PaintingsDirect.com Artbyte - The Dirt on Dirt

Featuring the houses of PaintingsDirect.com artists

The House That Ezra Did Not Build
by Jennifer Dalton


"Blue Houses in Cambridge" by Ilya Lerner

Art comes in all shapes and sizes. Last year, New York artist Ezra Shales mailed out 10,000 postcards, each featuring two strange views of a near-empty residential lot in a quiet neighborhood not far from the beach in Queens.


"The Greenhouse Effect, I" by James Sasso

Each postcard requested participation in the "Nominal Home," Shales' title for his project. Although the "Nominal Home" actually consisted of little more than a mailbox, that mailbox was kept extremely busy.


"Country White Houses" by Priscilla Souder

Participants were asked to suggest names for the home, and suggest they did. The little yellow mailbox in the empty lot bulged with responses for weeks, with some great suggestions like "Minor Manor" and "House that Ezra Did Not Build."


"NY with Love" by Ruth Newquist

Shales' newest project, "A Common Denominator," is on view at the Eldridge Street Synagogue in New York City through January 1.

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