MIDTOWN — Pulsing light sculptures, rainbow-painted treadmills and clowns fill the wood-paneled offices in the James A. Farley Post Office this week for an experimental art fair.
"A lot of the stuff is super-trippy," said visitor Polly Shindler, 38, an artist from Bed-Stuy. "I either need to live here forever or leave right now."
The Spring/Break art show opened Wednesday, taking over largely unused space in the southeast wing of the post office at West 31st Street and Eighth Avenue.
Artwork from local and international artists, which range in cost from $5 to thousands of dollars, fills more than 60 rooms.
A. Moret, a curator, recommends lying on the floor in the space she designed. In that back room on the building's fourth floor, the Swiss duo Visualpilots constructed a light show projected onto hanging panels.
#visualpilots in the old post office on 8 ave pic.twitter.com/lZLq8m5Vp5
— Rosa Goldensohn (@RosaGoldensohn) March 4, 2015Also on the fourth floor, visitors can receive temporary Asian character tattoos from artist Akiko Ichikawa. She charges $5 for a "good" one, words such as "good fortune" and "breathe," or no money for a "bad" one, words like "ugly" and "weak."
In the show's gift shop, TriBeCa artist Azikiwe Mohammed shows off bronzed Air Jordans and a set of commemorative plates emblazoned with the image of rapper Gucci Mane taken from various mug shots. Mohammed said the plates signify his respect for Mane's resilience after a series of arrests.
"The fact that he is not only still alive but still making music and still working is a pretty great achievement that's not seen as such," he said.
The show runs through March 8, from noon to 6 p.m. daily. The entrance is on the northwest corner of West 31st Street and Eighth Avenue. Admission costs $10.
