Artist Exposes Wall Street "Flash" At Chelsea Gallery
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An art project that was first inspired and influenced the Occupy Wall Street Movement is the focus of a new Chelsea gallery show. NY1's Stephanie Simon filed the following report.He put the flash back into flash mob. Two months before Occupy Wall Street there was "Ocularpation Wall Street." Yes, it was called "Ocularpation Wall Street." On August 1, Artist Zefrey Throwell and 49 others bared it all to call attention to the need for transparency in banking.
"I see the nudity operating as a metaphor for exposing Wall Street, for stripping off the layers of protection and litigations that have surrounded Wall Street," explains Throwell.
The title itself comes from the words Occupation, Occupy and Ocular, or eyesight. It was part protest, part performance art. And it was Inspired by Throwell's mom's own financial woes after losing much of her life savings in the economic meltdown. But the performers didn't just strip, they played the roles of different occupations found on Wall Street from bankers to personal assistants. Now Throwell has a new exhibit of art work inspired by August's event at the Gasser and Grunert Gallery in Chelsea.
"These sculptures actually represent the professions: Ties are for financial advisors, high heels...prostitutes, handcuffs...cops," says Throwell.
Sure Throwell is a bit of an exhibitionist, but his impact goes beyond the shock value. He was an early advisor to the organizers of Occupy Wall Street which unfolded two months later and went global.
"I said that I thought they should organize at Zuccotti Park because if they went to Wall Street they would just get arrested," recalls Throwell.
It turned out to be good advice from someone who had already researched the area for months for his event.
If you didn't get to see the original "Ocularpation" performance back in August, and lets face it, it only lasted five minutes and it happened at seven o'clock in the morning -- so chances are you didn't. That's okay because you can see the full (frontal) film at the gallery.
"If there's one thing I've noticed it's that New Yorkers love naked people," says Throwell.