r-and-pearl-paint.html?_r=0

Observer News

New Yorkers Can’t Deal with Pearl Paints Closure
The sad, artistic death of the famed Canal Street art store and its downtown cousins

By Fernanda DeSouza, April 22th, 2014

http://observer.com/2014/04/new-york-artists-devastated-with-closing-of-pearl-paint-among-other-shops/

Additional Information