Last year right about this time I went to visit with the marvelous Artist John Fathom in Asbury Park where he had been working on a building project to create a backyard oasis that included a moon gate. We had a beautiful visit that afternoon, and it was a memorable time, but one thing that I told him then that has come true now is that he would be continuing to make new spaces after the fashion of 660 Studios which is the warehouse space he created in 2003 and where I first visited with him after meeting him in 2015.
As I have written before about John, he is a creative force and as an Artist his work encompasses not only light boxes which are a very special creation of his, but mixed media on even larger scales that often have the ability to be transformative installations. When I first met him at the Jersey City Art and Studio Tour in October of 2015, he had curated a show at Cast Iron Lofts, not only filling the cavernous space with art but also creating a bar that with its use of raw materials and recycled items could have been in the restaurant at the end of the universe in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy because of its pure inventiveness and scale and colorful life. John creates universes, and they are always places where we can feel at home, living within and around the art he collectes, curates and creates.
A few months ago he began posting about a space in Paterson, New Jersey where he was working on a collaboration with Alex Pergament to develop a warehouse space into Artists studios, a place to live and work, and a space to perform. It's not easy for me to get to Paterson, but I asked Joel Liscio if he would consider taking a drive out there to visit John, and so one afternoon recently we did. I was picking up a light box John had created for me, and though I'd seen photographs of it and knew it was gorgeous, it was more stunning in person that I had imagined. The space was wonderful and our afternoon inspiring as visiting with John always is.
There are people who help us move forward and keep walking in our creative life, and John Fathom is one of those people. Seeing him that afternoon was food for the soul, and as he's a great Chef as well, we enjoyed some of his delicious cooking also. Now that I have the light box home it's begun to transform my space. I'm still in the process of rearranging things in the way that I want them to create a focal point for this new stunning piece. I told John that the area where I am placing it has never been exactly the way that I wanted it to be. There was always something that I wanted to change and I didn't know how or what to do, and with this new piece everything is taking on a new dimension. It's a rare gift John has to give a spark of life back into the source of our creative imaginings. I'm so thankful to know him and to have one of his pieces, and to have the opportunity to meet him in his new spaces as he continues on his journey of his own creative life.
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