While covering the Talking Heads song “Cities” at Phish’s 1998 Lemonwheel Festival at Loring Air Force Base in Northern Maine, guitarist Trey Anastasio ad-libbed the line, “I will build a city; build myself a city to live in.”
Out of the nine “one-act-only” Phish festivals that have transpired since 1996, those cities – far from the perils of general population – eight were built by Lars Fisk (along with other creative collaborators), the studio and facilities manager at Socrates Sculpture Park. A celebrity in the Phish community, being creative is second nature for Fisk. Just look at his studio.
“It’s five shipping containers, all together,” says Fisk, referring to the architectural living work of art he pieced together over the course of the last year.
The shipping containers are stacked like legos complete with standard furnishings, a spiral staircase and internet connection. Out on the terrace, his floppy-eared Basset Hound, Freddy, hollers at a visitor but eventually finds a place to nap in the air conditioned enchanted environment.
“It counts for a whole new interest in architecture. Something I will pursue more in the next chapter of life.”
At 40, Fisk has accomplished much outside of being a well-known name amongst fans of a jam band that has been playing together since 1983. Since a very young age, it was not always sculpture that interested him, but anything he could make with his hands. He first became involved with Socrates Sculpture Park in 2001 for the park’s first emerging artist fellowship exhibition, a program that Fisk says is a “great way to travel, apply your trade, meet great people and get support for projects.” Before that, the Vermont native had never been to Queens before. This year’s emerging artist’s exhibition begins on Saturday, September 10 and with 20 participants, the show will be the biggest exhibition in its 10 year history. Fisk remembered his first exhibit in the park:
“It was a series of spherical sculptures that I had been working on for a long time. They were some site-specific works but this one was specific to New York. It was supposed to represent a crumbling, brownstone walk-up you might see in Brooklyn,” said Fisk.
And the balls haven’t stopped since. He has made a Volkswagen ball, a John Deere tractor ball, a school bus ball and a barn ball that was used as the cover art on Phish’s 2002 release, Round Room. More recently, Super Ball IX, the band’s ninth festival held at Watkins-Glen Race Track near the Finger Lakes was another opportunity to get spherical. Ball Square – as it was dubbed for the July 4th weekend constructed by Fisk and long time collaborator Russ Bennett – was home to an enormous disco ball, a water mill, a tricked-out powerhouse storage unit (built at and shipped from Socrates) and other pieces of interactive art that more than 40,000 people enjoyed. Reviews of the show and the response to Ball Square was overwhelmingly positive; possibly a first for the band with a famously critical fan base.
“I’m really pleased to hear the reviews and, more than ever, I feel like I’m seeking out that response,” said Fisk. “I feel like it was one of the best shows we’ve ever done, from my perspective. And I was just so happy with it, I was curious if others agreed.”
Socrates Sculpture Park on the Long Island City waterfront overlooks the Manhattan skyline and attracts 78,000 visitors annually. The idea of having this public space converted from a once dilapidated wasteland is based on the belief that reclamation, revitalization and creative expression are essential to the survival, humanity and improvement of their urban environment. But creating structures to be displayed outdoors can get tricky.
“The physical challenge of engineering a sculpture is getting it to stand up against weather, forces of nature and to the public itself,” said Fisk. “It’s been new to me to face this challenge of helping an artist create these very unlikely objects. They are not typical things. They are tall. They are looming. They catch wind. They are not things that have any regulation surrounding them. It’s been a fun challenge to keep them safe.”
A stand out moment during the last four years as studio and facilities manager at Socrates occurred while he driving heavy machinery to install a larger-than life art piece for the public to enjoy.
“You can’t normally drive a fork lift out in a public park,” said Fisk, who could feel the eyes of children and their parents watching him as he carefully planned his course of action. “There were all these people absorbing the excitement around the installation, and then there was this cellist about 30 feet away from me beneath a canopy of these beautiful trees . . . and I was thinking what a dynamic place this is. We have this wonderful asset of a public park that has great programming with many things happening at once. It never stops. There’s always something to receive here.”
For now, Fisk will continue to mentor younger artists and is eagerly anticipating the Emerging Artist Exhibition; what he calls the highlight of the year. The park will also be host to a farmer’s market on Saturday’s during the summer. As for the next Phish collaboration, fans will have to wait and see.
“Just now, I’m sort of rediscovering Phish. I would drift in an out but it’s always there. They are just such incredible musicians, it doesn’t get old.”
For upcoming events at Socrates Sculpture Park, visit www.socratessculpturepark.org.
