Michael Pitt: on Found Art and the Price of Coffee in Brooklyn
What sort of art do you do?
I do junk art. I do a lot of collage stuff. A lot of found objects.
Do you find a lot of materials for that in the neighborhood?
Oh yeah. I mean, unfortunately at some point I need to get a real space to do bigger pieces, but I really find pieces all over. I was at Metrotech in Downtown Brooklyn once, and I passed a dumpster where they were basically throwing a museum away. They were throwing out a small museum that I guess no one really went to, that no one really knew about.
They were throwing pieces from the collection away?
Right. There was a dumpster full of it. They had these giant prints on wood of all the immigrants who had built the subways, who’d dug the holes. There were all these great photos from probably the 1910s or 1920s. At the time I didn’t have a car, so I could only carry what I could on my back. It was really a shame. I couldn’t believe it.
So what are your favorite Brooklyn spots? If you were just going to head out on a walk and take in the borough, where would you go?
Well, if I hadn’t just gotten off a plane, I’d suggest we meet at Junior’s. You know Junior’s? It’s not a huge landmark, but… There are a lot of beautiful places in the Heights, too. Or even just my house, the architecture is, when you come into my house, it’s really amazing. The inside of my house could be used as a set for Boardwalk [Empire]. It’s 100 years old. It was built by immigrants. It doesn’t take much for the imagination to get going. That’s something you don’t really get other places. It’s certainly something I didn’t get in Jersey.
You guys shoot a lot of Boardwalk Empire on the waterfront in Greenpoint, right?
Yup. The main outdoor set is there, so there’s a lot of shooting there throughout the year. They put a lot of money into it, so they’re going to get their money’s worth, I think. It’s by the water, not far from McGuinness.