#jonrubin

Falling in love with Pittsburgh's art scene before I visit in mid-May.

There are many reason's to visit Pittsburgh if you love art. There is the Carnegie Museum of Art, The Mattress Factory, The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon...and the many artists who live and work there.

Artist Kim Beck, who teaches at Carnegie Mellon, is one of Pittsburgh's most interesting artists. I am a little biased since I worked with her on Space Invaders,  a show at Lehman College in the Bronx.

This is Kim's project for The Last Billboard. Each month a different artist is invited to use the billboard. It is located on the corner of Highland and Baum in Pittsburgh. The project is curated by interdisciplinary artist, Jon Rubin.

I am eager to visit another one of Jon Rubin's projects and that is Conflict Kitchen, A Pittsburgh restaurant that only serves food from "countries with which The United States is in conflict. The Co-founders and directors of this project are Jon Rubin and Dawn Weleski.

The restaurant changes its identity every few months to reflect current geopolitical events.  Their current focus is on Palestinian food, culture and politics. It is open daily from 11 am to 6 pm.

Photo from the website of Conflict Kitchen. Please check out their blog.

Below is a photo of Kim Beck's project from Lehman College. The piece is made of vinyl and produced in conjunction with a commercial signshop.  These  cheerful yet disquieting oversized weeds range from the invasive kudzu to the everyday dandelion.

 Next Exit, is another billboard work that Kim created. This was part of a project called I-70 Sign Show, a public-art project on mid-Missouri billboards. According to their website, "To produce her billboard, Beck used photos of the phrase NEXT EXIT, a dual reference to the poetic implications of language out of context and the many Christian messages along I-70 that mention heaven"