Category: Interviews

Play Me, I'm Yours: Street Pianos Boston 2016

10/6/2016

Touring internationally since 2008, "Play Me, I’m Yours" is a unique public art installation by British artist Luke Jerram. Over 1,500 pianos have been installed in more than 50 cities worldwide, from London to Paris to New York to Hong Kong, with the simple invitation "Play Me, I’m Yours." This amazing, international public art project has already reached more than ten million people worldwide. The Celebrity Series of Boston brought "Play Me I'm Yours" to Boston in 2013 and has now done it again in 2016! It's been a real honor to have been selected through the jurying process as one of the 60 artists for the 2016 Boston Street Pianos Exhibit. After spending the summer painting, 60 Pianos for the "Play Me, I'm Yours" installation will be on the streets of Boston September 23, 2016 to October 10, 2016.

I wanted to create a piano for Street Pianos Boston because I love Boston and I love public art. I believe there are incredible opportunities to use art to represent Boston as one of the world’s best cities; a city that has a vibrant and thriving arts community that adds to the inherent value of everyone living here or visiting Boston.

The Play Me I'm Yours Street Pianos exhibit is something I've admired since I first saw it a few years ago in 2013. When I first heard that "Play Me, I'm Yours" was coming back to Boston, I was very excited about the opportunity to paint a piano for this project. My artistic style is about fun, bright colors, using the illusion of mosaic tiles, and bold lines, and I believed that my art would complement the exhibit really well, drawing people to the pianos and interacting with them on the streets of Boston. It was a real honor to have been selected to be a participating artist.

I was excited about Street Pianos Boston because it would be my first public art project. My art is loved by people who have my art in their homes, but I also believe that my art has a place in the public realm; my style lends itself for large murals, even sculpture, in public places as well as in corporate office settings. I'd love to do more in the public realm so that art can be accessible to everyone.

Being part of the Celebrity Series of Boston Street Pianos exhibit was particularly meaningful to me because I realized how much I enjoy the process of creating public art and am excited about the possibilities for other terrific public-domain art projects in the future.

When I first began to conceptualize what my final piano would represent, I really wanted to embrace the goals of this wonderful project of the Celebrity Series of Boston and Luke Jerram’s vision. My piano was painted with the same enthusiasm, fun, and engagement, celebrating the great city of Boston. My plan was to make my piano uniquely “Boston” by using my signature style and showcasing some of the wonderful landmarks or icons of the city of Boston. I also wanted to highlight the spirit of the arts community, both visual and performing arts. Music as a theme was also something I wanted to convey in my artwork. The piano features the Citgo Sign, the Boston State House, the Red Sox logo, the Zakim Bridge, the MBTA, Boston area maps, bold colors, the illusion of mosaic tile and musical notes.

The Piano Before

There's been some great press in the Boston Globe, which features my piano:
-Boston Globe: 60 pianos to pop up in public spaces around city
And also some great articles:
-The Creators Project: 60 Eclectic Street Pianos Ask to be Played Throughout Boston
-NECN: Street Pianos Back in Boston
-Celebrity Series videos and blogs: https://vimeo.com/celebrityseries http://celebrityseries.org/blog/

It took me 150 hours to complete the piano, which included sketches, measurements, sanding, priming, applying gesso, underpainting, actually painting, touch-ups, and three coats of 2 types of varnish and polyurethane. I really enjoyed the process of painting the piano in the shared space with other artists; it had a reality TV show type of feeling, which I really liked. A video of the making of the piano is here to the left.

After all the pianos were completed, the Celebrity Series of Boston hosted two pre-receptions for the artists, their families, Celebrity Series staff, donors and friends to visit the pianos in the space they were created in and enjoy all the incredible pianos before they hit the streets. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet all the artists, see their finished creations, and celebrate the staff that organized the project so well. On a personal note, it was an incredible experience to hear the piano I painted being played for the first time.

Here is a video medley of three pianists who played my piano at the pre-receptions!

The September 23, 2016 Street Pianos Boston Kickoff Event and Press Conference was a wonderful moment for the City of Boston as well as for me as a professional artist.
Having Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh participate in the event as well as artist Luke Jerram was wonderful. It was also terrific to have my friend Robert Beal of Related Beal join me at the press conference. Robert Beal recently purchased a painting of mine that featured the Citgo Sign, which inspired me to incorporate the Citgo Sign into the design for the piano. I delivered the painting entitled, "Let's Meet At The Citgo Sign Before The Sox Game," to Robert Beal's Boston office and then made my way to the Boston Innovation & Design Center to begin work on the piano. I have always loved Boston's Citgo Sign and I've made it a subject of some of my paintings since 2003. Located in Boston’s Kenmore Square, the Citgo Sign is beloved by people across the country and around the world. The Citgo Sign is held in particular high regard by Boston sports fans: Boston Red Sox players are enticed by the “C-IT-GO” sign as they hit home-runs over the left-field wall (also known as the Green Monster), and Boston Marathon runners welcome it at the 23rd mile mark.

Boston Artist Eddie Bruckner posing with Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

Michelle Wu, President of Boston City Council Plays Gershwin at Press Conference

Eddie Bruckner with Robert Beal

Mayor Martin J. Walsh with Luke Jerram at Press Conference 9/23/2016

Celebrity Series of Boston Staff with Eddie Bruckner's Piano at Press Conference 9/23/2016.

Eddie Bruckner with Ron Poster

Eddie Bruckner with Gary Dunning, President & Executive Director of Celebrity Series of Boston

Eddie Bruckner with Luke Jerram

Some of the artists who painted the 60 pianos with Luke Jerram at Press Conference 9/23/2016

On September 24, 2016, I hosted an event at City Hall Plaza that featured the Boston Bruins Organist, Ron Poster, playing my piano. We even did a Facebook Live video, which as of this blog posting, has over 6,000 views! The video here is a short clip of Ron Poster at the event.

Priscilla Liguori of WEBN-TV interviewed me and others about my piano and the Street Pianos "Play Me, I'm Yours" exhibit. The news-clip can be found here to the left:

It was an incredible honor to have a front page news article written by Emma Murphy of The Needham Times/Wicked Local's September 22, 2016 issue. My piano was also featured in the Boston Herald!

Boston Herald 9/24/2016

More videos of the Piano being played can be found on the Eddie Bruckner Fine Art YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCamBWngXFOwL9AZhBjoy24A

And more photos and videos can be found on the Street Pianos website: www.StreetPianos.com Look for Downtown Boston: City Hall Plaza.

The hashtag for the project is #streetpianosboston if you'd like to follow it on social media.

I am very proud that my painting/piano added value to this city-wide, public art and performing arts exhibit. It was really special to see Bostonians, visitors, and tourists enjoy playing all the pianos that were created for this wonderful project. The piano will be at Boston City Hall Plaza through October 10, 2016.

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