The Fly Blind Guy: Artist Melvin Freeman presents Out of Focus - The Art of Sampling
By Omari Salisbury | @Omarisal
The Fly Blind Guy (Melvin Freeman) is back with his exhibit Out of Fokus 2: The Art of Sampling which he unveiled on Friday at the Liink Project on East Union Street in Seattle’s Central District, the very same street that he grew up on as a kid and inspired his love for the culture. This collection actually has roots going back six years ago when Melvin, who is now legally blind began preparing for his impending blindness by attending Adjustment for Blindness Training school in Minneapolis, Minnesota to learn the life skills required once his sight left him. In that school, there was an art program and Melvin needed to create something out of wood. Being a hard-core lover of hip hop and music in general, Melvin decided to create not just one but two turntables and a mixer, a complete DJ set for his project. In creating the turntables Melvin had to walk to the record store blindfolded, measure the turntables and mixer blindfolded, select the wood and operate several saws blindfolded, as well as sand and finish the project all while blindfolded. What he created is astonishing and would be a difficult feat for trained woodworking artists with sight.
Melvin created this wood DJ set by hand blindfolded while at Adjustment for Blindness Training School in Minneapolis. It took him nearly 7 months to complete. (Photo: ArtBy FREDERICK)
Fast forward six years later, with the original show being delayed due to COVID, Melvin was able to finally show his creation along with a body of work that accompany the turntables including pieces of art composed of iconic record covers and movie photos pressed against gold dollar bills ranging from $1 to $100 denominations. According to Melvin, the money represents Black people in America being the actual currency of culture.
Melvin created pieces that sampled iconic hip-hop album covers and movie covers pressed against gold dollars. (Photo: ArtBy FREDERICK)
The Liink Project was to capacity most of the evening with community members and art lovers alike passing by to congratulate Melvin on his show and most importantly purchase some of his creations (BTW, the turntables are not for sale!). DJ Topspin AKA Blendiana Jones kept the tempo going all night and The Sugah Shack gave everyone an artistic sugar rush with cupcake creations of many of Melvin’s pieces.
The Sugah Shack served up cupcakes and snacks fashioned after Melvin’s collection. (Photo: ArtBy FREDERICK)
Big shout out to Stephanie Morales and The Liink Project for creating space to uplift Black art right in the heart of the Central District.
Out of Fokus 2: The Art of Sampling is showing from now until May 6th where there will be a closing reception from 6:30pm - 9:00pm.
Follow Melvin on Instagram at @FlyBlindGuy and you can also reach him via email at FlyBlindGuy@Gmail.com
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