Riso Bike – Mobile Art Gallery in NYC

Riso Bike – Mobile Art Gallery in NYC
October 29, 2017 cemkocy

Riso Bike at Washington Square Park on a sunny dayRiso Bike is a custom built tricycle to display Risograph prints on the streets.

For years, I have fantasized about a storefront in New York City, where rents are soaring to new heights every single day. I was so brick and mortar oriented. Once I broke the cycle and thought outside the box, I came up with my affordable and flexible solution. Riso Bike: a mobile art gallery.

Riso Bike is a custom built tricycle to display Risograph prints on the streets. It functions as a Mobile Art Gallery, and a gift shop. With the Riso Bike, my storefront can be anywhere in the city. Since the successful fundraising campaign for the bike, I have opened shop in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and in Queens, attended several fairs.

The streets are great to show art, and meet with art lovers.

I talk about the Risograph process, about how I meet artists to work with, and about my newspaper project. Riso Bike forced me to get out of my art studio and go where people are. Instead of waiting for open studio events, I am having open studios everyday in open air with hundreds of attendees.

One of my favorite spots so far is Washington Square Park. Musician, dancers, chess players and other art vendors are packing the park with action as students and the residents of the neighborhood are enjoying the park. Washington Square Park is also a great destination for tourists. People with many different backgrounds can see the risograph prints. This fits well with Authorized to Work in the US Press’ mission. I have my work authorization in the States, but I don’t want my work to only live in the States. I want them to travel all around. Biking with the prints is always a good start for the idea of mobility. Each and every day, I am becoming a part of the community around the park.

Below you can see photos of the Riso Bike on different outings.

  • Risograph artist & publisher Cem Kocyildirim is riding around on the Riso Bike at Knockdown Center, Queens during Blonde Art Books Presents: The Fifth Annual BABZ Fair, 2017
  • Riso Bike out on a sunny day at Washington Square Park, Summer of 2017
  • Composer Trevor Bachman is visiting the Riso Bike at Washington Square Park, New York, 2017
  • Elizabeth Tolson is holding her new purchase from the Riso Bike, a print by AM DeBrincat, at Washington Square Park on a cloudy day, 2017.

 

Riso Bike with composer Trevor Bachman Riso Bike with Elizabeth Tolson and AM DeBrincat's Astronaut Banana Risograph Print

 

 


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