Juan Carlos Pinto is our artist. Originally from Guatemala, Pinto has made Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, his home for the past ten years.
Pinto and I met at Vox Pop in Ditmas Park. Now closed, Vox Pop was an artist cafe-bar. A place where people gathered to create. Unlike other gentrified parts of NYC, Vox Pop was a home to Brooklyn locals, people from other states and even other countries. People of different political persuasions. All gathered together at Vox Pop to share ideas. Not all agreed, but all people were accepted.
I say Pinto is our artist because he’s decorated bars (Highbury Pub, Bar Chord, 773 Lounge) and many store fronts, as well as street-walls, with his mosaics, murals and portraits. His indelible mark has been made on the neighborhood.
Pinto and I were fast friends the moment we met. We both tend to talk a lot, to sometimes be very inappropriate, then deeply philosophical, then emotionally transparent – all in the same conversation. In the same sentence, sometimes.
We also recognize each other not only as friends but as fellow artists. I am proud to know Juan Carlos Pinto.
Pinto has created many dozens of mosaics of famous personages. Some are iconic musicians, some are revolutionaries and some are martyrs. Bowie, Bernie, Trayvon Martin and Martin Luther King. Many of these have been created using bits of MTA MetroCards. But Pinto is also a fine painter. And he also makes mosaics using bits of scrap porcelain and glass. He is a complete master. When we sit at bars in the neighborhood, he’s often chiseling and cutting, sketching and drawing. Always making, always creating.
Recently Pinto had a commission to make post cards for a museum.
Using his unique eye for color and form, Pinto developed a series of images. They are so powerful, so inventive, they practically fly off of the page.
Pinto is a man of the street. We can’t get away from each other. Everywhere I go, there he is. And I’m glad for that.
Pinto is ours. He’s mine too. And I’m his. Like two pulsing stars, we’ve kept in each other’s orbit. We bound together. From his immense light, I can see far and wide. I hope to never lose that brilliance in my life.
You can find Pinto these days at OYE Studios on 834 Coney Island. At OYE, Pinto and his studio partners, Helen Spencer and Mikki Kaj Valfrid Nylund, have created a space to exhibit the work of other local artists, as well as their own. Their exhibits are interesting and fun. They’ve established a vibrant community of artists from all walks of life. And all they ask for is a donation. Go down and check out OYE Studios today.
OYE Studios, 834 Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11218 (718) 693-1120
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