FOR RENT
Cantabrigians should expect to see these two words everywhere they go, as more and more homes and businesses are being forced out of the city, or at least out of their present location, due to skyrocketing rents and a drastic shift in the commercial climate.
You can add to that list Out of the Blue Art Gallery, a countercultural staple of the local art community presently residing on Prospect Street between Central and Inman Squares. OOTB showcases the work of local artists, many of whom would not otherwise have the financial resources to promote and market their creations. This is a service not only to the artists themselves, but also to local collectors, who can conveniently access a diversity of passionate and eclectic work that hasn't already been filtered by academic and corporate standards of art. Even a student or working family can snatch up something funky for their livingroom, for that matter. The Gallery itself enhances the aesthetic impact of the neighborhood, in an area that is rapidly becoming homogenized and sterilized.
In a previous article on Inman Square I had advocated for an Inman-based revolution in the arts, and in culture, of which I had hoped OOTB would be a central player. Perhaps this was an overextension of inspired optimism on my part; in any case, it will certainly become an even more daunting challenge with the Gallery's imminent absence from the scene. I dread to imagine what will replace it; across the street once stood Cambridge's Community Television station. Hopefully Out of the Blue will find a new home in Cambridge, and continue to nurture Her longstanding investment in the arts and independent thought. More and more, the city is being encroached upon by economic interests that have more to do with profit and convenience than community and culture, although Cambridge's new 'Master Plan' will doubtless tout otherwise. Down the street at The Field, not that it isn't a great bar, you can see a line of New Cambridge Yuppies waiting in line to drink and watch the World Cup--- what a shame, when we will no longer see a line of hippies, artists and average citizens congregating outside the Gallery to discuss art, music and poetry.
It was poetry that first brought me to the Gallery. Even in this fine city, it can be just as frustrating for a writer to promote himself as it can be for an artist. My friend Jacques Fleury, "The Haitian Firefly," (who used to visit me at the Vitamin Shoppe in Harvard Square, yet another recent victim of Cambridge's rent explosion on commercial and residential properties) first told me about Out of the Blue and his own experience reciting poetry there and getting noticed, although I had already heard of Stone Soup Poetry. My own first reading at the Gallery was an interesting experience; the poetry itself was a mixed bag, this being America, after all, and freedom of expression being extended to the profound as well as the banal. It is this freedom which is necessary to preserve public creativity and to allow great art to flourish; although it will suffer us to sit through a bad poem or two, it leads to much greater progress of culture and diversity of expression than if we rely on the city or state as the primary benefactors of the arts. Between poets, a band played slam-metal while a burlesque dancer crawled on the floor, her ass protruding into my face. When it was time for me to read, the combined buzz from Pabst and Starbucks (a "hipster's speed-ball") caused me to spill my poems onto the ground, which didn't phase me as it also made me numb to the fact, which I've come to expect, that the depth of my words would fall mostly on deaf ears. Afterwards things picked up, with great acoustic slide guitar by James Clifford, some experimental jams by my boy Misha, who I met that night, and ultimately an afterhours discussion on all things art and philosophy, fueled by great tobacco.
The Gallery is throwing the following fundraising events in an effort to relocate. I encourage you all to attend, to celebrate, to enjoy, and to preserve creative expression on the local scene. See you there! (or donate)
Sunday, July 6th @ T.T. The Bear's (10 Brookline St. Cambridge, MA)
Thursday, July 17th @ ZuZu (474 Mass. Ave Cambridge, MA)
Saturday, July 26th @ Out of the Blue Art Gallery (106 Prospect St., Cambridge, MA)
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