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Trust Art is a social platform that is commissioning
ten public artworks over the next year. People are invited to
become shareholders with $1, share with interested friends, and renew culture.

Portraits of Dreamers

A public project led by Justin Tellian

Project Proposal

As both a street artist and fine art photographer, Justin has been spreading the message of dream in his work for the past five years in New York City. To Justin this is a universal message that unites people from diverse backgrounds with the understanding that their dreams can be achieved. That is why Justin is proposing a series of large scale photography portraits that unite people who self-identify as dreamers in five cities around the world. Justin will bring together artists, fashion designers, filmmakers, writers, musicians in street portraits that will also be social and community events bringing people from all different backgrounds together in a common experience.

Justin will be traveling to each of these five cities with a small crew to gather and execute these shoots. He will then host an event where he will present the five life size portraits and invite back all of the participants, and anyone else wishing to be take part.  At the event, everyone will be invited to give further life to the prints by interacting with them using materials like paint and markers. In the end, the prints will act as alternative historical records for public celebrations all over the world where people declared in unison: We dream.

About the Artist

Justin Tellian was born in Visalia, California in 1978. His grandfather, also a photographer, inspired him to pursue photography at a young age. In high school, he became a photo-journalist for the regional daily paper and then attended the Brooks Institute of Photography. He moved to New York in 2002 and worked under photographers Mark Seliger and Steven Klein. Since 2006, he has pursued his career independently as a fine art photographer inspired by street art.

www.famegame.com/profile/Justin_Tellian




Artists Past Work





The Dreamers, 2008
Justin shot the first DREAM group photo portrait in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in June 2008. His vision for these shoots are a mixture of celebration and mise en scene, which this video captures. Justin Tellian's team for this shoot: Stowe Richard, Matt Mimiaga, Nathan Catucci, Jaime Rosenthal, and Jessica Bobince. The Dreamers: Mary Cuddehe, Peter Baltra, Blake Whitman, Ryan Brown, Seth Aylmer, Jose Serrano-Reyes, Nick Bean, Ara Edsinger, Craig Edsinger, Solomon Chase, Paul Read, Anthony Donofrio, Wendell Davis, Cameron Dary, Ewa Pawlus, Matthew Craven, Lark Kidd, Drew Hinckley, Cowaney Malick, David Toro, Emily Bybwad, Kristin Lorenz, Mary Manwary, Kat Hunt, Irene Pann, Ina Jang, Joan Tom, Marnin Schwartz-Lachase, Tracy Bradbury, Tina Keyes, Gerian Marlel, Jennifer Bickman, Brett Dobbs, Colleen Haley, and Christopher Beehwith.




Dream Station, 2007
Performed in Union Square, New York City, the station allowed dreamers to write their dreams on a piece of paper, attach them to a helium balloon, and watch them float away.




1B, 2006-2008
Justin had an open-door policy in his apartment for over 2 years, inviting both friends and strangers into his space.




Live/Work, 2008
A series of photographic portraits of artists in their "live/work" spaces in Brooklyn.

Public Wall

Dreamers - Left
Dreamers - Right2

Your Voice

Dreamers - Right1

From The Artist

« Fundraising for Berlin Dreamers | Main | DREAMERS - A Shareholder Report »
Tuesday
Sep222009

The Next Chapter: BERLIN --- November 14

The East Side Gallery (photo by marc hoffman)

Every time we've heard someone talking about Berlin in the last few years, it has been energizing. It seems like every young artist in Europe has Berlin on their radar, if they haven't already visited or moved there.  The city is young (it has been only 20 years old since the fall of the Wall) and maybe because ot the complexity of its past life, the love of Freedom is fundamental in Berlin.  An on-going city-wide affirmation. For us here in New York, Berlin seems like the bright-burning torch of Europe.

Researching places in Berlin to stage the portrait, we naturally came across images of the Berlin Wall. And to our great amazement, we realized that Berlin is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall this November, the same time we will be there to stage the portrait.  The universe is smiling at us!  So we kept digging around this idea of shooting at the Wall. 

Then we came across the photograph above.  The photo is by marc hoffman from at so-called 'East Side Gallery', one of the few remaining sections of the Berlin Wall, re-born when artists from all over the wolrd came to celebrate freedom in Berlin days after the Wall fell in 1989.  We realized we had found our sacred space.  An icon of the most serious proportions and tone, transformed by artists into a place of art, joy, and possibility.

The East Side Gallery will be the site for the next portrait of Dreamers on Saturday November 14, days after the Freedom Festival in Berlin. The meeting time is 13:00.    

Our task now:  to meditate on this space from afar; to get all of our friends involved, to connect with as many dreamers in Berlin as we can, and to raise the funds to "make the work" as Walt Whitman reminded himself.!  Our goal is to raise $3000 for the project by October 14 (primarily for airfare, lodging, and insurance; Europe is a little more expensive than Latin America!). 

We have some ideas in the works for a fundraising party in Brooklyn. If you wish to help in anyway, you can find more details about how to get involved and share this with friends with this gallery of images: The Next Chapter: Berlin.  You can also email : jose@trustart.org. 


DateSeptember 22, 2009 at 23:22 | CommentPost a Comment

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